Bariloche is one of those places we keep finding our way back to. As the gateway to Argentina’s Lake District, this is a destination we’ve visited several times over the years, and somehow each trip has felt completely different from the last.
We’ve come here for hiking and horseback riding in the autumn colours, cruised across Nahuel Huapi, eaten our way through chocolate shops and breweries, stayed in everything from quiet lakeside accommodation to the legendary Llao Llao, and more recently returned with our daughter in tow.
That’s probably why Bariloche has become one of my favourite destinations to write about in Argentina. It’s not a place I associate with one particular trip or one particular kind of holiday anymore. I have memories here from very different stages of our travels, and every return seems to uncover another side of it.
This guide brings together the things I think are most worth doing in Bariloche based on our trips over the years, along with a few useful options we haven’t personally tried yet, but that may make sense for your visit.
Whether this is your first trip to Patagonia or Bariloche is already somewhere you’re itching to return to, I hope it helps you figure out what deserves a place on your itinerary!
Things to Do in Bariloche
This article features 25 things to do in and around Bariloche. The idea isn’t to do everything in one trip, but rather pick and choose what works best for you, based on your personal wants and the time you have at your disposal. Now let’s dive in!
1. Drive the Circuito Chico
One must-do activity in Bariloche is to drive the Circuito Chico, which literally means ‘short circuit’.
This scenic drive follows the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi as you leave Bariloche heading northwest, and it loops around various lakes before circling back towards the city.
We’ve done this loop a few times now, and it’s always fun stopping at different lookout points, breweries, restaurants, and hiking trails, while enjoying a beautiful day out in nature. It’s not really one attraction.
This drive is typically done in half a day, including stops for food and photos; however, you could easily turn it into a full-day activity by hiking Cerro Llao Llao or kayaking Lago Moreno (I recommend renting kayaks at Playa Sin Viento, which literally means Windless Beach).
As for tackling this trip, you have a few ways to approach it. An organized excursion is the easiest option if you want the main sights without worrying about transportation. A rental car gives you much more freedom. Public buses can get you to several important areas as well, though they aren’t a sightseeing service where you simply hop on and off every few minutes. We’ve always done the Circuito Chico by bus, and it worked for us, but it all depends on your personal preference.
My main piece of advice is not to rush Circuito Chico. This is exactly the kind of place where stopping for a beer because the view is pretty is part of the plan.
If you don’t want to rent a car, you can join a guided tour of Bariloche’s Circuito Chico. This half-day tour includes a stop at Cerro Campanario and it’s worth paying to ride the chairlift to the top!
2. See Isla Victoria & Arrayanes Forest by Boat
We’ve done the Isla Victoria and Bosque de Arrayanes excursion a couple of times, and this remains one of the classic Bariloche tours I recommend for a first time visit.
The trip to Isla Victoria leaves from Puerto Pañuelo and combines two very different stops.
I preferred the feeling on Isla Victoria. Once everyone disembarked, people spread out along different paths and beaches, so the island gave us some room to wander rather than feeling like one giant tour group moving around together.
There were forests, mountain views and these beautiful little stretches of shoreline where you could slow down and enjoy the scenery.
You don’t have to stick with a guide on the island, just make sure you don’t miss your boat back!
Bosque de Arrayanes was a much shorter and more concentrated stop. The attraction there is the forest of arrayán trees with their smooth cinnamon-coloured bark, and visitors follow a boardwalk through the grove.
We’ve actually visited Bosque de Arrayanes in two completely different ways. On this excursion from Bariloche, it was one stop on a boat tour. On another trip, we reached the forest by boat from Villa La Angostura and then hiked roughly 12 kilometres back across the Quetrihué Peninsula. Same forest. Completely different experience.
We also paid for an upgraded seating and catering option on our Bariloche cruise. I’m glad we did. The food and drinks turned the navigation itself into part of the day instead of treating the boat as nothing more than transportation.
If you’d rather make the island an overnight, Isla Victoria Lodge is a luxurious option. We haven’t stayed there yet, though it’s on the short list for a future visit!
