Activities

• Relax by the pool, or visit the little spa to soak in the jacuzzi or have a hot-stone massage using oils from plants in the garden
  
  
• Go horse riding in the mountains, with spectacular views over the valleys. Tony can guide you, or you can take a 5-hour trip with local gaucho Tono, who doesn’t speak English but is very communicative (his Dutch wife often comes with him). You'll have an asado (BBQ) for lunch
  
  
• Take a cooking class with Pato, the local empanada champion! She’ll teach you how to cook these typical Argentine pasties and then you eat them for lunch. Tony offers classes on bread-making - he ran an award-winning bakery in Toulouse
  
  
• There are various walks to Tillan and to the grotto, guided by Tony or a local. Bikes are also available
  
  
• Tony will take guests around the quaint colonial town of Chicoana, which used to be the world’s foremost tobacco producer, and to local tobacco farms. He’ll tell you about the history, architecture and culture of the area, and give you a vivid flavour of local life
  
  
• Additional activities include golf (15km away), trout fishing (6km away), and kayaking in Cabra Corral (20km away)

Day trips

These are included for guests who book a 4- or 7-night package. They’re always exclusive, so that Tony is able to provide personalised attention.

• Cachi (9.30-6.30pm with picnic) - visit a handicrafts shop, the church, the museum and the cemetery. Optional extras include visits to Cachi Adentro or Seclantás to see ponchos being woven
  
  
• Cafayate (9.30-6.30pm with picnic) - visit 2 bodegas, Nanni and Etchart. Picnic in the plaza, visit a local handicraft market and San Carlos, and loop back through the desert to the Quebrada de las Conchas
  
  
• Salinas Grandes and Purmamarca (9.30-7pm) - head up to the salt flats in the puna (high-altitude desert), then twist back down to the pretty village of Purmamarca in the Quebrada de Humahuaca
  
  
• You might also go off the beaten track to places that tourists don’t usually visit, such as Amblayo, a goat’s cheese-producing village of just 50 families