A pigeon shat on my head while I was in Salta. I was just walking down the street, minding my own business, when suddenly — splat! I grew up in Asia and have always loved to travel. It was an incredible experience and it also allowed me to travel all over Argentina. I cackled like a crazy person and hunched down on the sidewalk until my sides hurt. Once I finally stopped laughing, I walked over to the nearby fountain in the square, cleaned myself up, and continued to explore the city.
As I walked around Salta la Linda Salta the Lovely, as the locals call it , I reflected on the past four days of my life. Well, I came, I saw, and I ate. I have always been inspired by solo female travelers. And though my trip was short, I think I can now say that I have joined their ranks. The city of Salta is the capital of Salta province in northwest Argentina. It is located in the Lerma Valley right at the foothills of the Andes.
It is a small but beautiful city full of a unique mix of colonial architecture and Incan influence. Jujuy is right on the border of Chile and Bolivia and is the llama and cactus capital of Argentina.
The beautiful canyons, giant salt flats, and rainbow mountains are absolute must-sees. For my penultimate weekend, I decided to fly up to Salta to explore all that the city and Jujuy has to offer. There are daily flights from Buenos Aires to Salta on various airlines. I recommend using despegar. Taking a 17 hour or so bus from Buenos is also an option. Because of this, I ended up booking bus tours online before getting here. Of course, there are pros and cons to being on a bus tour. That being said, I was really happy with both of the tours that I went on via Viator.
Purmamarca, one of the little towns amongst the mountains of Jujuy is two to three hours north of Salta. From there, you can also visit the Salinas Grandes. If I were to do this trip again, I would have chosen to stay in Purmamarca or Tilcara for one night instead of returning back to Salta. If I had more time, I also would have tried to hit up the towns of Cachi and Cafayate which are to the south of Salta.
