From Argentina to Chile - Across the Andes, Northwest Argentina & the Atacama Desert

Fifteen days from Buenos Aires across the Andes into Chile, by road rather than by air, which is what makes this trip unusual. The crossing is at the Jama Pass, above four thousand metres.

Buenos Aires opens it with two nights in Palermo, then a flight to Salta and a drive through the Quebrada de las Conchas to Cafayate for two nights, with horseback riding in the Calchaqui valleys and tastings of Torrontes and high-altitude Malbec. Cachi follows above 2,300 metres, with its archaeological museum and the Lady of Cachi mummy.

Purmamarca then gets two nights, reached through San Antonio de los Cobres, the Quebrada del Toro, the pre-Columbian ruins at Tastil and the Salinas Grandes salt flat above 3,400 metres. The Quebrada de Humahuaca is UNESCO listed as a cultural route used for ten thousand years, and the Hill of Seven Colours and the Pucara fortress at Tilcara are both there.

Chile takes the second half. After the pass, San Pedro de Atacama gets four nights: a seventeenth-century adobe church, the Valle de la Luna with its salt-crusted ridges, the Puritama hot springs, and the Salar de Aguas Calientes and Piedras Rojas near the Argentine border above 4,100 metres, plus the Miscanti and Miniques lagoons. The Atacama is the driest non-polar desert on earth and consequently one of the best places anywhere for stargazing. Original Travel include the hire car, internal flights, accommodation, the tours and tastings, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. International flights and most meals are separate, and prices run from 4,750 to 6,150 pounds per person. Altitude is a genuine consideration throughout.