Getting around Cuyo

Cuyo is a region of islands. The cities sit on irrigated oases, and between them is scrub, gravel and very little else. The driving is not difficult — it is just long, and the gaps are real.

The three roads that matter

Ruta Nacional 40 runs the length of the region, Mendoza to San Juan and on north. It is paved and in good condition throughout Cuyo, dual carriageway in stretches. This is the fast way between the two cities: about 170 km, two hours.

Ruta Nacional 7 goes west from Mendoza to the Chilean border through Potrerillos, Uspallata and Puente del Inca. Paved, spectacular, and the main freight route to Chile — expect heavy truck traffic and expect the Cristo Redentor pass to close in winter storms, sometimes for days. Check before committing to a crossing.

Ruta Nacional 149 links San Juan to Calingasta and Barreal. This is the beautiful one and the demanding one: long unlit sections through bare mountain, patchy phone signal, and almost no services for 130 km.

Fuel

Treat fuel as the planning constraint. In the cities it is unremarkable; outside them the gaps bite. The ones to respect:

• Uspallata to the Chilean border — fill at Uspallata.
• San Juan to Barreal via RN 149 — fill in San Juan or Calingasta.
• The approaches to Ischigualasto — the park is 80 km from the nearest town in any direction.

Carry cash. Rural stations still refuse cards more often than you would expect, and rationing in the shoulder season is not unknown.

Hire car, bus or tour

Hire a car if you are going to San Juan’s desert or anywhere in San Luis’s sierras. There is no practical alternative: the sights are dispersed and the bus network is built for people travelling between towns, not to national parks.

Take the bus between the cities. Mendoza–San Juan and Mendoza–San Luis are frequent, comfortable and cheap, and you will not want a car parked in central Mendoza anyway.

Take a tour for wine. Mendoza province enforces a zero blood-alcohol limit for drivers, which settles the question: either someone else drives, or you cycle in Maipú.

Timings worth knowing

• Mendoza to San Juan: 2 h
• Mendoza to Uspallata: 2 h
• Mendoza to the Valle de Uco: 1 h 30
• San Juan to Ischigualasto: 4 h
• San Juan to Barreal: 3 h
• Mendoza to San Luis: 3 h 30

Add an hour to anything in summer, when roadworks and heat both slow the going, and do not plan to arrive anywhere remote after dark: these roads are unlit, unfenced, and share their shoulders with livestock.