Uspallata

Uspallata sits in a broad valley at around 1,900 metres where the road from Mendoza to the Chilean border meets routes north and south, a green oasis of poplars among bare, banded mountains. The colours and shapes of those slopes led a film crew to shoot Seven Years in Tibet here in the 1990s, standing in for the Himalaya. The valley has been used for far longer: the Bóvedas, domed adobe structures near the town, were built to smelt metal in colonial times, and rock art and Inca-era remains lie in the surrounding hills. Roads lead north to the Villavicencio switchbacks, west to Aconcagua and the pass, and the Cerro Tunduqueral viewpoint has petroglyphs and wide views.

What to look for

• The coloured mountains - banded slopes around the valley used as film locations.
• Las Bóvedas - domed colonial smelting works near the town.
• Cerro Tunduqueral - petroglyphs and a viewpoint above the valley.
• The crossroads - the meeting of routes to Chile, Villavicencio and the south.

When to go

October to April for warm days and open mountain roads; the RN7 to Chile can close with snow in winter, and the gravel routes north are seasonal. Summer afternoons bring storms. Nights are cold year-round at this altitude.

What to expect

The town itself is a service stop with modest accommodation and few restaurants. Most of what is worth seeing lies outside it and needs a car. Wind and dust are common, and the surrounding landscape is bare rather than lush.

Nearby

Puente del Inca and Aconcagua lie west; Villavicencio is reached by the switchback road north.

Key facts