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VisitCuyo

NatureDemonstration experience

The Alta Montaña road and Puente del Inca

West from Mendoza on Ruta 7: Potrerillos, Uspallata and the ochre mineral arch below the Aconcagua lookout.

The ochre mineral arch of Puente del Inca beside Ruta 7, the road to Chile
Photo: Mauricio V. Genta · CC BY-SA 4.0

About this experience

Follow Ruta 7, the freight road to Chile, from the irrigated valley up into bare mountain: the Potrerillos reservoir, the broad plain at Uspallata, and the thermal spring that built the ochre arch at Puente del Inca.

The road ends, for the day, at the viewpoint over the Horcones valley and the south face of Aconcagua.

Highlights

  • The mineral arch at Puente del Inca
  • The Aconcagua viewpoint over the Horcones valley
  • Potrerillos and the climb to Uspallata

Things to do in Cuyo

Guide

  • Route 7 running west out of Uspallata between bare Andean ridges

    Guide

    The Alta Montaña road, Mendoza to the border

    Route 7 west out of Mendoza climbs 3,000 metres to the Chilean border past Potrerillos, Uspallata, Puente del Inca and the Aconcagua lookout. What to stop for, and what the day actually costs you.

  • The ochre mineral arch of Puente del Inca beside Ruta 7, the road to Chile

    Guide

    Getting around Cuyo

    Distances between the oases are long and mostly empty. What the roads are like, where the fuel is, and when a hire car beats the bus.