Parque Provincial Ischigualasto, Cuyo, Argentina

4Mary T 5:00 PM Sep 13, 2021

A must-see if you are in the region
Go in the afternoon, preferably for the 2PM tour. You must go in your own vehicle. There is a guide who drives a park truck leading a caravan of tourists' cars. She stops at some 6 places where you get out, she explains, and you can walk around a little - always in the designated areas. The highlights are interesting, but perhaps the most stunning part of the park is the scenery, especially the backdrop of the red cliffs behind. The colors of the part itself are whites, beiges and greys, very interesting. The drive out of the park (17 kilometers from the last stop on the tour) has a greater palette and is quite spectacular. A definite must-see.

4frogANDpepper 5:00 PM Nov 17, 2014

Highly recommended at sunset but make sure all park's road is open for visitors
I am a backpacker, 37yrs old, 40+ countries visited, travelling with partner. We took a tour wit Hostel Valle de la Luna / Ischigualasto ORGANISING THE TOUR: 1/ in San Juan you can buy package with transport to the park and way back but its relatively pricy 2/ you can travel to San Agustín de Valle Fertil and book the transport/ tour from agencies of hostel Ischigualasto. If you book the tour with the hostel you might be offer cheap accommodation there. COST of the tour from San Agustin: Normally the cost is 250peso pp. But expect to pay 800 or 1.000 for a drive if you are on your own (or per couple) in a low season without any tourists. We paid 250p pp (with 4 people in total) for transport (200km) and 110pp for the park entry with just 3 first stops and excluding last 2 most famous view points (due to flooded road), that also included entry for the museum (normally the price is 160 peso pp with overall 5 stops at the park). TRANSPORT: We took a bus from San Juan to San Agustín for 96 peso pp. It leaves only 3 times a day at 7.30am, 2 pm, 7.15pm. In San Agustin we took the transport to the park from Hostel Ischigualasto for 250 pesos pp as we were lucky to have 2 tourists more. Otherwise if you are in low season without any other tourists it's possible for 800peso for a drive (ie 400 pp for a couple) with private drivers waiting in front of tourists office in San Agustin. In tourists agencies they charge 1.000 peso for transport from San Agustin for a couple or 4 people and they split price proportionally. Note: The transport is to park entrance and also includes drive of 40 km loop around the park. You have to have to drive with a guide in the car or if there is no space the guide drives in front of you. In the park you are allowed to get off the car only at view points. At the third view point you are allowed to walk with a guide 400 m. The rest of the time is in the car. WEATHER TIPS: Please make sure the park road is open before you take a tour. We arrived to the park and it appeared the half of he road is flooded and we cannot see 2 most remarkable places. We visited 3 first view points from about 4.30pm to 7pm (in November) and the view with the sun down was beautiful. It was pleasantly warm NOT hot. Other tour operators offer the tours in the morning as they are saying it's not so hot comparing to the afternoon but it's not necessary true and I don't think it's a good idea. Also our guide confirmed the late afternoon/ sunset is the best time. OVERALL IMPRESSION: Beautiful landscape, it's similar type of scenery to valle de la luna in Chile but it's different so I would highly recommend to visit this park but only when the weather is nice. I liked it very much despite not seeing last 2 viewpoints. The guide spoke English. The only downside was that we could not see the whole park, our guide was rushing us all the time which was annoying and museums was closed when we finished the tour and nobody cared about it.