Today, we did a long day trip to the Route of the Seven Lakes from Bariloche. The Seven Lakes drive actually starts from Villa la Angostura, around 1.5 hours from Bariloche, and winds through seven lakes, all the way to San Martin de los Andes. Packed into our rental car, we headed out early in the morning.
We drove straight to the town of Villa la Angostura. Since it was Christmas and also rainy, the downtown was pretty deserted. It had some pretty buildings and artwork nonetheless, so we stopped for a coffee and to stretch our legs.
Continuing on our drive, we did not really stop at any of the lakes. Around 1pm, it was time for our packed lunch (we had packed sandwiches for all of us, since I had read that there weren’t many restaurants on the drive, and given it was a holiday, the few that might have been might be closed). We found a camping ground next to two lakes, and stopped for a bit.
After lunch, we put Baby V in her carrier and set out for a hike in a random direction.
Check here to see if the carrier is available on Amazon!
After spending some time near the lakes, we continued to drive towards the end of the Route, which is the town of San Martin de los Andes. This was a pretty mountain town, and had some restaurants, and a town square where there were several families spending the holiday.
It was 6 pm by this time, and we had to drive back the entire way back to Bariloche. Thankfully, by this time the rain had stopped and we had better views going back than coming in. It is probably a better idea to do this drive in the reverse direction towards Bariloche, than away like we did.
According to several guide books and online guides, driving the Route of the Seven Lakes is one of the top attractions around Bariloche. Unfortunately for us, today was a rainy and cold day. This severely marred our experience on this drive, and we were not very impressed by what we saw. Perhaps if the day was sunny, we would have been able to appreciate it more.
While we drove the route of the seven lakes in our own rental car, there are several tour options which you can take if you don’t want to do the long drive yourself.
