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VisitCuyo

NatureDemonstration experience

Ischigualasto: the Valle de la Luna circuit

The three-hour ranger-led convoy through San Juan's Triassic badland, where the oldest dinosaurs were found.

Wind-carved rock formations on the desert floor of Ischigualasto
Photo: Silvanamisiones · CC BY-SA 4.0

About this experience

Drive the park circuit in convoy behind a ranger, stopping at the formations erosion left behind — the Mushroom, the Submarine, the Painted Valley and the improbable spheres of the Bowling Green.

A guide travels with the group and fills in the fossil record: 230 million years of Triassic sediment lying exposed in order, which is why the park is a World Heritage site.

Highlights

  • The Mushroom, the Submarine and the Painted Valley
  • The fossil record that produced Eoraptor
  • Hard desert light on a grey clay floor

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Guide

Read before you go

The Cuyo guide
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    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.

  • Wind-carved rock formations on the desert floor of Ischigualasto

    Guide

    Ischigualasto, where the dinosaurs start

    San Juan's Valle de la Luna holds a complete Triassic record and some of the oldest dinosaurs ever found. How the visit actually works, and what to see around it.