Cerro Colorado

The Cerro Colorado reserve protects a group of red sandstone hills in northern Córdoba where the Comechingones and earlier peoples painted for centuries on sheltered rock faces, leaving what is counted as one of the largest concentrations of rock art in Argentina, with thousands of individual figures across dozens of sites. The images include hunters, guanacos, rheas, felines, abstract patterns and, in later panels, mounted Spanish figures that record the arrival of Europeans. Visits are guided along marked paths between overhangs and shallow caves, with an interpretation centre at the entrance. The village below is tiny and quiet, known also as the place where the folk singer Atahualpa Yupanqui had his house, now a small museum.

What you actually see

• The painted overhangs - panels of hunters, animals and abstract designs.
• The colonial-era figures - later paintings recording horses and riders.
• The red hills - sandstone formations and paths through the reserve.
• The Yupanqui house - the folk musician's home, now a museum in the village.

When to go

April to November for comfortable walking; summer is hot and the unpaved access road suffers after storms. Guided visits run at set times, so arriving mid-morning is safest. Photography rules vary by panel to protect the pigment.

Honest expectations

The paintings are faint in places and take a guide's eye to read, so unguided visits are neither allowed nor useful. The final road is gravel and rough after rain. Services in the village are minimal.

Nearby

Villa Tulumba and the Camino Real lie west; Córdoba city is far south.