Tolar Grande – High Desert Safari

This excursion is one of the best things to do if you want to experience something different in Argentina.

The trip to Tolar Grande starts early in the morning, as we need to get up to the Puna, our high desert plateou. On our way, we will cross the famous Quebrada del Toro, following the path of the Train to the Clouds.

From San Antonio de los Cobres onwards, we will lose ourselves in a landscape that will be unforgettable.

Here, silence and solitude merge in the beauty of this unique landscape. Velvety hills with hundreds of pastel shades are pushed open in the desert, between gorges, plains and salt flats.

This magical place, with it immense salt plains, volcanoes and green wetlands where the vicuñas run free, is left behind as we move west.

At sunset, we will reach Tolar Grande, where we can rest and enjoy this magical place.

This day we will go further into the desert, visiting the gigantic Salar de Arizaro and reaching the Arita Cone.

During our trip, we will find an infinite range of colors that change as the sun moves. The desert is a surprising place that we will try to discover and understand during this tour.

At lunchtime, we will be back in Tolar Grande to rest a little, eat something and regain energy to continue discovering places!

In the afternoon, we will visit the Ojos de Mar, an oasis at sight, that contrasts furiously with the ocher colors of Arizaro. This place was declared “Reserve of the Biosphere” for containing living strematoliths, difficult to find but in specific places of the world.

From here, we can appreciate all the beauty of this place, naturally framed by the humongous mountain range of the Andes, with its volcanoes, such as Llullaillaco, Socompa el Guanaquero … and more and more mountains and mountains…

Early in the morning, we will head back to Salta. Although we will drive through the same route, we will find a new landscape. By changing the light and the perspective, we can appreciate new colors, new formations, thinking sometimes that we have never been there.

We will enjoy the Salar del Diablo, the seven Curves, the Labyrinth Desert, huge volcanoes and the Salar de Pocitos.

At midday, we will make another stop at San Antonio de los Cobres, to have a pause and lunch before continue traveling.

There are still hours full of color to discover. The last part of the trip is the Quebrada del Toro, where we will be amazed by the colors of the sunset and formations of the mountains.

In the afternoon, we will arrive to Salta, where this amazing experience will be over.