When visiting a new city, it’s always a great idea to see it from a nice viewpoint. Luckily, Salta has a beautiful natural balcony: San Bernardo hill. Located to the east of the city, this little green jungly mountain allows us to enjoy a stunning view from the top, almost 300 meters above Salta. This hill is part of the Cordillera Oriental, a pre-Andes chain of mountains and an area that was part of the seabed 400 million years ago. As time went by, earthquake activity started to elevate the floor and created the mountains we see nowadays. In fact, it’s still possible to find marine fossils, such as trilobites, from that time. There are three ways to get to the top of the hill, one for every taste and budget. If you happen to have a car, there is a 2km pavement road that climbs the hill and is easily accessible from the Portezuelo neighborhood, right next to the bus terminal. Salta also has a cable car that, even when it’s not the best plan for a claustrophobic person, takes you to the top of the hill in about 8 minutes and it’s a great way to enjoy the peculiar view above the buildings built next to it. The service costs $55 each way (children under 5 for free!) and you can buy them individually, which is great because it allows you to combine with a descent on foot. The cable car is open everyday from 10am to 7pm. The best alternative, however, is to walk up each of the 1070 steps that take you from the Güemes Monument (right next to the Anthropology Museum) to the top. This is an ideal 30-45 minute plan to get to the top enjoying the view from within the regional vegetation that covers the hill. The stairs
When visiting a new city, it’s always a great idea to see it from a nice viewpoint. Luckily, Salta has a beautiful natural balcony: San Bernardo hill. Located to the east of the city, this little green jungly mountain allows us to enjoy a stunning view from the top, almost 300 meters above Salta. This