This boat tour visits Isla Victoria and the Arrayanes Forest. It runs 6-7 hours in length and it’s a day filled with epic mountain and lake views, as well as plenty of time to explore the island on foot.
3. Visit Puerto Blest & Los Cantaros Waterfall
Puerto Blest takes you into a much greener, wetter and more remote corner of Nahuel Huapi National Park. It’s one of the most secluded and pristine arms of the lake surrounded by dense Valdivian rainforest.
The boat tour to Puerto Blest begins in Puerto Pañuelo and after an hour of sailing, you’ll see Centinela Island, where the remains of Perito Moreno lie – he was the father of Argentine national parks.
Aside from visiting Puerto Blest, the trip includes a stop at Puerto Cántaros, where you disembark to visit Cascada de los Cántaros, Lago Cántaro and a 1500-year-old Alerce tree.
We’ve actually stayed overnight at Hotel Puerto Blest. We were travelling on the return leg of the Cruce Andino from Puerto Varas to Bariloche and decided to break up the journey rather than force the entire crossing into one exhausting day.
I’m very glad we did. By the time we arrived, it felt as though we’d travelled far beyond Bariloche even though the city was still connected to us through the lake system.
Mountains rose around the water, forest covered everything, and there really wasn’t much around beyond the hotel and the landscape. We even had a heated pool waiting for us at the end of a long family travel day.
If I were comparing Bariloche’s two big lake days, I’d think about atmosphere. Isla Victoria gives you a classic Nahuel Huapi cruise with island walking and the Arrayanes Forest. Puerto Blest feels more remote. It’s the one I’d choose if what you really want is that sensation of travelling deep into the national park.
You can book your day trip to Puerto Blest and Los Cantaros Waterfall here. This is a 9-hour excursion and you will spend time outdoors hiking, so dress accordingly, especially if you’re visiting outside the summer season.
4. Admire the views from Cerro Campanario
Cerro Campanario is a must-visit spot for its beautiful panoramic views of the region.
You can reach the mountaintop by either hiking or taking the chairlift. I’d recommend the chairlift since there are much prettier hikes in Bariloche! We decided to walk up, but it was a very steep and dusty trail through the forest.
Once you reach the top, you’ll have 360-degree views of Nahuel Huapi Lake, Moreno Lake, El Trébol Lagoon, San Pedro Peninsula, Isla Victoria, Cerro Otto, Cerro López, Cerro Goye, Cerro Bellavista, Cerro Catedral and the Llao Llao Hotel.
Cerro Campanario was voted one of the best panoramic views in the world by National Geographic, so you know it’s good!
5. Take a Bariloche Walking Tour
Central Bariloche is compact enough to explore independently, but a walking tour can be useful early in your trip if you want the history behind what you’re looking at.
There are several Bariloche walking tours with different themes, including general city history, German immigration and Indigenous history. Most focus on the historic centre around Centro Cívico before branching into nearby streets.
I like doing this kind of orientation at the beginning of a trip because it gives you a mental map before you start spending entire days outside the centre. And trust me, once Bariloche starts sending you west toward mountains and lakes, you can go a surprisingly long time without seeing downtown again.
The most popular walking tour in Bariloche is this 1.5-hour German Footprint tour that explores the different waves of German immigration before and after World War II and how they shaped Bariloche.
6. Enjoy year-round fun at Cerro Catedral
Cerro Catedral or Cathedral Mountain is named after its cathedral-like peaks and spires, which resemble the steeples of a Gothic church. This mountain is primarily known for its ski resort and dominates Bariloche’s winter identity.
Catedral Alta Patagonia is the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere, offering over 120 kilometres worth of ski runs. The resort caters to all skill levels, from beginners to expert skiers and snowboarders. The mountain also offers opportunities for snowshoeing and snowmobile tours during the winter season.
We haven’t skied here ourselves, so I can’t give you a personal review of the slopes, lifts or whether my legs survived day three.
When the snow melts, Cerro Catedral transforms into a hub for summer activities. Hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, and paragliding are all popular activities.
