Argentina is to be found in the south of the Americas, facing east to the South Atlantic Ocean, and west with its back to Chile. To the north, it borders Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Argentina is best known for the Tango, the Pampas, beef, Gauchos, wine and football.
The real gems of this country, however, must be the scenery in the guise of the mighty Andes, the Patagonian plateau which is a rich oil-producing area, the sub-tropical lowland region of Gran Chaco and the hugely fertile central plains of the Pampas. There are extremes in elevation from Laguna del Carbon at 344ft in the south, to Cerro Aconcagua at 22,835ft in the northwest, making this an ideal destination for winter sports. Kayaking, horse riding and walking are among the many outdoor pursuits, and a visit to the Iguazu waterfalls is a must in the spring and autumn when they are at their most spectacular, thundering over a drop of 270ft and crashing down to the river below.
The province of Mendoza is the chief wine growing area in Argentina using grapes from Spain, Italy and France. Due to the unique weather conditions of this area, the grapes are relatively free from disease and moulds, and it is this that makes their wines more organic as they use no man-made pesticides. Tours of the vineyards are a good way to see the product from the vine to the bottle.
For the more energetic, there are various studios around Buenos Aires where the visitor can take Tango lessons and twirl and pose to the seductive strains of the guitar and accordion, with gay abandon!