Argentina · Travel guide
Argentina Itinerary: What Fits in 7, 10, 14 or 21 Days
An Argentina itinerary for 7, 10, 14 or 21 days, built on the domestic flights that actually exist, with what each extra region costs you in days.
This is the reasoning we use when we date a trip, not an article written to fill a blog. The Argentina itineraries it feeds are here.
Most Argentina itineraries online are drawn on a map. The map is the wrong starting point. Argentina runs 3,700 kilometres from the subtropics to Tierra del Fuego, so the thing that decides your route is not where places are but which flights connect them, and a few of the connections people assume simply do not exist.
So this guide starts there: the flight map and the order it forces on a trip, then what fits in one, two and three weeks, with what each extra region costs you in days.
The flight map that decides every Argentina itinerary
Aerolíneas Argentinas publishes the direct routes from each airport. Put the main ones side by side and the country splits into a northern group and a Patagonian one, with Mendoza between them.
| From | Direct flights to | Region |
|---|---|---|
| El Calafate | Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Ushuaia, Trelew, Córdoba | Patagonia |
| Bariloche | Buenos Aires, El Calafate, Mendoza, Córdoba, Rosario | Patagonia |
| Iguazu | Buenos Aires, Salta, Córdoba, Rosario | North |
| Salta | Buenos Aires, Iguazu, Mendoza, Córdoba, Rosario | North |
| Mendoza | Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Salta, Córdoba, Neuquén | Centre |
Direct routes as listed by Aerolíneas Argentinas in September 2026.
Three things follow from that table:
- The glaciers and the falls do not connect. El Calafate to Iguazu means changing planes, and the best connection is about eight hours through Buenos Aires. Every itinerary with both loses a day to it.
- Buenos Aires is the hub, but not the only bridge. Mendoza to Bariloche joins the north to Patagonia without going back to the capital, and so does Córdoba.
- The routes that skip Buenos Aires are thin. They run a few times a week rather than every day, so on a route that uses them, the flight days are fixed first and the nights fit around them.
Buenos Aires has two airports, and that costs half a day
International flights land at Ezeiza, 22 km from the centre. Most domestic flights use Aeroparque, 2 km from it. There is no airside link between the two: if you arrive on one and leave from the other, you clear immigration, collect your bags and cross the city.
We allow four to five hours for that change. It is the reason almost every good Argentina itinerary spends its first nights in Buenos Aires instead of flying straight on to Patagonia.
The flight times you are planning around
| Route | Time | How |
|---|---|---|
| Buenos Aires to Iguazu | ~1 h 50 | Direct flight |
| Buenos Aires to Mendoza | ~2 h | Direct flight |
| Buenos Aires to Salta | ~2 h 15 | Direct flight |
| Buenos Aires to Bariloche | ~2 h 20 | Direct flight |
| Buenos Aires to El Calafate | ~3 h 20 | Direct flight |
| Buenos Aires to Ushuaia | ~3 h 40 | Direct flight |
| El Calafate to Ushuaia | ~1 h 20 | Direct flight, a few days a week |
| El Calafate to El Chaltén | ~3 h, 200 km | Road |
Add half a day to any flight for transfers, check-in and waiting. Nothing on this route is high, either: Buenos Aires sits at 25 m, El Calafate at 199 m and El Chaltén at 397 m, so none of the altitude planning that shapes a Peru trip applies here.
A 7-day Argentina itinerary: two regions, not three
Seven days fits Buenos Aires and one other region well. The glaciers are the usual choice.
| Day | Where you go | Where you sleep |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive at Ezeiza, into the city | Buenos Aires |
| 2 | Buenos Aires with a guide | Buenos Aires |
| 3 | Fly from Aeroparque to El Calafate | El Calafate |
| 4 | Perito Moreno glacier, all day | El Calafate |
| 5 | Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers by boat | El Calafate |
| 6 | Fly back to Buenos Aires | Buenos Aires |
| 7 | Fly home | — |
Swapping El Calafate for Iguazu gives you a shorter flight and a spare day. Adding Iguazu to the plan above is the mistake to avoid: with the eight-hour connection between the two, seven days leaves one full day at each.
A 10-day Argentina itinerary: Buenos Aires, the glaciers and Iguazu
Ten days is the length where all three fit, with three nights in each and one declared travel day between the glaciers and the falls.
| Day | Where you go | Where you sleep |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Buenos Aires, the city and an estancia day on the pampa | Buenos Aires |
| 4 | Fly to El Calafate | El Calafate |
| 5 | Perito Moreno glacier | El Calafate |
| 6 | Upsala and Spegazzini by boat | El Calafate |
| 7 | El Calafate to Iguazu through Buenos Aires | Puerto Iguazu |
| 8 | The Argentine side of the falls | Puerto Iguazu |
| 9 | The boat under the falls, or the Brazilian side | Puerto Iguazu |
| 10 | Fly to Buenos Aires and home | — |
This is, night for night, our 10-day Buenos Aires, glaciers and Iguazu tour. Day 7 is the one to be honest about: it is a travel day, and a plan that schedules a visit on it is promising something the flights will not deliver.
A 2-week Argentina itinerary: one more region
At two weeks, the 10-day route above takes one more region. The options are not equal, and the difference is mostly in how you get there.
| Add | Nights | How you get there |
|---|---|---|
| El Chaltén | 2–3 | 3 h by road from El Calafate |
| Ushuaia | 2–3 | 1 h 20 flight from El Calafate |
| Bariloche | 3 | Direct flight from El Calafate or Buenos Aires |
| Salta and Jujuy | 4 | Direct flight from Iguazu, then long drives |
El Chaltén is the cheapest addition, because it hangs off El Calafate by road and changes no flights. It is the base for the day walks to Fitz Roy, so it needs at least one full clear day, and the weather decides which one.
