Bariloche 7 Day Itinerary: Circuito Chico, Tronador and the Seven Lakes by Car

About an hour, free. Pick up the car at the airport, east of town, drop your bags at the hotel and start at the main square. The Centro Cívico is a group of alpine style stone and timber buildings from the 1940s facing Lake Nahuel Huapi, and the town radiates out from it.

One of the buildings houses the Patagonia Museum. Calle Mitre, which runs east from the square, is lined with chocolate shops, and it is where almost everyone makes their first purchase.

Quick stop, 30 minutes, free, a ten minute walk from the Centro Cívico along the waterfront. The Catedral Nuestra Señora del Nahuel Huapi is built of stone in neo-Gothic style, and its tower appears in nearly every photo of the town.

Go in for the stained glass and leave on the lake side: sunset over Nahuel Huapi from the cathedral lawn is a good way to end your arrival day.

About 1h15, 30,000 pesos for the return chairlift, 15,000 for children aged 5 to 12; it runs from 9am to 5pm, the time of the last ride up. It sits at km 17.5 of Avenida Bustillo, the road that follows the lake west, and it is the first stop on the Circuito Chico.

From the top you see Nahuel Huapi, Lake Perito Moreno, the Llao Llao peninsula and the islands in a full circle. There is a café at the summit, and breakfast with that view is the reason to go up early.

Quick stop, 30 minutes, free, at km 25. The timber and stone hotel was designed by the architect Alejandro Bustillo and stands on a hill between two lakes.

Below it is Puerto Pañuelo, where the Day 3 boat leaves from. Just above the road, the Capilla San Eduardo, a wooden chapel overlooking the harbour, is worth the five minute climb.

Quick stop, 30 minutes, free. After the hotel, the road skirts Bahía López and climbs to this roadside viewpoint.

From here you look down on Lake Perito Moreno, the Llao Llao peninsula and the hotel, the shot on half the postcards in town.

About two hours, and it is lunch. The village was founded by Swiss immigrants in the late 19th century at the foot of Cerro López, a short detour off the Circuito Chico. On Wednesdays and Sundays, all year round, there is a craft fair and curanto, served around 2pm.

Curanto is pork, chicken, sausage, potatoes and pumpkin cooked on red hot stones in a pit in the ground, covered with leaves and earth for hours. If your Day 2 is not a Wednesday or a Sunday, swap it with Day 3: without the curanto, the detour is hard to justify.

About 2h30, 60,000 pesos for adults and 30,000 for children aged 6 to 12 and over 65s, including the return cable car. It opens at 10am, sits at km 5 of Avenida de los Pioneros and has a free bus from the centre and free parking.

The cabins take 12 minutes to reach 1,405 metres. At the top, the café turns slowly to show Nahuel Huapi, the town and the Andes in a full circle, and there is a gallery of replicas of Michelangelo sculptures. The cable car stops in strong wind, so check the complex’s social media before you go.

The whole afternoon by boat, from Puerto Pañuelo, 25 km from the centre. Turisur and Cau Cau leave around 2pm and return at 6.30pm, for 140,000 pesos; at Puerto Pañuelo you pay separately a 7,600 boarding fee and 35,000 for Nahuel Huapi National Park. Arrive an hour early.

The boat stops for 45 minutes at the tip of the Quetrihué peninsula, in a forest of arrayanes, cinnamon barked trees with white flowers that rarely grow into a forest like this. A wooden boardwalk loops between the trunks, and Los Arrayanes National Park was created to protect it.

About an hour on the half day trip, or 2h30 on the full day departure, which leaves at 12.15pm and replaces Cerro Otto. Isla Victoria is the largest island in Nahuel Huapi, and the boat lands at Puerto Anchorena.

Short trails lead through the forest, and the visit ends at Playa del Toro, a volcanic sand beach with rock paintings by the region’s Indigenous peoples.

Quick stop, 30 minutes, free, beside Ruta 40 south of town. Leave Bariloche around 8.30am: the road to Tronador has set hours for driving up, and it pays to arrive with time to spare.

Los Coihues is the best known beach on the lake, with calm water, and it is where you can rent a stand up paddleboard in summer. Stop for the photo and carry on south along the shore.

