Salta Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Salta’s bus terminal (401-1248; Av Hipólito Yrigoyen), southeast of downtown, has frequent services to all parts of the country. The information desk is in the middle of the concourse.

Two companies, Géminis and Pullman, do the run to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Annoyingly, both leave at the same time: at 7am on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. They go via Jujuy and the Paso de Jama, take 10 to 11 hours, and cost AR$136. It’s worth reserving a few days before. The buses go on to service Calama, Antofagasta, Iquique and Arica.

El Quebradeño (427-1127) goes daily to San Antonio de los Cobres (AR$18, 5½ hours) and Marcos Rueda (421-4447) serves Cachi (AR$23.30, 4½ hours), departing daily at 7am, also at 1.30pm Tuesday to Saturday, at 3.30pm Thursday, and 5pm Sunday.

Sample fares to other destinations:

Destination - Cost (AR$) - Duration (hr)

Buenos Aires - 150 - 20

Cafayate - 23 - 3½

Catamarca - 59 - 8

Córdoba - 98 - 14

Jujuy - 13 - 2

La Quiaca - 35 - 8

La Rioja - 76 - 10

Mendoza - 142 - 18

Puerto Iguazú - 226 - 21

Resistencia - 86 - 10

Rio Gallegos - 405 - 48

Salvador Mazza - 45 - 6

San Juan - 127 - 16

Santiago (Chile) - 198 - 25

Santiago del Estero - 54 - 6

Tucumán - 33 - 4½

Car

Many travelers choose to rent a car for a few days in Salta in order to see the surrounding highlands and valleys. There are many agencies; it’s worth getting a list from the tourist office of those that are officially registered. Cruise around getting quotes, as there are often special offers available. Typically, companies charge AR$120 to AR$200 per day for a week’s hire, triple that for a 4WD. The stretches between San Antonio de los Cobres and La Poma (en route to Cachi), and north of Salinas Grandes toward Abra Pampa are basically 4WD only, but the ripio road between San Antonio and Salinas Grandes is normally passable in a standard car. Always check with the provincial tourist office for current conditions.

At the time of writing, only Argentine nationals could take rental cars into Bolivia. Companies required two to three days notice to process the paperwork required if you wanted to take the vehicle into Chile.

Some companies:

Alamo (422-8779; salta@alamoargentina.com.ar; Buenos Aires 176) Frequent weekly specials; attached to the Marilian Hotel.

Asís (431-1704; soruizar@yahoo.com.ar; Buenos Aires 68) Straight-talking and fairly priced.

Noa (431-7080; www.noarentacar.com; Buenos Aires 1) In the Hotel Salta.

Train

Salta no longer has train services except the on-again, off-again Tren a las Nubes.

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Air

Salta’s airport (SLA;424-3115) is 9.5km southwest of town on RP 51. Aerolíneas Argentinas (431-1331; Caseros 475) flies four to five times daily to Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AR$750). LAN (421-7330; www.lan.com; Buenos Aires 88) flies the same route once daily and much more reliably.

Andes (437-3514; www.andesonline.com; España 478) flies three times weekly to Buenos Aires, with onward connections to their other destination, Puerto Madryn. Aerosur (432-0149; www.aerosur.com; Buenos Aires 88) flies three times weekly to Santa Cruz, Bolivia (AR$670, one hour).

Flights are heavily oversubscribed, so try to book well ahead. As ever, don’t rely on an Aerolíneas flight not being cancelled.

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