They have a system of lifts, including gondolas and chairlifts, that operate year-round, which gives you access to aerial views of the region.
7. Hike Cerro Tronador
Cerro Tronador translates to Thundering Mountain and it gets its name due to the deafening sound that occurs when massive chunks of ice break off the glaciers and crash down.
The peak of Cerro Tronador stands 3,491 meters above sea level making it the highest mountain in the Argentine Lake District.
This extinct stratovolcano sits on the border between Argentina and Chile, and it draws avid mountaineers.
It is possible to visit the base of Cerro Tronador on a day trip from Bariloche, where you get views of the Ventisquero Negro Glacier.
Cerro Tronador is not the mountain excursion I would casually tack onto the end of another day. This one takes commitment.
A normal visit from Bariloche can take around nine or ten hours, carrying you deep into Nahuel Huapi National Park toward the Tronador and Ventisquero Negro area.
We haven’t personally done this particular excursion, but we did get to enjoy views of Mount Tronador while travelling the Cruce Andino route across the Andes Mountains.
The logistics alone tell you a lot about how to treat this trek. Part of the road toward Pampa Linda is gravel, and sections operate using directional traffic windows. Weather and seasonal road conditions also matter. This isn’t a situation where I’d sleep late, grab a coffee and casually decide at noon that today seems like a Cerro Tronador day.
If you’re self-driving, check the current road rules first. If you’re taking a tour, accept that most of your day belongs to the excursion.
For travellers who want to travel deep into the national park and see a very different mountain landscape without necessarily doing a major hike, Cerro Tronador makes sense.
But this is also where Bariloche itineraries start getting dangerous. Not physically, but mathematically, because once you’ve added Tronador, Puerto Blest, Isla Victoria and a couple of long regional excursions, suddenly every day of your holiday starts with an alarm clock.
You can book your full-day excursion to Cerro Tronador to see the hanging glacier. This is a 9-hour tour where you’ll get to see some hard-to-reach corners of Nahuel Huapi National Park.
8. Explore Bariloche’s Craft-Beer Scene
Chocolate gets all the attention, but Bariloche is synonymous with craft beer too.
We’ve visited breweries both downtown and farther west, and some of them are destinations in their own right. Cervecería Patagonia is probably the most scenic brewery we’ve visited in the area.
The views are huge. You’ve got lakes, mountains and forest outside, so sitting down for a beer there feels more like the final stop on a sightseeing day than simply going out for a drink.
We’ve also eaten and had beer at Manush, and one of our memorable meals farther west was at Cervecería Gilbert, where we tried regional dishes including trout and wild boar.
This is the side of Bariloche food that I think surprises people. You arrive expecting chocolate and discover craft beer, trout, wild boar, goulash, fondue, hearty pub food and all sorts of Alpine-influenced dishes.
Beer also happens to taste very good after spending half a day outside in cold Patagonian weather!
9. Kayak Bariloche’s Lakes and Rivers
With Bariloche’s endless crystalline lakes and rivers, there are plenty of kayaking opportunities available.
Lago Moreno and Lago Nahuel Huapi are two popular destinations for kayaking excursions.
Don’t worry if you’re not a super experienced kayaker, the guides will choose a kayaking route suited to your level of experience and also weather conditions seeing as some lakes are windier than others.
If you’re up for an adventure, opt for a full-day kayaking tour that includes a picnic-style lunch and the opportunity to enjoy a swim.
Weather around here matters. A lake can look like glass in the morning and become a very different place once the wind picks up. Bariloche has cured me of thinking outdoor plans are sacred. If the weather is wrong, change the plan. The lake will still be there tomorrow.
This Bariloche kayaking tour is tailored to your skill level and it’s a great way to enjoy a day out in Argentina’s Lake District. Snacks, beverages, and a picnic are provided.
10. Join a Horseback Riding Tour
One of my favourite days was our horseback ride around Lake Gutiérrez.
I found it to be a very easy ride, which works well if you’re not an experienced rider. We followed our guide through forest, and then out into more open terrain before eventually returning via the lakeshore.