About an hour, with lunch. Follow Ruta 40 to Lake Mascardi and turn onto the Tronador road; at the entrance, Nahuel Huapi National Park charges 35,000 pesos per person. From Los Rápidos there are about 50 km of gravel with one way traffic: you can only drive up from 10.30am to 2pm and only down from 4pm to 6pm. It is about two hours from Bariloche.

Pampa Linda is a clearing at the foot of Cerro Tronador, an extinct volcano on the Chilean border covered in glaciers. The lodge serves lunch and the trails to the glaciers start here. The mountain is named after the thunder of falling ice, so listen for it.

About two hours, until it is time to head down. At the end of the road, a few kilometres past Pampa Linda, the Ventisquero Negro ends in a green lagoon full of ice blocks. It is dark because it carries rock and sediment down from Tronador.

From the same car park a trail leads to the Garganta del Diablo, a wall of waterfalls beneath the glacier. Start down at 4pm, when the return window opens, and you will be back in Bariloche for dinner. In winter the road may require a high clearance vehicle and chains; check the park website.

Quick stop, 20 minutes, free. Bariloche to Villa La Angostura is about 1h15 along the north shore of Nahuel Huapi. Fill up the tank in town before heading onto the route.

On the way out of the village the road crosses the Río Correntoso, which links Lake Correntoso to Nahuel Huapi in a few hundred metres of blue water. Walk down beside the bridge: it is one of the most popular trout fishing spots in the region.

Quick stop, 30 minutes, free. The Seven Lakes Route is the fully paved stretch of Ruta 40 between Villa La Angostura and San Martín de los Andes, past lakes Espejo, Correntoso, Villarino, Falkner, Escondido, Machónico and Lácar.

Espejo, which means mirror, comes first. It is named for still water that reflects the forest, and the viewpoints are right by the road.

About an hour, free, and the longest stop of the day. After Villarino the road runs right beside Falkner, with a sandy beach facing Cerro Buque, the flat topped mountain whose name means ship.

In summer you can swim, in cold water. Nearby, the Vuliñanco waterfall drops a few metres from the road. From Falkner it is about an hour more to San Martín de los Andes, past Escondido and Machónico.

About 45 minutes, free, late in the afternoon after checking in. The viewpoint is on the hillside a few minutes’ drive from the centre and looks over the bay of Lake Lácar, with the town tucked at the end of the valley.

San Martín de los Andes is smaller and quieter than Bariloche, with low timber houses and a lakeside promenade. Head down for dinner in the centre, a few blocks from the pier.

About 1h30, 10,000 pesos per person, charged by the Mapuche Curruhuinca community, which owns the land. It is 5 km from the centre: by car along Ruta 48 towards Hua Hum, or on foot, a trail of about an hour that starts at the end of Juez del Valle street.

The viewpoint is a rocky outcrop above Lácar at 800 metres, with the whole lake stretching west and the town on the other side. Go in the morning and come back in time for the boat.

The whole afternoon. The Naviera Lácar y Nonthué catamaran leaves from the pier on the waterfront and takes 30 minutes, for 70,000 pesos return; the 2026 timetable leaves at 10am, 12pm, 1pm and 4pm and returns at 11.15am, 1.30pm, 3.15pm and 6pm. Lanín National Park entry is charged separately.

Quila Quina is a village with a pebble beach on the south shore of the lake, inside the park and on Mapuche land. Beyond the beach, a trail leads to the Arroyo Grande waterfall, with a 5,000 peso fee. Take the 1pm boat and return on the 6pm.

Quick stop, 45 minutes. The drive back to Bariloche via Junín de los Andes and Valle Encantado is fully paved and longer, about 3h30 at the wheel, but it does not repeat the Seven Lakes. Junín is 40 km north of San Martín.

Vía Christi is a sculpture park on Cerro de la Cruz, at the edge of town: a Way of the Cross in sculpture along a trail that climbs the hill, with views over the valley and the Chimehuín River.

About 45 minutes, free, on Ruta 237, around an hour from Bariloche. The road follows the Limay River valley between towers of volcanic rock whose shapes have earned names, the most famous being the Dedo de Dios, a lone spire on the slope.

There are viewpoints with parking beside the road. From here Bariloche airport is on the way, before the town, so you can return the car and catch an evening flight.