Experience the best of San Juan

San Juan lies in the Tulum Valley, an irrigated oasis in western Argentina, with the dry foothills of the Andes close on every side. An earthquake in 1944 flattened most of the old city, so the centre was rebuilt low and wide, with broad avenues, tree-shaded plazas and a modern cathedral. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the educator and later president, was born here, and his house is now a museum.

West of the city the Ullum reservoir fills a gap in the hills and is used for sailing and swimming, and beyond it the road climbs into the Calingasta valley and the high Andes. Far to the north-east, Ischigualasto, the Valley of the Moon, is a provincial park of eroded red and grey badlands that holds some of the oldest known dinosaur fossils and is listed as a World Heritage site.

San Juan is Argentina's second-largest wine province after Mendoza, and Syrah, Malbec and the fragrant white Torrontés grow on the valley floor and in high vineyards. Empanadas, asado and locro fill the tables, with raisins, olive oil and dried fruit from the oasis. Sunshine is nearly constant, and the zonda, a warm dry wind from the Andes, blows through now and then.