Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
440 km from Santa María to Santa María, about 7 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana, Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de, San Ignacio Mini and back through Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de. It crosses from Argentina into Paraguay - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Santa María la Mayor
Red earth is the first thing you notice in Misiones, the thin finger of northeastern Argentina squeezed between Paraguay and Brazil. The soil is the colour of a brick, the forest is subtropical, and the roads cut through it leave long scarlet stripes on the verge. Santa María la Mayor, a small town of under two thousand, lies in this country, and its main attraction is a ruin the forest nearly swallowed.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Santa María la Mayor is where the day begins. Next is Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana.
2. Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana
Deep in the red earth of Misiones, in the north-eastern tip of Argentina, the forest is slowly reclaiming a mission town. Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana was one of the Jesuit reductions, settlements where Jesuit priests gathered the Guaraní people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, partly to protect them from slave raiders and partly to convert them. The towns were laid out around a central plaza with a church, a school, workshops and houses, and the Guaraní built, carved and played music in a form that mixed European baroque with their own skills. Santa Ana, founded in the 1630s, is among the lesser known, and much of it lies in ruin under trees and vines.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de.
3. Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de
In the south-east of Paraguay, near the Parana river and the Argentine border, a field of red earth, tall trees and golden sandstone walls marks the site of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana, one of the largest of the Jesuit missions built among the Guarani people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The ruins are about nine kilometres from Hohenau, a small town of just over five thousand people, and not far from Trinidad village and Jesus, where another mission stands.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de. Next is San Ignacio Mini.
4. San Ignacio Miní
Red sandstone, carved with angels, vines and saints, rises out of the green jungle of northeastern Argentina at San Ignacio Miní, the best preserved of the Jesuit missions in the province of Misiones. Founded in the early seventeenth century and moved to its present site in the 1690s, the mission was a town for several thousand Guaraní people, organised by Jesuit priests, with a great church, workshops, houses, a school and a plaza. The church's facade, in a style often called Guaraní Baroque, combines European forms with local motifs carved by Guaraní craftsmen. The mission, with others in Argentina and Brazil, became a World Heritage Site in 1983 and 1984.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Santa María la Mayor closes the day.
Leg by leg
Santa María la Mayor to Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana
Santa María la Mayor → Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana to Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de
Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana → Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de to San Ignacio Mini
Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de → San Ignacio Mini is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Ignacio Miní to back through Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de
San Ignacio Miní → back through Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de to back through Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana
back through Jesuit Mission of La Santísima Trinidad de → back through Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana to Santa María la Mayor
back through Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana → Santa María la Mayor is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.