When the ride finished, we came back to the lodge for an asado and shared a meal with another couple we had met during the tour. It was a fun but low-key day out in nature.
This horseback riding tour takes you on a 2-hour trail ride along the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Back at the ranch, you get to enjoy a traditional Argentine BBQ lunch.
11. Choose a Bariloche Hike
Hiking in Bariloche covers an enormous range. You can do fairly gentle forest walks, you can head up to mountain refuges, or you can turn your holiday into a multi-day trek. All Trails has a list of 200+ hiking trails in and around Bariloche, just to give you an idea!
Our autumn hike to Laguna Verde from the Refugio Neumeyer area sat somewhere toward the more approachable end.
We started in frosty conditions, hiking through lenga forest while the autumn colours became more intense around us. By the time we reached Laguna Verde, the contrast was gorgeous. Green water, red foliage and crisp air.
This was one of those places where visiting in autumn completely changed the experience.
Refugio Neumeyer still provides access to several trails, but season matters enormously. Snow can transform difficulty and access, so don’t assume a trail description from summer applies in winter.
There are also protections around Laguna Verde itself, so hikers should stay on the designated trail rather than heading down to the water.
If you’re not an experienced hiker and you find the prospect of venturing off on a solo hike a bit daunting, you can book a hiking tour. The local guides will tailor the experience based on your fitness and experience level and choose a trail accordingly.
This private hiking tour runs 6-8 hours and can be tailored to your interests and fitness level. It includes snacks, lunch and all necessary hiking equipment.
12. Go up Cerro Otto for more views
More views? Yes, more views! When you’re visiting a mountain city, there are views to be had at every turn.
Cerro Otto is a mountain located in Nahuel Huapi National Park and it stands 1405 meters tall.
This mountain is a year-round destination. During the winter months, you can go skiing, snowboarding and sledding. Meanwhile, during the warmer months, you can enjoy the hiking trails as well as the zipline and aerial adventures.
You can take a chairlift to the top of Cerro Otto. It’s a 12-minute journey and you get to enjoy panoramic views along the way.
If you get hungry at the top, there’s a rotating restaurant called Confitería Giratoria Cerro Otto.
13. Visit Bariloche Cathedral
Bariloche’s cathedral is one of those landmarks I photographed long before I properly went inside.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Nahuel Huapi was designed by Alejandro Bustillo and inaugurated in 1946. Its tall neo-Gothic spire and local stone make it easy to pick out as you walk along the waterfront.
We eventually visited on our family trip with Aurelia. By that point, we’d already spent a good chunk of the day walking around central Bariloche, so the cathedral worked perfectly as a short stop rather than something that needed its own elaborate plan.
That’s still how I’d approach it. If you’re already exploring downtown, walk over, have a look inside if it’s open, and continue along the waterfront. It’s an active cathedral rather than a museum, so services and events can affect visiting hours.
14. Take a Photo at the Bariloche Sign
Yes, we stopped for the giant Bariloche sign. The letters sit beside Lake Nahuel Huapi with the mountains in the background, and it’s one of those tourist photos that is touristy for a reason.
What I remember most from one visit was the wonderfully organized little queue. Everyone waited their turn, and people kept handing phones and cameras to the next stranger so they could take each other’s photos.
Once you’ve collected your evidence that you were indeed in Bariloche, keep walking along the waterfront. This is one of the simplest pleasures in town. You’re still surrounded by streets, restaurants and hotels, but you look across Nahuel Huapi and suddenly the city feels tiny.
Just don’t underestimate the wind. We’ve had days in Bariloche when the temperature sounded perfectly reasonable until we reached the exposed waterfront and discovered that the lake had other plans. Layers are your friend here.
15. Try your Hand at Fly Fishing
While most avid fishermen would likely book themselves into a fishing lodge for a week (that’s what we did further south at Estancia Tecka!), it is possible to book fly fishing day tours from Bariloche.
These trips are a great way to experience the Patagonia wilderness while accompanied by an expert fishing guide who knows where to catch the best trout – rainbows, browns and brookies!
