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My Road Trip Through Northern Argentina: Salta, Cafayate, the Quebrada de Humahuaca and Llama Wool Sweaters!
The final chapter of my Argentina travel diary 🌍😍
After Patagonia and its vastness, then Buenos Aires with its distinctly European feel, one last leg of the journey was still waiting to be told: the North, with its unmistakable light. A road trip at altitude, through canyons, hillside vineyards and villages where llama wool is still woven exactly as it was three hundred years ago.
From Salta to Cafayate: the canyon and vineyard route through Northern Argentina
It all begins in Salta, the starting point heading south through the Quebrada de las Conchas: a long corridor of ochre and red canyons, sculpted by the wind, opening onto Cafayate and its high-altitude vineyards. The torrontés produced here — white and floral — is matched only by the setting: an absolutely sublime estancia, overlooking rows of vines stretching as far as the eye could see.
From there, the road climbs toward Molinos, a charming village with a distinctly Spanish feel, then Seclantas, home to families of artisan weavers. At their looms, inherited from Andean civilizations, they spin llama wool by hand into ponchos and blankets patterned with geometric motifs passed down from generation to generation. I could have spent hours there choosing my poncho...
Then Cachi, surrounded by fields of cardones, those towering candelabra cacti standing guard along the road, before the landscape, climbing still higher, takes on an unexpected shade of green.
Canyon North Argentina El Estanque Cafayate El Estanque
Purmamarca, Tilcara and the Llama Wool Sweaters
Next, north toward Purmamarca and its famous Cerro de los Siete Colores. I was expecting a visual shock. The mountain is beautiful, but the village itself, very touristy, left me a little disappointed. I much preferred Tilcara, more authentic, with its market where I wandered for a long while.
That's where I discovered llama wool sweaters, hand-knitted by women from the region, organized into weaving networks across the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Some of these communities have existed for thirty years and now bring together more than a hundred artisans, working on a fair-trade basis that lets them earn a living from this ancestral craft while passing it on.
Argentina blankets Tilcara wet market Shopping at Puyo Tilcara
I fell completely in love with their work, and I'm so happy to have unearthed a few real gems: a capsule collection of llama wool sweaters, made with these artisans from the Tilcara region. A lovely collection I can't wait to see you wearing in Paris! Part of it will be on show at the September pop-up 🦙.
North Argentina Lama Argentina crafts argentina poncho Argentina poncho South road of Salta Craft man Argentina 
llama sweater
A little further on, the historic town of Humahuaca left a strong impression on me, before the grand finale of the trip: the Salinas Grandes, an immense white salt desert stretching as far as the eye can see, where sky and ground seem to blur into one. Hard to imagine a wilder way to end this road trip through Northern Argentina in style!
Humahuaca Argentina Salinas Grandes Argentina
All my favorite addresses from the trip are right here:
And don't forget the Voyageuses pop-up — where fashion, art and travel meet — from September 18 to 23, at 70 rue du Cherche-Midi, Paris 6th!
See you soon,Félicie 🐆
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