Because of Argentina’s vast distances, overland travel tends to be for those with plenty of time. Most routes are well-served by reasonably priced public transportation, but those who can afford a vehicle can usually travel more efficiently and stop to see appealing second-tier sights.

On the otherwise featureless pampas of southern Buenos Aires Province, the most interesting itinerary would be a loop from Tandil and its Sierras east to the coastal resorts of Pinamar and Villa Gesell, south to Mar del Plata, and east to Necochea and the Sierra de la Ventana, north of Bahía Blanca. Either Tandil or Mar del Plata would make an ideal base for a week or more; Bahía Blanca is the provincial gateway to coastal Patagonia.

Mesopotamia and the Paraná offer several routes north. The shortest route to Iguazú is RN 14 along the Río Uruguay, passing the Carnaval city of Gualeguaychú, the palm savannas of Parque Nacional El Palmar, the quaint riverside city of Colón, and national hero José de San Martín’s birthplace at Yapeyú. A northwesterly tangent leads to the Iberá wetlands. Traffic statistics, though, prove that this is one of Argentina’s most dangerous highways.

An alternative would be to travel northeast from Buenos Aires to Rosario, where a new bridge crosses the Paraná to Victoria, and north to Paraná (passing the gallery forests of Parque Nacional Pre-Delta) and Iberá before continuing to Iguazú. By bus, these routes could take one to several days or more, depending on stops en route.

For long-distance travelers, an increasingly popular route crosses the Chaco to link Salta with the cultural oasis of Resistencia, the provincial capital of Corrientes, Iberá, Posadas, and Iguazú. In addition to can’t-miss Iberá and Iguazú, the trans-Chaco RN 16 could also include a short detour to the dense thorn forests of Parque Nacional Chaco.

In the northwest, the artery of access is RN 9, which runs north from Córdoba through Tucumán, Salta, and especially Jujuy, where it climbs the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Except for the Quebrada, though, the real interest lies in detours to the foothills, steppes, and summits of the Andes. Culturally closer to the Andean highlands than the pampas pasturelands, this has the country’s richest concentration of pre-Columbian and colonial monuments, and could easily absorb two weeks to two months.

Parallel to RN 9, the mother of all Argentine roads is RN 40, from the Bolivian border in Jujuy to the Chilean border in Patagonia’s Santa Cruz Province. Some northwestern segments of this celebrated highway are almost impassable, while others would be smooth enough for lowriders. In the Cuyo provinces, RN 40 is the axis of the wine country that stretches from San Juan south to Mendoza and San Rafael.