Why this ride
A lake mountain road from San Martin de los Andes, Neuquen to Villa La Angostura, Neuquen, via Lago Machonico. Key character: Andean lakes; forests; volcanic peaks. Surface: paved.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Route of the Seven Lakes
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 112 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 23
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Seven Lakes Route
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 43 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 43 km
- Named road
- Seven Lakes Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. San Martín de los Andes
San Martín de los Andes lies at the eastern end of Lake Lácar, in a pocket of Patagonian forest, and the town itself feels as though it were assembled from the surrounding trees: steep-roofed wooden chalets, carved signs, the smell of woodsmoke in the cooler months. It began in 1898 as a military post, one of the forts established in the conquest of the Mapuche lands, and grew into a mountain resort of around twenty-three thousand people. The Mapuche presence is still strong in the region, and the Lanín volcano, which rises to 3,776 metres above the lake district, is sacred to them.
Read the complete San Martin de los Andes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Route of the Seven Lakes point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Route of the Seven Lakes point 2.
2. Route of the Seven Lakes point 2
Somewhere on this part of the road you cross from the valley of San Martin into the lake district proper, and the first of the lakes appears among dark forest. The seven lakes along the route are glacial, scooped out by ice during the last ice age and filled with meltwater, and each has its own colour, from steel blue to green to a milky turquoise when the light is right. Machonico, Falkner and Villarino are among those you pass, and they line up like beads along the road.
Read the complete Route of the Seven Lakes point 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Route of the Seven Lakes point 2 comes up 26 km in. Next is Route of the Seven Lakes point 3.
3. Near Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura is a small town of about seven and a half thousand people on the north shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi, in the Patagonian Andes of Neuquén province, and it has the air of a Swiss resort that was built with local timber and stone. The name means the narrow village, from the slim isthmus that joins the town's peninsula to the mainland. It was founded in the 1930s, and the log-and-stone chalets, chocolate shops and smokehouses give it a cosy character. To the east, the city of Bariloche lies about eighty kilometres away along the lake.
Read the complete Near Villa La Angostura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 67 km in you reach Route of the Seven Lakes point 3. Next is Route of the Seven Lakes point 4.
4. Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura is a small town of about seven and a half thousand people on the north shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi, in the Patagonian Andes of Neuquén province, and it has the air of a Swiss resort that was built with local timber and stone. The name means the narrow village, from the slim isthmus that joins the town's peninsula to the mainland. It was founded in the 1930s, and the log-and-stone chalets, chocolate shops and smokehouses give it a cosy character. To the east, the city of Bariloche lies about eighty kilometres away along the lake.
Read the complete Near Villa La Angostura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Route of the Seven Lakes point 4, late in the day.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Route of the Seven Lakes starting at San Martín de los Andes · 224 km
- Seven Lakes Road · 108 km
- Seven Lakes Route · 113 km