The winding highway road that connects Argentina and Chile together is one of the most popular and stunning country crossings in South America.

The six hour bus ride snaked it’s way up, over and down the Andes through some spectacular scenery making the journey quite exciting.

From Mendoza (Argentina), the highway follows the chocolate brown river (below) almost all the way up to it’s glacial source.

The river is this colour due to the sediments collected whilst flowing down the mountain. The river opens into a man made lake which supplies water to the town of Mendoza and most of the province. The river is this colour due to the sediments collected whilst flowing down the mountain. The river opens into a man made lake which supplies water to the town of Mendoza and most of the province.

As we traveled higher and higher, the vegetation became increasingly sparse — to a point where it was merely rock, ice and snow.

The actual border crossing from Argentina into Chile is straight forward and regimented but can be a very long process, and I believe that this is just the luck of the draw. After waiting on the bus at the border for about 30 minutes we were shuffled off and into the customs building were we joined a long queue of other travelers and locals.

It was quite a strange experience for Tyce and I as we have never completed a land crossing. We literally received our exit stamp from one booth, stepped a metre across to the next booth, received our entry stamp, then all of a sudden, you are in a different country.

In regards to customs, the same standards apply as if you were at an airport; all food and natural items need to be declared, bags are scanned, the bus is searched by customs and sniffer dogs.

After nearly 3 hours were finally ready to hop back on the bus and continue the second half of our journey.

If you wish to catch a brief glimpse of Mount Acongagua, the tallest peak in the Americas, it will be on the right hand side (traveling from Argentina to Chile)

The descent down the Chilean side of the Andes started with a lot of twists and turns, in total there were 27 tight hairpin bends making up this series of switchbacks. The view from the window was a little hair raising as the bus veered over the double lines and quite close to the gravel cliff edge in order to make the turn.

Not long after crossing the border there is a distinct change in landscape. The Chilean side was much greener; Cactus and lush shrubbery adorned the hills, there were farms and tall trees. this inviting and picturesque scenery follows us all the way to Santiago, where we disembarked and spend the next few days exploring.

Notes

  • Most of the photos in this blog were taken from the right hand side of the bus.
  • On the Argentine side there is plenty to see from both sides of the bus as the road snakes around the mountains, however, if traveling from Argentina to Chile, the scenery of the left side of the bus after crossing the border into Chile is more exciting as the right is mainly hugging the hillside.
  • If you are to do this trip your self, make sure you have your camera ready, it truly is a snap happy journey.

Old railway bridge (Argentina to Chile) Old railway bridge (Argentina to Chile)