If the extra days are for Torres del Paine instead, the Chilean side of Patagonia is reached by road, not by air: there is no flight between El Calafate and Puerto Natales. Our Chile and Argentina tours are built around that crossing, in 8, 10 or 13 days.
Salta and Jujuy fit the route better than a map suggests, because Iguazu flies direct to Salta. The catch is the calendar: the northwest takes most of its rain between December and March, which is exactly Patagonia’s high season. The two only overlap comfortably in April, before the Patagonian season winds down at the end of the month. Our best time to visit Argentina guide has the regions month by month.
A 3-week Argentina itinerary: the north and Patagonia
Three weeks is enough to cross the country and use the direct links instead of going back to Buenos Aires every time:
- Buenos Aires, 3 nights.
- Iguazu, 2 nights, then fly to Salta.
- Salta and Jujuy, 4 nights: the Quebrada de Humahuaca and Purmamarca, about 180 km north, and Cafayate, 183 km south through the Quebrada de las Conchas.
- Mendoza, 2 nights, then fly to Bariloche.
- Bariloche, 3 nights, then fly to El Calafate.
- El Calafate and El Chaltén, 5 nights, then fly home through Buenos Aires.
It reads like a straight line, and it is one on paper. In practice the Salta to Mendoza, Mendoza to Bariloche and Bariloche to El Calafate flights run far less often than the ones from Buenos Aires, some only two or three days a week, so the exact nights in each stop are set by those days. That is the part of a three-week plan worth having someone build around the schedule rather than around a wish list.
What each add-on costs in days
This is the table day-by-day itineraries leave out. Each line is what you give up to get it.
| Add-on | Days it costs | Why that many |
|---|---|---|
| El Chaltén | 2–3 | 3 h by road each way, plus a full day for the walks |
| Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel | 2–3 | A flight each way and a full day on the water |
| Bariloche and the lakes | 3 | A flight in, a flight out, two full days |
| Salta and Jujuy | 4–5 | Distances of 180 km or more between the valleys |
| Mendoza and the wineries | 2–3 | About 2 h from Buenos Aires, one or two winery days |
| Península Valdés | 3 | A flight to Trelew and a long drive; whales from June to December |
| The Brazilian side of Iguazu | ½ | A border crossing, and a visa for some passports |
| Changing airports in Buenos Aires | ½ | Four to five hours from Ezeiza to Aeroparque |
Whether the Brazilian half is worth that half-day, and which side to do first, is in our guide to the Iguazu Falls Brazil side.
The Península Valdés line is the one that surprises people. The southern right whale season at Península Valdés runs from June to December, so a trip timed for Patagonian hiking in January misses it.
The bookings that fix your dates
Most of an Argentina itinerary can move. These cannot, and they are the ones to settle first:
- The flights that skip Buenos Aires. El Calafate to Ushuaia, Iguazu to Salta and Mendoza to Bariloche run on a few days a week. They decide the order of everything else.
- The glacier boat trip. The full-day navigation to Upsala and Spegazzini has a limited number of departures, so it is the El Calafate day to fix before the others.
- A Brazilian visa, if you want the Brazilian side of Iguazu. US, Canadian and Australian passports need one arranged weeks in advance. British passports do not.
- January. It falls in the long Argentine school holiday, from late December to the end of February, which is also Patagonia’s short high season: book southern lodges early.
For what the domestic flights cost, including the gap between low-cost carriers and the flag carrier on routes like Buenos Aires to El Calafate, see our South America travel cost guide.
Asked before booking
The questions we get on this
- How many days do you need in Argentina?
- Ten days is the length that fits Buenos Aires, the Perito Moreno glacier and Iguazu Falls with three nights in each. Seven days fits two of those three. Two weeks adds one more region, such as El Chaltén, Ushuaia, Bariloche or Salta, and three weeks lets you cover both the north and Patagonia.
- Is 10 days enough for Argentina?
- Ten days is enough for Buenos Aires, El Calafate and Iguazu if you accept one full travel day between the glaciers and the falls. There is no direct flight between them, so the best connection takes about eight hours through Buenos Aires.
- Is 2 weeks enough for Argentina?
- Two weeks covers Buenos Aires, the glaciers and Iguazu plus one more region. El Chaltén is the cheapest to add, three hours by road from El Calafate. The northwest is the other good choice, because Iguazu has direct flights to Salta, but its best season is not the same as Patagonia's.
- Can you fly direct from El Calafate to Iguazu?
- No. El Calafate has direct flights to Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Ushuaia, Trelew and Córdoba, and Iguazu to Buenos Aires, Salta, Córdoba and Rosario. Going from the glaciers to the falls means changing planes, and the best connection takes about eight hours.
- How many days do you need in Buenos Aires?
- Three nights at the start of the trip. One day for the city with a guide, one for an estancia on the pampa or the neighbourhoods at your own pace, and the arrival day after an overnight flight. Two nights works if the trip is seven days and Patagonia is the priority.
- How many days in El Calafate?
- Three nights. One day for the Perito Moreno glacier walkways, one for the boat trip to the Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers, and the arrival afternoon. With two nights you have to choose between the glacier and the boat trip.
- How many days do you need at Iguazu Falls?
- Two full days from Puerto Iguazu. One for the Argentine side, which has the walkways and the trails and needs most of a day, and one for the boat ride under the falls or the Brazilian side. The Brazilian side needs a visa for US, Canadian and Australian passports.
- What is the best order for an Argentina itinerary?
- Start and finish in Buenos Aires and let the flights set the order in between. The routes that skip Buenos Aires, such as El Calafate to Ushuaia or Iguazu to Salta, run a few times a week, so the nights in each place are planned around their days, not the other way round.