• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Blog posts
    • TravelOur travels around the world
    • Travel tipsour best tips to travel better
    • Travel BudgetAll our travel budgets
    • Hikingall the hikes we did
    • Digital Nomadworking remotely while traveling
    • Thoughtssome thoughts about travel
  • Countries
    • Europeour good old continent
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Croatia
      • Estonia
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Latvia
      • Lithuania
      • Norway
      • Slovakia
      • Slovenia
      • Spain
      • Switzerland
      • Sweden
      • Turkey
    • Asiaasian adventures
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Georgia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Myanmar
      • Singapore
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • South Americalatin america
      • Argentina
      • Bolivia
      • Chile
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
  • World Trip
    • Free Ebook to prepare a round the world trip
    • How to Travel around the World
    • How to chose the best backpacker insurance
    • The BEST backpacker insurances compared
    • Our Backpacking Gear for a round the world trip
    • How to choose the best travel camera
  • Home
  • About us
    • Hi! We’re Fabienne and BenAfter living in Vienna for 2 years and travelling around the world for 19 months, we left our comfortable life in Switzerland behind to become nomads. Click here if you want to know more about us!
  • Images
    • travel pictures
    • travel videos
  • Others
    • Newsletter
    • How to support us
    • Novo-map WordPress plugin
    • Our ethic as travel bloggers
    • readers testimonials
    • Contact us
  • Français

bariloche en patagonie argentine
Come and join us!
  • 11.5K
  • 12.3K
  • 4.5K
  • 1.1k
  • 7K
  • 36.4KTRAVELERS
Novo-monde Argentina / Hiking / Travel

Bariloche, Patagonia: our favorite things to see and to do


Visit the pretty little town of Bariloche in Patagonia, a blog post about our favourite hikes and things to do. Cerro Campanario, Refugio Frey and more

Last Update: 19/03/2023 0 COMMENT

A new step in our trip in Patagonia, and the least we can say is that it is a pretty nice piece (and no, I’m not talking about Argentinian beef… although…)!

After a first taste in the region of Pucon, in the north of Chilean Patagonia, then in the magnificent Chilean National Park of Vicente Perez, this time we are on the Argentine side!

Bariloche is a small town in Argentinian Patagonia, in the heart of the Nahuel Huapi National Park and on the shores of the lake of the same name.

Bariloche, also known as Little Switzerland

hiking in argentina

The city is known in Argentina and Chile as Argentina’s little Switzerland, and it is also one of the most popular ski resorts in South America!
But here we are, the seasons being reversed in the southern hemisphere, it is currently summer in Patagonia, thus, no skiing for us… snif…
but we couldn’t miss the opportunity to discover a little more about the region and all the hiking spots!

Argentinian Patagonia: Bariloche, chocolate, beer and hiking!

During our trip through Peru or Bolivia we met several travellers who had already passed through Patagonia. And, since in our opinion nothing beats the opinion of other adventurers, we tended to ask people for their advice on Patagonia, their good addresses, etc… Something we heard quite often was:

“ Well, Bariloche is nice, but for you who are Swiss it’s not really that interesting. The landscapes are the same as in Switzerland, with lots of chalets and chocolate “

Hmmm…. The thing is, that with Benoit we’re very stubborn. We thus decided to come anyway and have a look!
So dear readers, let me tell you something… there is, indeed, a “little Swiss flair” in the area. But to say, that the region is of no interest to the Swiss seems totally crazy!

little switzerland in argentina
chairlifts, chalets, Gstaad… welcome to… Argentina!

The city of Bariloche? Mehhh… It’s the surroundings you have to see!

To be quite frank, we found the city of Bariloche quite ugly. The wooden houses, the kitschy little Tyrolean music played on every street corner, the St-Bernards in front of the monuments waiting to be photographed with tourists… all of this is quite a joke.

But, Bariloche, you don’t come here to kiss Bethoven or the falsely typical atmosphere, oh no!

église de bariloche

Personally, go for a coffee on a terrace with a good piece of chocolate in the morning, go for a hike, enjoy a good homemade beer at sunset and then go eat a delicious steak with a good Argentine wine, is not something I’ll get tired of anytime soon.

In this article we propose a small selection of activities and hikes to do in one day from Bariloche, and at the end of the article you will find our good addresses to finish the day with a nice meal or something sweet!

