Bariloche

Travel guides describe Bariloche as an overcrowded, overdeveloped holiday resort and a hub for travellers crossing from Chile into Argentina. This description is a bit harsh. We saw a town built in a beautiful region, surrounded by lakes and snow-capped mountains. The area has so much to offer that I’d say it’s the most “complete” holiday place you can visit.

There are several lakes that create fantastic walks (or cruises) with stunning scenery. There are also nearby mountains organized as ski resorts. In the summer, you can swim in some lakes, the weather is great most of the year, and most importantly… they produce and sell tons and tons of chocolate.

I’ve never seen so many chocolate shops in one place. They even have a dedicated chocolate supermarket!!! And believe me, they taste good (all of them).

At this time of year, the summer holiday season is starting, and most hotels were fully booked. It took us some time to find somewhere to stay, and by the time we dropped our bags in the hotel, it was already getting dark.

Bariloche was a transit place for us, and we were only going to stay for a day or two as a break between long bus trips on our way to Buenos Aires.

We had dinner in a “buffet-style” restaurant that had cold and hot salads, pasta, BBQ meat, Chinese dishes, and sushi. We could only manage a couple of rounds, so by my standards, it was an embarrassing performance, but we were very tired. We didn’t even touch the dessert buffet!!!

The next day, we booked a small 3-hour tour around the lakes, unfortunately in Spanish—so we made up our own stories about the history of this place.

The next day, we had to catch a bus to Buenos Aires (a 20-hour trip), so we needed to stock up on food (and chocolate) for the journey.

Overall, I liked this town. It has a bit of everything—and just the right amount of chocolate…