How to get there:
By land: National Road No. 20 connects with the San Juan, and National Road No. 38 and No. 150-the province of La Rioja. By air: From Buenos Aires, from the Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, you can travel to the city of La Rioja and San Juan, and then go by land -National Routes Nº 20, 38 and 150- to the parks.

The park’s six geological formations contain fossils of an ample range of mammals, dinosaurs and plants that reveal how the vertebrates evolved during the triassic period. No other place in the world features fossil remains that are comparable to those of the Ischigualasto–Talampaya parks.

Talampaya (located in La Rioja province) originates in the quechua words “Tala” = indigenous tree, “Ampa” = river, and “Aya” = extinguished thing. Both the fossil finds of reptiles and plants as well as the geological layers analysed are compatible with a period during which the large reptiles covered the earth. The differentially coloured sediments came up to the ground as they rose together with the Andes mountain range.

The erosion caused by wind and water gave shape to the Talampaya canyon that originated in the course of a dry river. It features rocks of strange silhouettes that were given names by popular imagination according to the images they suggested: the monk, the cathedral, the chimney or the chess board.

Carved out from the red soil, immense geological formations rise up from the canyon, the walls of which reach a height of up to 160 meters. The apex of the itinerary – which may be covered in a van – is the Cathedral, of an impressive dimension and rocky walls more than 100 meters high. The imprint of its ancient inhabitants was left behind in the Parque Talampaya, who described their experience of hunting different animals in petroglyphics and picture writing.

The Parque de Ischigualasto or Valle de la Luna (the Moon Valley) is located in San Juan province. The so-called Hoyada de Ischigualasto is a desert valley where extreme temperatures and an almost permanent wind has eroded the soil and modelled natural sculptures. The present landscape was formed by wind, water and other meteorological phenomena, giving rise to strange shapes. This is the case of El Submarino, one of the best known rock sculptures, and El Hongo (the mushroom) and La Esfinge (the sphynx).