Some of the fly fishing spots of choice include the Limay River, Manso River, and Pichi Leufu River in the heart of Nahuel Huapi National Park.
These tours are high-ticket items, but they include private transportation from your hotel to the fishing sites, boats when required, one bilingual guide per 2 anglers, and a full lunch with unlimited wine and beer, plus all necessary fishing gear.
Gratuities and the fishing license from the national park are extra.
This Bariloche fly fishing tour is rated a solid 5 stars and it has 315+ rave reviews. The private tour is open to seasoned fisherman as well as first-timers who want to reel in a big catch.
16. Sample Artisanal Patagonian Chocolate
One of the best things to do in Bariloche if you have a sweet tooth is to go chocolate shop hopping!
Mitre Street is lined with chocolatiers, so you don’t have to choose one shop and solemnly declare it the winner. You can walk around, sample a few things and turn chocolate into a whole afternoon activity. If you want a deeper hit list, we have a separate guide to chocolate shops to visit.
We’ve done this very enthusiastically. One stop we really enjoyed was Mamuschka, where we ordered drinks and a selection of little pastries and chocolates. Samuel got the hot chocolate. This thing was intense. It was so thick and rich that it looked as though someone had melted a chocolate bar directly into the cup.
I chose tea, which briefly allowed me to pretend I was exercising restraint. Then the desserts arrived.
We worked our way through chocolate mousse, alfajor-style bites, custard pastries and cheesecake, and somewhere during that meal I remember thinking it was probably a good thing we didn’t live in Bariloche full-time. I don’t have that kind of discipline.
Rapa Nui is another favourite of ours, especially for ice cream and Franui, those chocolate-covered raspberries that are dangerously easy to keep eating. My advice is to share. That way you can try more things. This is purely for quality control, obviously.
And a box of artisanal chocolates makes for a great Argentine souvenir to take back home and share.
17. Visit the Havanna Chocolate Museum
Havanna is one of Argentina’s most iconic brands and it is best known for its alfajores, a traditional Argentine treat consisting of two crumbly cookies filled with a creamy caramel-like spread called dulce de leche.
It only makes sense that the brand runs Bariloche’s chocolate museum!
We visited and what surprised me most were the giant sculptures made entirely out of chocolate depicting wildlife. We saw foxes, penguins, pumas and condors – all made of chocolate!
After visiting the museum, we exited through the Havanna cafe where we purchased treats and had a coffee and an alfajor.
The museum sits along Avenida Bustillo rather than right in the heart of Mitre, so you’ll need to make a small detour from the centre. It’s also a useful option if you get a really rainy, snowy or windy day.
18. Try Bariloche’s Casual Street-Food Scene
Not every Bariloche meal needs to involve a reservation, a tasting menu or a tower of chocolate.
The city also has a casual side, including food-truck patios and quick places serving burgers, sandwiches and beer. El Garage has been one of the newer food-truck-style patios, though this is the kind of thing I’d check when you arrive because individual businesses and opening arrangements can change.
This isn’t one of the food experiences I have a strong personal verdict on. I mainly think it earns a place because there comes a moment in almost every Patagonia trip when you don’t want another elaborate meal. You’ve been hiking. You’re tired. You want some culinary variety and this spot delivers that.
19. Afternoon Tea at Llao Llao
Another fun thing to do in Bariloche is to go for afternoon tea in the Winter Garden at the Llao Llao Hotel. This is an iconic hotel surrounded by lakes and mountains.
Years before we ever stayed overnight at Llao Llao, we decided to go there for afternoon tea. At the time, we were staying in Villa Campanario and travelling around by local bus, so we simply rode over and walked up to the hotel.
We arrived early because we wanted time to look around before tea. That was a good decision. Llao Llao has one of those settings that makes you understand immediately why the hotel is so famous. It sits on a hill surrounded by lakes, mountains and forest, and even wandering through the main public areas felt like part of the experience.
We had afternoon tea in the Winter Garden. When we visited, it was buffet-style. We had purposely skipped lunch because we knew what was coming.
