Catamarca city

The provincial capital's real attraction the rather lengthy San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, and it is sleepy and traditional. Unless you're here for the poncho festival in mid-July, there's little to draw you to the city. There are some attractive 19th-century buildings grouped around a large central plaza, and a wonderful museum, but the accommodation is basic, and the summers are unbearably hot with temperatures up to 45°C. El Rodeo, an hour away by regular minibus, makes a far more appealing alternative if you're on the way to the punaor Chile.

Getting around

The city is small enough to walk around, with most hotels situated on Sarmiento, northwest of the plaza. Shops and banks are mostly on the pedestrianized street Rivadavia, which runs down the eastern side of the plaza and continues to the south. Buses link the city to outlying areas of the province, and there are many minibuses a day to Villa El Rodeo.

Best time to visit

The best time to visit is during the Poncho festival in mid July, book accommodation in advance. It's best to avoid the summer, when temperatures exceed 40°C. Very sensibly, the siesta is strictly observed here and everything closes down from 1230-1700.

Sights

The central, leafy Plaza 25 de Mayowas designed by the illustrious architect Charles Thays and contains tall trees of unusual species, providing much needed shade from the scorching summer heat, and a rather striking equestrian sculpture of San Martín. There's the white stuccoed Casa de Gobierno(1891), designed by Caravati and, to the west, the faded red bulk of his neo-classicalcathedral(1878), looking rather forlorn but sporting a pair of fine mosaic tiled cupolas on its towers. The interior is a rather uncelestial, peeling eau de nil, but the scenes from the life of Christ painted on the ceiling are lovely. In a chapel high above and behind the altar, you can visit the much worshipped Virgen del Valle all dressed up, on a mighty gilded pedestal. Access is up a double staircase system to the Camarín, where the walls of the chapel are lined with plaques of offerings and cases crammed with thousands of silver arms, legs, hands and eyes offered by her followers over the years. One block north of the plaza, the Iglesia de San Francisco(1882), has an impressive colonial-style façade.

The must-see of the city is the incredible Museo Arqueológico 'Adán Quiroga' containing an enormous collection of artefacts from the sophisticated pre-Hispanic cultures who inhabited the area from around 1000 BC. There are carved stone vessels with animal figures leaping off their sides, beautifully painted funerary urns, deliberately flattened skulls (compressed by the owners by wearing wooden boards), and quite a shocking mummified baby, naturally conserved above 5000 m. Allow at least an hour to discover the many fascinating finds.