Salta calls itself La Linda, the beautiful, and the old centre makes a decent case for it. The city lies in a green valley in the far north-west of Argentina, about twelve hundred metres above the sea, with the Andes to the west and the humid forest edge to the east. The Spanish founded it in 1582, and the colonial core still shows it, with the cathedral's pink facade, the arcaded cabildo on the main plaza and the cafés underneath the verandahs. In the evening the plaza fills with families, buskers and street food, and the empanadas salteñas, small and juicy with beef, are an essential meal.
For riders, Salta is the gate to the Calchaquí valleys, a rugged landscape of red rock, dry river canyons and tall cactus. To the south the road heads through the Quebrada de las Conchas, a gorge of eroded sandstone with names like the Devil's Throat and the Amphitheatre, ending in the wine town of Cafayate, known for the white grape torrontés. To the west, the national route climbs the Cuesta del Obispo, a dirt and paved switchback pass that reaches well over three thousand metres, before dropping to the village of Cachi, with white adobe houses and a view of snow-capped Nevado de Cachi.
These are not routes for a bad day. Distances are large, altitude is real, and temperatures swing wildly between sun and shade. Sections of gravel appear without warning, and in the summer rainy season from December to March, flash floods can cut roads and wash out bridges for hours or days. Autumn and winter are drier and clearer, though nights at altitude go below freezing. Wind and dust are common, and animals wander onto the road.
Salta has all the fuel, workshops and food that a rider needs, so it is the place to prepare for the trip. Campo Quijano, at the start of the Quebrada del Toro, is the last sizeable town on the road toward the Andes, and the famous high railway, known as the Tren a las Nubes, passes along that gorge. After the ride, the peñas, folk music clubs with guitars and singing, are a pleasant way to wind down.