We had sandwiches, cakes, tarts, macarons, scones, chocolate, tea, and then sparkling wine!
I love the idea of afternoon tea for travellers who want to experience this 5-star hotel in an incredible location without necessarily paying for an overnight stay. It gave us our first little taste of Llao Llao years before we finally came back and stayed there. If the full resort stay is part of your trip, you can check current availability at Llao Llao Resort.
Tip: Afternoon tea at the Llao Llao Hotel is an activity that needs to be booked in advance. You can do so by contacting the hotel’s reservations desk.
Day Trips from Bariloche
Now, let’s move on to the day trips from Bariloche and there are plenty of them! The driving time from Bariloche to these destinations ranges from 35 minutes to 2 hours and 20 minutes, so they’re all very manageable distances.
20. Route of the Seven Lakes
Driving time: Full-day activity with multiple stops
The Route of the Seven Lakes is a scenic 107-kilometre road trip that stretches from the town of Villa La Angostura to San Martin de los Andes.
It runs along a stretch of National Route 40, which is the highway that crosses the full length of Argentina, and it’s a beautiful journey filled with snow-capped mountains, lush forests and pristine lakes.
It also crosses two national parks: Lanín National Park and Nahuel Huapi National Park.
We’ve travelled the route ourselves. Our experience, however, began in San Martín de los Andes rather than Bariloche.
We spent a full day stopping at different viewpoints and lakes, passing through areas including Correntoso and Villa La Angostura before eventually returning to San Martín de los Andes.
The weather changed continuously. At some stops, we had beautiful clear views. At others, fog rolled through and we could barely see what we’d come to photograph. You get what Patagonia gives you.
If you only have three or four days in Bariloche, I would think carefully before sacrificing one of them unless Seven Lakes is high on your wish list. If you’re already planning to visit San Martín de los Andes, the route makes much more sense as part of a wider Lake District journey. That’s my preferred way to experience it.
21. Villa La Angostura
Driving time: 1 hour 18 minutes
Villa La Angostura is a high-end resort town that sits on the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake.
The town is surrounded by crystalline lakes, dense forest, and its streets are lined with rose bushes, earning Villa La Angostura its title as ‘the Garden of Patagonia’.
One of our most memorable experiences was taking a boat out to the Quetrihué Peninsula, walking the boardwalk through the magical Arrayanes Forest said to have inspired Bambi, and then hiking the 12-kilometres back into town. It was just a really fun day out in nature!
22. Colonia Suiza
Driving time: 35 minutes
We managed to experience Colonia Suiza incorrectly. At least according to our original plan.
We wanted to visit when the village was serving its famous curanto. We arrived on the wrong day. No curanto. A lot of businesses were closed. The village was extremely quiet. And you know what? We still had a great day.
We reached Colonia Suiza by local buses and immediately went looking for lunch, because obviously. We had rösti, goulash and apple cake before wandering through the village.
Without the fair, the place felt sleepy. There were dirt roads, little artisan shops, unusual Alpine-style buildings and hardly any crowds.
Then we found the Elf Village. I had no idea what we were walking into. One minute we were wandering around Colonia Suiza and the next we were in a forest hearing stories about elves, gnomes, trolls, leprechauns and mysterious creatures hiding among the trees. It was wonderfully odd.
The stories were told in Spanish, which is worth knowing if you’re visiting with kids who won’t understand the language. We also got to feed goats at the end. That may have been my favourite part.
Later we walked down toward the water, wandered some more and finished our visit with beer and food. The bus ride made it an easy car-free outing for us.
Current fair activity is generally associated with Wednesdays and Sundays, but if eating curanto is the whole reason you’re going, confirm exactly when it’s being prepared before you travel out there. Do not use our planning method.
If you want more ideas once you’re there, we have a separate guide to the top things to do in Colonia Suiza.
23. El Bolsón
Driving time: 2 hours
El Bolsón is a picturesque mountain town with a decidedly hippie feel. It is framed by Cerro Piltriquitrón, a mountain whose name means “hanging from the clouds”.
