Gualeguaychú

Gualeguaychú is a quiet river town for most of the year and the carnival capital of Argentina for two months of it. Every Saturday night through January and February, comparsas, the neighbourhood carnival societies, parade through the Corsódromo, a purpose-built arena on the site of the old railway station, with floats, drum sections and hundreds of costumed dancers in feathered regalia that take a year to prepare. The scale and production values are closer to Brazilian carnival than anything else in the country. Outside the season the town has river beaches on the Gualeguaychú and Uruguay rivers, a thermal complex, and a relaxed centre of low houses, and it works as a stop between Buenos Aires and the northern river towns.

History

Chaná and Charrúa peoples lived here before the Spanish, and from the 17th century Santa Fe and Buenos Aires granted the land to settlers whose rough rural settlements fought constantly with the native peoples, who had been nearly wiped out by the middle of the 18th century. A settlement grew around a chapel in 1770, and after Bishop Sebastián Malvar y Pinto reported on the plight of the smallholders and on Portuguese incursions, Viceroy Vértiz sent Tomás de Rocamora, who founded the town on 18 October 1783 to strengthen the Spanish presence; by 1914 it had 18,000 people, growing with new cereal mills, its port and its railway station (Wikipedia, Gualeguaychú, Entre Ríos).

Highlights

• The Corsódromo - the carnival arena and its Saturday night parades.
• The comparsas - neighbourhood societies with floats, drums and costumes.
• The river beaches - swimming and picnic spots along the water.
• The thermal baths - warm pools on the edge of town.

When to go

January and February on Saturday nights for carnival, booking tickets and rooms well ahead. The rest of summer is warm and busy on the beaches. Outside the season the town is quiet, and the carnival infrastructure sits empty.

Before you go

Carnival nights run very late, are loud and crowded, and tickets, transport and accommodation all cost more in season. Outside carnival there is little of note in town. Summer humidity and mosquitoes near the river are significant.

Nearby

Concepción del Uruguay and Palacio San José lie north; Buenos Aires is south on the RN14.

Key facts