7 Patagonian Lake Hotels Around Bariloche

Bariloche was made to look Swiss on purpose. When Argentina created Nahuel Huapi, its first national park, in 1934, the architect Alejandro Bustillo was commissioned to give the town a civic centre, and he built it in local stone and cypress with steep roofs and a clock tower — a deliberate alpine idiom for a place that already had German, Swiss, Italian and Slovenian settlers and a lake that looked the part.

The chocolate followed the same logic. Italian and Swiss immigrants opened shops, the town leaned into it, and Mitre street now has a run of chocolatiers that is the reason a good share of Argentine visitors come at all.

None of it is fake exactly. The settlers were real and so was the architecture they knew. It is simply a town that decided early what it wanted to look like and has stuck to it for ninety years.

The lake district

Nahuel Huapi is 550 square metres of deep glacial lake with fjord-like arms and forested islands, sitting at about 760 metres with the Andes rising behind it to the Chilean border. The park around it covers more than seven thousand square kilometres.

Bariloche is the main town, with the civic centre, the chocolate and the airport.

Circuito Chico, a sixty-kilometre loop west of town, runs along the lake past the best of the views and the peninsula where the landmark hotel sits.

Villa La Angostura, an hour north around the lake, is smaller, greener and more expensive — the quiet alternative.

San Martín de los Andes, three hours north along the Seven Lakes Road, is the northern end of the region and the road between is the reason to drive it.

Cerro Catedral, twenty minutes from Bariloche, is the largest ski area in South America.

The seven below are grouped that way.

The Llao Llao peninsula

On the Circuito Chico, between two lakes.

Llao Llao Hotel & Resort occupies a peninsula between Nahuel Huapi and Lago Moreno, built by Bustillo in 1938 in cypress and stone, with a golf course, a spa and a view down the lake to Cerro Tronador. It is the most famous hotel in Argentina and the building is the reason.

Charming Luxury Lodge & Private Spa sits on the same road in a lodge with a large spa, a pool and forest between it and the water.

Design Suites Bariloche occupies a lakeside position on the Circuito Chico with a pool, a garden and views across to the mountains.

Bariloche town

The civic centre and the chocolate street.

Arelauquen Lodge sits above the town with a spa, a pool and a short walk down to the centre.

Alma del Lago Suites & Spa occupies a lakefront building in Bariloche with contemporary rooms and a spa over the water.

Villa La Angostura

An hour north, quieter.

Correntoso Lake & River Hotel occupies a position on the Correntoso river where it meets the lake, in a 1917 building with a bar over the water that is the oldest in the region.

Las Balsas Gourmet Hotel & Spa sits above Villa La Angostura in a small property with a lake view, a spa and a kitchen that draws people from Bariloche.

What we have left off

The cabañas across the lake district are excluded, and in Argentina they are the standard family holiday accommodation, with a kitchen and a parrilla on the terrace. They are cabins rather than hotels.

What to do

Drive the Circuito Chico and go up Cerro Campanario, a chairlift to a viewpoint that is regularly listed among the best panoramas in the world, and is twenty minutes from the town.

Eat chocolate on Mitre street and accept that the good shops make it on the premises.

Drive the Seven Lakes Road to San Martín de los Andes, which takes about three hours without stops and considerably longer with them.

Ski Cerro Catedral between June and October, which is the southern hemisphere winter, or walk the refugio routes in summer.

Eat Patagonian lamb, trout from the lakes, and drink the beer — Bariloche is the centre of Argentina's craft brewing, again because of the immigrants.

Practical notes

Bariloche has an airport with flights from Buenos Aires in about two hours. The seasons are inverted: December to March is summer, June to October is ski season, and April, May and November are the quiet shoulders.

The lake district is far greener and wetter than the Patagonian steppe to the east, and the weather changes quickly in any season.

Argentine pricing for visitors has been volatile in recent years. Check current arrangements for payment and exchange before travelling.

Why does it look Swiss?

A deliberate architectural programme from 1934 onward, in a town settled by German, Swiss and Italian immigrants beside a lake that suited it.

Bariloche or Villa La Angostura?

Bariloche for the town, the airport and the skiing. Villa La Angostura for quiet and green. An hour apart.

When is ski season?

June to October, the southern winter, at Cerro Catedral.

How many nights?

Five. Three on the lake and two for the Seven Lakes Road.

If you only book one