Some of the main attractions in El Bolsón include the Sculpture Forest, where a burnt forest became art; and the Feria Artesanal, an outdoor hippie market that sells all sorts of handicrafts.
El Bolsón is roughly 129 kilometres south of Bariloche. That’s not a little detour. It’s a completely different town in the Comarca Andina, an area known for farms, mountain scenery, artisans and a more alternative small-town atmosphere.
We’ve travelled through this region as part of longer Lake District journeys, so I won’t pretend we simply popped down from Bariloche for the afternoon.
You can visit El Bolsón on an organized day trip from Bariloche. The bigger question is whether that’s the best use of your time.
If you have three days in Bariloche, I wouldn’t. There’s simply too much closer to the city. If you have a week or more and specifically want to see the Comarca Andina, then it becomes much more interesting.
The town also naturally connects with Lago Puelo, which is why you’ll often see the two combined into one excursion.
24. Lago Puelo
Driving time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Lago Puelo is a scenic mountain town that sits next to Lago Puelo National Park.
A boat tour of the lake (which turns emerald in certain sections!) is a must-do activity, plus it gives you the opportunity to hike to the border with Chile.
Lago Puelo also has plenty of hiking trails, some of which lead to rivers and waterfalls.
Because of its location, Lago Puelo makes much more sense when paired with El Bolsón rather than treated as a completely separate Bariloche excursion. That’s how current-day tours generally approach it.
You’re already travelling a significant distance south, so seeing both destinations on the same day is the more logical option if Bariloche remains your base.
We’ve travelled around this wider part of the Lake District, but not as one neat little Bariloche day tour. The farther south you go, the less useful it becomes to think of everything as ‘things to do from Bariloche.’ At some point, you’re simply travelling through Patagonia. And that’s a good thing.
25. El Hoyo
Driving time: 2 hours 18 minutes
El Hoyo is a small mountain community that’s quickly gaining popularity as an agrotourism destination.
The area is associated with fine-fruit production and agritourism, and nearby attractions include Puerto Patriada and Catarata Corbata Blanca. There are also wine-related experiences and Laberinto Patagonia, a large maze attraction that gives El Hoyo something very different from the lake-and-mountain sightseeing elsewhere on this list.
This is the deepest reach of this list. It’s around 140 kilometres south of Bariloche, also within the Comarca Andina.
Would I drive nearly 300 kilometres round trip from Bariloche purely to tick El Hoyo off? Probably not. Would I include it while staying around El Bolsón, Lago Puelo or travelling onward through the Comarca Andina? Absolutely. This is off-the-beaten-path Patagonia.
This is exactly why I don’t love treating every destination in the Lake District as a Bariloche day trip. Sometimes the better decision is to stay.
Choosing Where to Stay in Bariloche
The biggest thing repeated visits taught me about Bariloche is that accommodation isn’t just about choosing a hotel. You’re choosing the version of Bariloche you’re going to wake up in.
Stay downtown and life is easy. You can walk to restaurants, chocolate shops, the waterfront and Centro Cívico. If the weather changes, you have lots of alternatives close by. That convenience became especially useful when we returned with Aurelia.
Travelling with a young child already creates enough little negotiations without deliberately making every coffee require a bus journey.
Then again, central Bariloche has some serious hills. Add a stroller and suddenly those hills become very personal. We found stretches of broken pavement, uneven sidewalks and sections where the path effectively turned into stairs. I had never paid that much attention on earlier trips. Having a child will introduce you to infrastructure you previously ignored.
Western Bariloche gives you something different. When we stayed around Villa Campanario, we had quieter surroundings and much easier access to the lakes-and-forest side of the destination. I loved it. The buses worked for us, but we had to plan around them.
Lake Gutiérrez shifted things even further toward nature. On that autumn trip, we weren’t waking up thinking about cafés and shopping. We were thinking about horse riding, hiking and what the weather was doing over the mountains.
None of those areas is automatically better. For a short first trip, I’d lean toward convenience. For a longer visit or a return trip, I’d seriously consider getting out of the centre. That’s where Bariloche surprised me most.
