PRO TIPS:

• We didn’t find there was much to do besides wine tasting so just do some research ahead of time to determine how many days you want to spend here.
• If you have time to take the bus to or from Santiago, I would highly recommend it! It’s a stunning ride through the Andes.

CITY: MENDOZA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Lagares Hostel and honestly did not like it. We had a private room but the beds were very saggy in the middle. The hostel just felt very dark, like no natural light. Breakfast was pretty subpar. There was zero atmosphere and it was very hard to meet people. Overall don’t recommend 4/10.

WHERE TO EAT:

Overall we weren’t really all that impressed with the restaurants we tried in Mendoza. We also found the service at restaurants to be weirdly bad. The two spots we’d recommend:

• Brod Ciudad – gorgeous outdoor patio seating- perfect for a sunny afternoon coffee or pastry! 
• Flavio Soppelsa – Such a fun (but expensive) ice cream experience. Highly recommend, it’s a work of art!

WHAT TO DO:

The highlight here is wine tasting!! It was slightly novel as the main way people wine taste here is to rent a bike and cycle your way through a few wineries throughout the day. While I am not a huge alcohol drinker, I actually had a blast biking around in the sun while staring through the vineyards to the Andes in the background. We visited Mevi, Tempus Alba and Entre Olivos for some wine, snacks, and an olive oil tasting!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

If you are a wine lover, then don’t miss a visit here. Sonja was absolutely in love with it and would’ve done a few more days of wine tasting. I was sorta ready to leave after the one day of wine tasting haha. The city itself didn’t wow me and just felt like a big city. It definitely didn’t feel touristy, but also didn’t feel super nice.

BUDGET FOR 3 DAYS IN MENDOZA:

Mendoza felt overall pretty reasonable compared some of the places we had been to lately.

• Accommodation: $50 ($16.67 per night) – my half of the private room since I split it with Sonja
• Food: $50
• Groceries: $12
• Activities: $15
• Local Transportation: $9
• Miscellaneous: $27

Total: $163 (Daily average: $54)

Transportation to next destination: $70 (RT bus to/from Santiago)