San Martín de los Andes is a picturesque town situated on the shores of Lake Lacár. It is next door to two of Argentina’s most beautiful national parks, Lanin and Nahuel Huapi, and the riding and hiking in the area is some of the best in the country.
Like much of the south the area was effectively controlled by the indigenous people of Patagonia until the end of the 1800’s, though there is not much trace of the wild frontier days now. In fact, walking round the quaint and spotlessly clean streets today, at times you get the feeling they could do with an Indian raid and bit of gun-slinging. There are a lot of rules of how and what you can build in the town, which is great as everything looks neat and tidy though they have chosen Swiss timber houses as the style. As many of the buildings have only recently been built, this sometimes gives you the feeling you have just walked on to a Disney film set of an Alpine village.
Riding on the beach of Lake Lolog,
However, the beauty of the surrounding scenery easily eclipses any criticisms I have of the town and it all looks spectacular covered in snow. In the winter the town is the centre of Chapelco ski resort. With only 25,000 inhabitants Chapelco has a very personal feel. This combined with the excellent accommodation and plenty of alternative activities, such as dog sledding and snowmobiling, makes it an ideal option for families. A group of older more experienced skiers might find it too small though the resort sits partially below the tree line so there is some lovely skiing through the Patagonian woodland making Chapelco an excellent addition to one of the other Argentine resorts.