Rent a car in Bariloche
In this article we only talk about hikes and visits that are accessible by public transport. Moreover, for our part, we have chosen to see everything by bus and we did so without any issues. The only thing was to organize ourselves a little according to the schedules.Nevertheless, we have met many travellers who prefer to rent a car for more flexibility, if you want to visit several spots in the same day it is probably easier and if you are a group of several people it will not necessarily be more expensive. For a car rental in Bariloche it is necessary to count between 30€ and 50€ the day according to the season (and the duration of rental)

 

See prices on Rentalcars

Hiking in Bariloche: The Cerro Campanario

To get a first glimpse of the surroundings of Bariloche, nothing beats cerro Campanario Viewpoint.
There are several “Cerros” in the surroundings of Bariloche, but Campanario is by far the one that offers the best effort/reward ratio if you want our opinion! Btw: cerro means hill

Located 18km from the centre, you can access its base by bus (the information is below). Once at the foot, 2 options are available to you: Go up in 5 minutes by chairlift for 450 pesos per person (7€ more or less), or climb for 20-35 minutes on foot!

view on bariloche, patagonia

Knowing that for 200 pesos we can already afford a nice piece of meat and a glass of red wine, we let you guess which option we have chosen!

prices in argentina
for 900 pesos you either get a chairlift ride or a delicious steak with a glass of red wine…

The climb is certainly a little steep, but if you are used to hiking then it won’t take you more than 25 minutes!

Panorama at the top of the Campanero

Once at the top the view is simply splendid! A 360-degree panorama on the lakes and peaks in the area!

au sommet du cerro campanario

A word of advice: get there early in the morning (around 8:30am-9am) or at the end of the day for sunset. At these times there are not so many people, but from 10 am tourist buses start arriving and it quickly tends to become really busy at the top, especially in high season!

Infos

  • Get there: Bus number 20 in the direction of Llao-Llao. Exit at kilometre 17.5.
  • Chairlifr: 450 pesos per person for the round trip.
  • On foot: free ! 😉 allow between 25 minutes and 1 hour for the ascent.

The municipal park of Llao-Llao

A very nice and not necessarily very well known walk in the surroundings of Bariloche is the loop in the municipal park of Llao-Llao.

After warming up our calves to climb the cerro Campanario we couldn’t stop for the day. Thus, we took the bus until it’s terminus and set off to discover this small trail. A nice walk of about 10-12km that can be done easily in 3 or 4 hours.

Well yes, we take our time for the beautiful pictures and have a snack by the lake with our feet in the water… Well, no, feet were actually not IN the water since the water there is ice cold… but you get my point, right?

Here are some pictures from this walk:

parc municipal de llao llao

Map for the walk in llao-llao:

carte de llao llao

Hike to the Refugio Frey, a paradise for climbers

Initially, we wanted to do a 4-day trek: the Nahuel Huapi crossing. But as it was the case when we were in Pucon a few weeks ago, we were still a little too early in the season. The trails were still closed due to snow… 🙁
Note for the hikers among you: for the crossing it is necessary to wait at least until mid-December, and some years even until January.

rando en argentine

In other words, we decided to opt for a day hike to the Refugio Frey. (which is the first stop if you do the whole crossing).

Beginning of the hike at Lac Goutierez

The hike begins near Lac Gutierez. At the bus exit you must first follow the lake for 2km to reach the actual entrance to the national park.
Once in the park the trail is very well marked and the path is extremely well maintained!
The first few kilometres are all flat and run along the lake before attacking a first climb through a forest that unfortunately burned down a few years ago. The charred trees give a strange atmosphere to the place….

lac gutierez patagonie

After a good 2 hours of climbing we start gently but surely to pass over the tree line. We can observe the landscape changing. The trees and yellow flowers give way to rock and snow! After a last little effort on a last steep stretch, we reach the Frey refuge, nestled on the shores of Lake Toncek and surrounded between Cerro Catedral Sur and Norte.

Getting to Refugio Frey

refuge frey patagonie

The Frey refuge is also the meeting place for many climbers from all over the world. They come together to challenge the different peaks and try out the different walls for all levels.

In fact, on the day of our visit, two guys had even had fun stretching a slakline between two of these peaks!!!!! Absolutely crazy people if you want my opinion… No, but seriously? Walking on a band, at least 50m from the ground, with a crazy wind blowing is madness! 😀 Obviously they knew what they were doing… but could have given 1 million dollars that day, this would not have made me try this…

slakline en argentine

Descent to Catedral Ski Area

For the return trip we opted for a slightly different itinerary that led us to the Catedral ski resort. A mecca for skiing in winter!
This alternative route not only offers the advantage of varying the landscapes a little, but also of limiting a little the negative difference in altitude on the way back!

Information

  • Difficulty of the hike: average
  • Distance: about 26km if you go back and forth during the day like us. But it is possible to divide in two by spending the night at the refuge
  • Duration: Allow between 3h30 and 5h for the ascent from Lac Gutierez, and about 2h30-3h for the descent to Catedral.
  • elevation gain: 940m
  • elevation loss: 700m
  • To get to the start of the hike: Take bus 50 (every 20 minutes) and get off at Lac Gutierez.
  • To get back from Catedral: Catedral bus that connects the ski resort to the centre of Bariloche once an hour (departure from Catedral at 15h10, 16h10, etc… last bus at 21h10).

