In Los Andes Department, cultural experiences meet routes through the highland landscape. When planning your trip, it is worth considering the different highlights of San Antonio de los Cobres and Tolar Grande: San Antonio focuses on museums, churches, and crafts, while Tolar Grande brings together mining history, rituals, and landscape exploration.

History and Crafts in San Antonio de los Cobres

The Museo Regional Andino is located in San Antonio de los Cobres in a building that once housed the Gobernación de Los Andes. Built in 1908, it later served as the police station and was restored in 2019; today, it houses the museum. Visitors can learn about the history and customs of the Puna there. The Iglesia San Antonio de Padua is also a place to visit in the town.

Another way to experience local culture is through crafts: At the market, you can watch artisans at work on looms. Visits to a workshop run by women artisans and participation in a ceramics workshop offer further insight into textile and ceramic work. To experience life in the area, visitors can spend a day with a local shepherd. A walk with Anatolio and his llamas takes you through the town and to the church, introducing you to the traditions of ancestors who traveled with animals of the Puna.

Rituals and Local History in Tolar Grande

Tolar Grande is home to the permanent exhibition of the Centro de Interpretación de la Minería, located in the Centro de Integración Urbana (CIU). It explains the role mining plays in everyday life, how it is connected to the population groups, and the traces it has left on the town’s history.

The festival calendar also brings together places and traditions. In August, San Antonio de los Cobres celebrates the Fiesta Nacional de la Pachamama, Tierra Madre. The Carnaval más alto del mundo takes place beneath the Viaducto La Polvorilla as part of the Carnaval Andino. It includes visits by comparsas to family homes and Andean processions featuring comparsas from across Los Andes Department.

In Tolar Grande, the ascent of 5,611-meter-high Cerro Macón takes place every year on the third Saturday in November as a traditional ritual. Participants join the residents of Tolar Grande in giving thanks for the water the mountain provides to this arid region. The Kolla community of Tolar Grande also holds a three-day collective offering every year at its sacred Pachamama hill.

Festival Foods and Landscape Experiences

The communal feast at the Fiesta Nacional de la Pachamama includes Tijtincha—boiled dried meat with corn on the cob—as well as corn, dried beans, spicy dishes, asado, empanadas, Andean potatoes, mote, and piri made from cornmeal and llama fat. Chuya is an artisanally made drink of corn and quinoa; it is served at the festival only on that day.

El Arenal is 8 km from Tolar Grande. The circular route passes through extensive reddish sand deposits and dunes, offering sweeping views of the Andes. Visitors can also go sandboarding in this landscape. On the way to Tolar Grande, the Tolar experience passes through the Salar de Pocitos and ravines where native Puna wildlife can be seen. Just before the town, it runs through the fossil dune formations of Los Colorados, also known as Desierto de Laberinto; the area is ideal for short walks and photography.

From Tolar Grande, visitors can also explore vast salt flats and the Ojos de Mar in the Puna. Further afield, the Cono de Arita is part of the regional landscape: this naturally formed, 200-meter-high cone of black volcanic salt rises in the middle of the Salar de Arizaro. Laguna Santa María is also in the wider region, at an elevation of about 4,000 meters. Parinas, ducks, coots, and numerous pink flamingos swim, walk, and fly in its blue waters.

Another clearly defined route is the Tren a las Nubes: the train climbs from San Antonio de los Cobres to the Viaducto La Polvorilla. When choosing a hotel in Los Andes Department, these highlights can help guide your decision: San Antonio de los Cobres is known for its museum, church, market, and crafts; Tolar Grande for its mining history, rituals, and landscape exploration.

Discover more destinations: San Antonio De Los Cobres, General José De San Martín Department, Rosario De La Frontera Department, La Viña, Rivadavia Department, Santa Carlos, Humahuaca Department, Libertador General San Martín Department.

For the main travel overview: Salta.