CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Out of Salta, one way: 401 km, roughly 6 h 44 in the saddle. It goes by way of Alemania, Amphitheatre and Devils Throat. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 3,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 68 km this is Quebrada de las Conchas, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
Read the complete Salta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salta is where the day begins. Next is Alemania.
Alemania is a small, sun-baked place at the entrance to the Quebrada de las Conchas, on the road from Salta to Cafayate, and it looks like the setting for a western. The village lies in a dry valley of the Calchaquí country, surrounded by red hills, with a river bed that is dry for much of the year and a few low houses of adobe and brick. It is quiet to the point of stillness, a place where a dog sleeping in the road is a major event, and a ghostly air hangs over the old railway station.
Read the complete Alemania write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Alemania comes up 100 km in. Next is Amphitheatre.
The Amphitheatre is a huge natural bowl cut into the red rock of the Quebrada de las Conchas, a half-circle of towering sandstone with the acoustics of a concert hall. The walls are about thirty metres high, and the narrow opening lets the sound bounce around in a way that makes a single voice carry. Local musicians often play here, with charango and guitar, and a few sing for tips. It is an extraordinary experience to hear a folk song echoing around the cliffs, and even a shout comes back at you with a startling clarity.
Read the complete Amphitheatre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
201 km in you reach Amphitheatre. Next is Devils Throat.
The Garganta del Diablo, the Devil's Throat, is a narrow, deep cleft in the red cliffs of the Quebrada de las Conchas, and it is one of the most dramatic stops on the road between Salta and Cafayate. A short path leads from the road up into the gorge, between walls that close in overhead and cut out much of the sky. The rock is rust-coloured and streaked with other tones, and the light inside is a strange glowing orange. It is cool and shaded, a welcome contrast to the hot sun outside.
Read the complete Devils Throat write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Devils Throat, late in the day. Next is Cafayate.
Cafayate is a wine town at about sixteen hundred metres in the Calchaquí valleys of Salta province, in the dry north-west of Argentina, and it is the reward at the end of a long ride south. After days of high desert, salt flats and unpaved passes, you come down into a flat valley full of vines and suddenly there is shade, cold white wine and a plaza where people sit for hours. The mountains stand on both sides, brown and bare, and the light is so clear that distances seem shorter than they are.
Read the complete Cafayate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Cafayate. That is the ride.
Salta → Alemania is 237 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Alemania → Amphitheatre is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Devils Throat → Cafayate is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.