Hiking Map for Refugio Frey

carte refuge frey
start from the yellow point (bus 50) and finish at the orange spot


Topographic map (you can download the gpx by creating a (free) account on AllTrails):

Download this route on AllTrails


Other hikes around Bariloche

Are you looking to do some more hiking around Bariloche? Then, head over to our next post, where we detailed our hikes around Pampa Linda, 70 kms from Bariloche.

See the Pampa Linda Hikes

Some good addresses in Bariloche

Eat a good steak

One and only address, el Boliche de Alberto! Well ok, in fact they have 2 addresses, one of the restaurants is in the center and the other at km 8.6 on Bustillo (it is in the latter that we have been… several times…) 🙂 On the menu? Well, meat of course. And what a meat!!!!! Frankly one of the best steaks of our lives! Prices are quite expensive. But considering the size of the portions you can easily share it with 2 people… We let you judge on the pictures!..;)

steak argentin
The argentinian equation: good wine + good steak = Pure Joy

Hostel in Bariloche

we told you above, Bariloche is not really crazy in terms of the city’s flair…. So we preferred to stay slightly outside, and frankly we don’t regret anything! We stayed almost 10 days at the Alaska hostel, which is 7.5km from the center.
Price: in dormitory 120 pesos per person, double room (shared bathroom) 320 pesos. These are the prices in high season. When we arrived (end of November) the double was still 280 pesos. The hostel is super nice, the staff is great and the location is ideal for hiking. See availability online

Enjoy a good piece of chocolate

chocolat argentin

the best address (but also the most expensive) is Rapa Nui (on the main street).
But don’t worry, the streets of Bariloche have cheaper and (almost) as good alternatives.

Bariloche’s speciality is “Ramen chocolate”, a kind of thin layer chocolate branch that melts in the mouth.

Mmmm, believe me, the best way to forget your post-hike aches and pains!

Learn Spanish

When travelling in South America it is always better to know how to speak 2-3 words of Spanish! For example, we decided to take Spanish courses in Quito. So to be perfectly honest, Bariloche (and Argentina in general) is probably not the cheapest spot to learn Spanish in South America. For the cheapest courses, you will have to go to Ecuador, Bolivia or Peru.

But after that it remains quite reasonable compared to the course prices we find in Europe…. In Argentina it is roughly 8€/hour. But anyway, Bariloche is a really nice area to do so!

End of stay in Patagonia

Well it’s nice, but you’ve probably noticed that lately our program is quite a lot of hiking?!
So certainly Patagonia lends itself rather well to it, and let’s face it, we like it. But that’s not the only reason! [Small teasing…]
The end of our world tour is approaching, and in order to finish the trip in style we have saved a choice piece for the end! This last trek promises to be sublime, but on the other hand a real physical challenge too! So I think Benoit is just trying to train me a little bit more so I don’t flinch mid-trek… ouch ! 😉

Note: This article contains affiliate links. By using our links you do not pay anything extra, but we’ll get a small commission. Thanks a lot 🙂

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
5/5 – (1 vote)

About Fabienne

I'm the female part of the pair. A little stubborn, spontaneous and passionate about the digital world and the tourism industry, I am also the one addicted to numbers and practical information in our couple. I carefully keep all our travel budgets.
Then we are reassured, sometimes I drop my Excels sheets for a nice hike! With the well-deserved artesanal beer at the end... of course!

Novo-monde in your inbox

Receive the latest news from the blog directly in your inbox! Guaranteed 100% Travel and 0% Spam !

loader

Travel destinations
Backpacking
Digital nomadism
Hiking
Thoughts (ecology, society)

Protected by reCAPTCHA / Privacy Policy - Terms of Service

You might also like

Hiking around Bariloche in the spring – Pampa Linda
randonnée bariloche
Hiking in the Huerquehue National Park: a little gem near Pucon, Chile
randonnée au chili, patagonie
Chilean Patagonia: a beautiful trek in the Vicente Perez Rosales Park
trekking en patagonie
Torres del Paine: a beautiful trekking adventure in Patagonia
torres del paine, chili
Travel safely in South America: our tips after 9 months on the roads
Quito, centre historique
Our visit to the San Pedro Atacama desert
san pedro de attacama en argentine

Reader Interactions

Join the discussion Cancel reply

Protected by reCAPTCHA / Privacy Policy - Terms of Service


© 2023 · made with by Fabienne and Benoit from Novo-monde
Legal mentions