Hiking tour Iruya

The hiking tour Iruya – San Juan is one of the best treks in Northwestern Argentina.

Walking through the towns of Iruya and San Juan, even today, you can still feel the presence of the mysterious Andean culture, dating from a thousand years ago, and still resisting the incursions of modern civilization.

America was discovered many years ago, but this trekking takes us through some places barely untouched: an extensive region of huge mountains and deep valleys, through communities only accessible by foot.

Grab your boots!

This trekking starts in Iruya, north of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, and from here, we enter a blank canvas of map, which we will paint with the experiences of the following four days: stories, places, lives and people; altogether, it’s an experience you will never forget.

This day is formally when our adventure begins! In the morning we will leave Iruya and its stony little streets behind, as we will be heading towards the mountains paths.

After a few meters, we will face our very first challenge: the way up to Panti Pampa – an amazing zigzag in the middle of the hills. From every corner, we will have incredible views of colorful mountains that surround us.

At noon we will be at the highest point of our journey, from where we will be able to spot some pre Inca communities, some of them still inhabited and cultivated.

Here we will make a stop, where we will have time to have a pic-nic lunch, recover some energies and rest for a while.

Back in the path, we will slowly start to descend and cross the San Juan River, to get to San Juan small town, where Mrs. Jacinta will be waiting for us. She will be our hostess, and in her adobe and stone house we will spend the night.

Our host

Mrs. Jacinta is one of the few local inhabitants that still lives in San Juan, she is a mother of many, many kids, she takes care of her goats, and she works her land and always welcomes us very enthusiastically. With her meals and her stories, she will let us in into her wonderful and unique world.

After spending the night at San Juan, another incredible day awaits! The school bell will announce the beginning of the activities, so we will get ready for breakfast and to head to our new destination.

After saying goodbye to our hostess, we will go down again to the river and after that, we will face our second challenge: Abra Morada. This will be the highest point of our whole journey, 3.400 m.a.s.l from where we will have a privileged view: humongous mountains, San Isidro on one side and San Juan on the other.

We will rest for a while at the summit, and we will start heading towards San Isidro. On the way there, we will stop again for lunch.In San Isidro town

In the afternoon we will get to the old village walking through and ancient Inca Trail, and arrive to Beto and Cebe´s house, who will be our hosts for the night.

San Isidro is a bigger and more modern town tan San Juan. They have electricity and the possibility to get there by car. We can probably take a shower and recharge our camera and phones batteries.

In the night, Cebe will make a delicious homemade meal and we can rest, charging our own batteries!

This day is our shortest hiking day: we have about 3 hours until we reach Iruya. We will start heading back to Iruya early in the morning. Right at Beto´s home entrance we will take an old path that will lead us to Iruya.

We will have to cross the river a few times, so we can get our feet wet!! We will need to be careful!!

At noon we will arrive to Iruya, where we will found our pickup truck, jump in and head back to Salta.

Likely, in Tilcara we will make a lunch stop, and when we arrive in Salta, our adventure will have concluded!