South of San Miguel de Tucumán

Once you travel past the city of Tucumán, on the highway you actually will enter the province of Santiago de Estero. A good guide for more information is www.turismo santiago.gov.ar, and www.santiagodelestero.net (both in Spanish).

Santiago del Estero

This quiet, provincial town makes a handy stopping point if you're heading from the flat landscape of the Chaco to explore the northwest corner of Argentina but little of the architectural heritage of Argentina's oldest city remains. There are, however, some comfortable places to stay, a couple of museums worth seeing, and the people are among Argentina's most friendly and welcoming.

Santiago was founded in 1553 and was an important base for establishing other major cities in the northwest. As the other cities grew, Santiago was left behind and the town is now a rather impoverished older neighbour. It's a bit run-down, with its plaza in a shambolic state of affairs, but it has a warm, laid-back atmosphere and the siesta here is legendary.
On the Plaza Libertad stand the Municipalidadand Jefatura de Policia, built in 1868 in the style of a colonial cabildo. On the west side is the cathedral, the fifth on the site, dating from 1877. Two blocks southeast of the plaza is the Convento de Santo Domingo, containing one of two copies of the 'Turin Shroud', but otherwise unremarkable.

The best museum is the Museo de Ciencias Antropológicas y Naturales with the wonderfully eclectic collection of pre-Hispanic artefacts by brothers Emilio and Duncan Wagner, now sadly haphazardly presented and badly conserved. Amongst the stuffed armadillos, bone flutes, delicate spindles and board-flattened skulls, is a breathtaking quantity of beautifully decorated funerary urns, some rare bronze ceremonial hachas, and anthropomorphic pieces.

Termas de Río Hondo

Argentina's most popular spa town is also its most dreary. It was very popular in the 1950s but much of it remains unmodernized from that era, and the only real reason to visit is if you want to take advantage of the warm mineral-laden waters, which are piped into every hotel in the city. Older Argentines hold it in fond regard and it's a mecca for visitors with arthritic or skin conditions in July and August, when you'll need to book in advance. Out of season, it's a depressing place.