La Rioja province

La Rioja is usually visited for the wonderful Parque Nacional Talampaya, a vast canyon of rock sculpted by wind and water into fantastic shapes, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. However, there's also stunning scenery beyond the national park and places where you can find perfect tranquility, since the area is sparsely populated and little visited. Between the mountain ranges of the west are the extended Famatina and Vinchina valleys with verdant oasis villages at the foot of colourful eroded hills. In the arid southeast are the plains known as Llanos de los Caudillos, with the beautiful Sierra de los Llanos and extraordinary saltflats nearby. The city of La Rioja itself has two fine museums of indigenous art. For more information, see www.larioja.

gov.ar/turismo (in Spanish), or www.lariojaturismo.com (in English).