Argentina on your own
A country five times the size of France, one legendary road running its full length, calving glaciers and deserts at 4,000 m: Argentina is the road trip in its purest form.
When to go
Austral summer from November to March for Patagonia and Ushuaia (endless days, maximum wind, bookings essential in January-February); the Northwest works the other way round, best April to November, outside the summer rains that occasionally cut the tracks. Valdés whales are around from June to early December, peaking in September-October. April in Patagonia means the colour of the lengas and half the crowds — a secret you earn in thermal layers.
What it costs
Argentina is no longer the bargain it was in the early 2020s: expect €45-75/day for a compact (a 4x4 only earns its keep on the southern ripio and the Northwest's high tracks), fuel around €1.10-1.30/L depending on the peso's convulsions, and €50-130 for a double in decent hosterías. For two over 15 days with two domestic flights, aim for €4,000-5,500 excluding international flights. Pay in pesos by card at the unified official rate, but keep cash for isolated stations along the 40.
Driving & transport
Right-hand driving, dipped headlights compulsory by day on highways. The real local rules: on ripio (gravel), slow to 60-70 km/h, never brake sharply and hug the right when a truck passes — a starred windscreen is the Patagonian passport stamp. The wind lays down the law in the south: hold the door with both hands when opening it (rental firms often refuse to cover that exact damage) and correct constantly at the wheel. Fill up at EVERY YPF station in Patagonia: between Tres Lagos and Gobernador Gregores, the 40 runs 340 km without a single pump. Guanacos and rheas cross at dusk; frequent gendarmerie checkpoints at provincial borders — keep the vehicle papers within reach.
You drive Argentina the way you read an atlas: 3,700 km between the cacti of the Quebrada de Humahuaca and the glowing lenga forests of Ushuaia, with Ruta 40 as the spine — 5,200 km along the Andes, now paved almost end to end yet as empty as ever. Here the car isn't a comfort, it's the very condition of the journey: distances are oceanic, night buses an institution, but nothing replaces stopping freely for a herd of guanacos or a blinding salt flat.
The country plays out in two theatres you connect by domestic flight more than by road: southern Patagonia (El Chaltén, the Perito Moreno, Ushuaia), kingdom of wind and glaciers, and the Andean Northwest around Salta, its multicoloured quebradas and high-altitude vineyards. In between: Península Valdés and its whales, Bariloche and its lakes. You rent locally and return locally — one-way drop fees between cities are punishing — and you quickly learn the two local rules: hold your door against the wind, and never pass a fuel station without filling up.
The destinations that matter
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No. 014 to 5 nights (2 Calafate, 2-3 Chaltén)El Chaltén and El CalafateOn one side the vertical granite of Fitz Roy, on the other a 60-metre glacier cracking and calving before your eyes: the 215 km between the two villages concentrate the best of Patagonia.No. 023 to 4 days on the road (Bariloche–El Calafate)Ruta 405,194 km along the Andes, hours without meeting a soul, fuel stations you tick off like rally checkpoints: the 40 isn't a route, it's the destination.No. 035 to 6 nightsSalta and the NorthwestMountains striped in seven, then fourteen colours, a blinding salt flat at 3,450 m and some of the highest vineyards on Earth: the Northwest is Andean Argentina, mineral and mestizo.No. 042 to 3 nightsPenínsula ValdésRight whales breaching within sight of the beach, elephant seals sprawled on the sand and the only orcas on Earth that beach themselves on purpose to hunt: Valdés is a marine sanctuary you explore from behind the wheel.No. 053 to 4 nightsBariloche and the Lake DistrictTurquoise lakes nested in forests of arrayanes and coihues, corniche roads and chocolate in every window: northern Patagonia plays the alpine card, at outsized scale.No. 063 nightsUshuaiaThe southernmost city in the world, wedged between the last peaks of the Andes and the Beagle Channel: at the end of route 3, the 'fin del mundo' sign isn't a marketing line, it's geography.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Argentina Self-Drive”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
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