If you’re still deciding, here are a few specific options worth comparing:
- Llao Llao Resort — the iconic resort if the property itself is the focus of the trip.
- Hotel Panamericano Bariloche — a central hotel option.
- Gran Hotel Panamericano — a family-oriented option; you can also read our hotel review here.
- Tierra Gaucha Hostel — a downtown option for travellers who value central positioning.
You can also find some pretty cool glamping spots in Patagonia, including a lakeside dome in Bariloche, so that’s another option worth exploring if you prefer unusual accommodations!
Getting around Bariloche without a Car
We’ve spent a surprising amount of our Bariloche travels using buses.
On one early trip we arrived at the bus terminal, bought SUBE cards and continued out toward our lakeside accommodation using local transport. We’ve used buses to reach Llao Llao, Puerto Pañuelo, western Bariloche and Colonia Suiza.
Bus #20 is the one that runs from the Bariloche Bus Terminal all the way out to Puerto Pañuelo (where boat tours depart from) and the Llao Llao Hotel. Bus #13A is the one you need to catch at the Circuito Chico Roundabout if you want to visit Colonia Suiza.
So yes, you can visit Bariloche without a car. We’ve done plenty of it ourselves.
There are trade-offs. Stay downtown and public transportation is relatively easy to work around. Stay farther west and suddenly bus timing becomes part of your day.
A bus can take you toward the attractions along Circuito Chico, but it cannot replicate the freedom of having your own vehicle and deciding to stop every time the scenery becomes ridiculous.
If you’re staying centrally and using organized excursions for the big days, I wouldn’t automatically rent a car. If your plans involve remote trailheads, several days exploring the Lake District or accommodation far from town, having one becomes much more attractive.
When Is the Best Time to Visit Bariloche?
The answer depends on what you came to do.
If skiing is the point, winter makes the decision for you. Cerro Catedral’s ski season is centred around the colder months, particularly July through September, but snow and mountain operations always depend on actual conditions.
If you’re coming for hiking, road trips, horse riding and lake excursions, the equation changes.
Autumn is the season I have the biggest soft spot for. Our Lake Gutiérrez trip was full of red and orange foliage, cold mornings and quieter trails. The trade-off was exactly what you’d expect from shoulder season: cooler weather and a greater chance of reduced seasonal services.
Summer gives you long days and huge outdoor possibilities, but you’ll share Bariloche with plenty of other people who had exactly the same clever idea. Spring sits somewhere in between. Winter transforms the destination entirely.
Rather than asking for Bariloche’s one perfect month, I would choose the three experiences you care about most and work backward. If you want skiing, you’ll get one answer. If you want hiking, boats and long drives, you’ll get another.
For a more detailed month-by-month overview, we have a breakdown of Bariloche’s seasons.
Which Bariloche Experiences Would I Prioritize?
If this were my first trip, I’d build it around four pieces.
I’d spend enough time in central Bariloche to actually enjoy it. Walk around Centro Cívico and the waterfront, visit a chocolate shop or three, and have a good meal instead of treating the city as nothing more than a bedroom between excursions.
Then I’d head west. Circuito Chico and the surrounding lakes-and-mountain scenery are such a major part of Bariloche’s identity that I wouldn’t skip that side of the destination.
After that, I’d choose one big lake or outdoor day based on what sounds like you.
For a classic scenery-first trip, I loved Puerto Blest and the boat journey across Nahuel Huapi. For something more active and quieter, our horse ride around Lake Gutiérrez remains one of my favourite memories from Bariloche. A hiker could easily choose a trail instead.
Then I’d look at the calendar. If you still have several days, that’s when I’d start thinking about a day trip like Villa La Angostura or the Seven Lakes.
And maybe that’s the best thing about Bariloche. You don’t finish it.
We’ve returned at different times in our lives, stayed in different areas and kept finding another version of the place. So don’t worry about completing the list. Pick the Bariloche that fits this trip. There will still be plenty left for the next one.