Oh, Mendoza, how I could express my love for you! In the middle of the mountains, Mendoza is South America’s top wine region, with fabulous hotels and world-class restaurants, and a vibrant local culture. While Mendoza is good for solo travelers, in my opinion, it’s better to come with your partner, your significant other, your love, your boo or bae, whatever you’d like to call the person, bring him/her to Mendoza please! A perfect place for honeymoon, anniversaries or just a relaxing and romantic vacation!
Good Life in Mendoza
Mendoza being my first stop in Argentina, set the tone of Argentina, a heaven with tasty asado (steak), wine and beautiful landscapes! As South America’s top wine region, with fabulous hotels and world-class restaurants, and a vibrant local culture, Mendoza appeals to travelers from all over the globe. The outer regions are as enticing as the city and wine country for adventurous types and wine lovers. From white water rafting at Rio Mendoza, mountain biking, hiking, to horseback riding and tranquil spas, there is something for everyone here.
Covered channels on practically every street throughout the city carry the water irrigate the city’s 50,000 or so magnificent trees everyday. The trees in Mendoza, as well as the parks, boulevards, plazas, and the acequias – or canals – that water them, are the most distinguishing architectural feature of the city. Walking around the streets in Mendoza you can easily forget that you are actually in a desert environment.
I did not do much in Mendoza but just wandering around the city plazas, spent an relaxing afternoon in General San Martino park, took a city walking tour and of course a winery tour and most importantly refueled myself with good asado, many of them for a very affordable price!
Note: Since March 2019, the Argentine peso continued to depreciate from ~37 ARS to 1 USD at the beginning of 2019 to ~60 ARS to 1 USD in November, 2019. Mendoza might not be that cheap to visit, but due to the inflation of Argentine peso, it made me felt everything was very affordable.
My apology for not taking enough photos of city of Mendoza. There is a saying in Mendoza ‘You have to get yourself drunk once or twice if not more in Mendoza!’. I forgot who told me that sentence but I was tipsy almost everyday in Mendoza…Wine is SO CHEAP and sometimes free?! For most of the time, I ordered wine at restaurants, because they are cheaper than orange juice and beer?! I did not have the mood to take out my camera while wandering in the city. Google Mendoza and you will fall in love with the city immediately!
Bike Winery Tour
There are over 1,500 wineries spread out through the three main wine regions - Lujan de Cuyo, Valle de Uco and Maipu - wide open spaces with nothing but vines, mountain grandeur and blue skies, and some of the best winery architecture in the world. But most wineries are so spaced out, all around Mendoza province, many are only accessible by either rental cars or taking an organized wine tasting tour. There are plenty choices for having a luxury wine tasting tour even with overnight stays at vineyard and gourmet meals!
While luxury and especially romantic vineyard tours were not for the lonely solo traveler Lan, there were several small clusters of wineries, close to Mendoza city center and perfectly accessible by bike! I did a self-guided bike winery tour in a rural district called Coquimbito in the Maipú Department of Mendoza Province.
I first took a bus to Maipu Bike Rental, from there I got my bike (450 ARS ~ 6.5 USD for a day) and set off for my one-day winery bike tour.
Biking soberly on my way to the first winery in the tree-lined streets.
There are around 10~15 wineries and one olive oil maker on this bike route. I do not know about your wine-drinking capacity my friends. Unless you are not tempted to sip some wine at the wineries, the more you visit the less sober you are…Not a big fan of wine but I enjoy drinking in general, I was only able to visit three wineries. Thank god, I was riding a bike not driving a car on my way back to the rental shop. But Cycling under the Influence (CUI) should be avoided as well…
Tempus Alba was my first stop. Known as a modern boutique winery, I was told one of the best lunch stop for your day. Honestly, I was not very satisfied with the service there. I had to wait a long time for my order and wine to come… Anyway, this was the three wines I tasted and costed 150 ARS (~2.5 USD).
MEVI was my favorite winery for the day! In my opinion, their balcony and restaurant provided a better view. But the menu only has a limited opinions for your lunch. I had three empanadas in their balcony and of course along with beautiful colors of wine :) Wine tasting at MEVI was 120 ARS (~2 USD). See who can say no with this view and low price for wine???
Last, I visited Vina El Cerno, an old artisan winery and only makes organic wine. You can also have a winery tour here for 120 ARS (~ 2 USD). It was the only winery among the three I visited which provides winery tour. Very old fashioned artisan winery. But not much to see and the tour was only about half an hour. But good information were told about the winery, the wine making process and a cool visit to their wine cellar.
Of course, a winery tour should end with a glass of wine for 95 ARS (~ 1.6 USD).
You may think that was the end of your bike tour? NO, NO, NO. Too young too naive…It was Mendoza! The rental bike shop offered HAPPY HOUR, meaning UNLIMITED FREE WINE? I guess no one should leave the winery tour sober! Yes, I reached 85% of my wine capacity that day and I was among the first 5 people who left the happy hour party.
Tips for Bike Winery Tour
How to get there?
The cheapest way to get to Coquimbito is by public buses. There are several bus lines from downtown to Coquimbito. Or you can take a taxi or rent a car. Although driving is not recommended, you need to be either very good at drinking wine or control of yourself not drinking too much, otherwise driving should be avoided.
If you decide to take the public transport, you need to get a magnetic Redbus card, which can be bought at most kiosks in the city. I was very lucky someone at my hostel generously borrowed me her Redbus card for a day. I believe the card only cost about a dollar and the bus tickets were very cheap as well under a dollar for a round trip.
Bike Rental Shop
There are three bike rental stores in the area.
- Maipu Bike Rental
- Mr. Hugo’s Bicycle Rental
- Coquimbito Rental
Maipu bike rental was recommended by the hostel and that was my choice. And the only bike shop with website. If interested, you can go their website for more information.
Food in Mendoza
How I love Mendoza and Argentina! Besides the wine, Mendoza is famous for its MEAT and probably one of the best region to go for the Argentine Asado! After months of craving for good meats (sorry, Bolivia and Chile), I was finally satisfied with the food on my trip again!
If you are a foodie, Mendoza will not let you down! There are plenty world-class restaurants, gourmet food and perfect steak!
La Florencia
My favorite restaurant in Mendoza. May not be among the upscale restaurants, but the quality of food, service and atmosphere were good. And the best of all, the reasonable price on their menu. So how I liked it? I only stayed in Mendoza for 4 nights and 3 days, but I went there THREE TIMES!
The restaurant, outside and inside. It has outdoor seating as well. But I prefer indoor with AC…Mendoza spoiled me and made me lose my backpacker’s toughness…
Meal One: 450gram of rib-eye and a small bottle of Malbec. Cost: 730 ARS (ONLY 10.5 USD?!)
Meal Two: Grilled rib with a bottle of beer (Beer was more expensive than cheaper wine options?!). Cost: 795 ARS (~ 11 USD)
Meal Three: Beef organ meat grilled plate with orange juice…It was a light lunch. You could tell that my drinking capabilities had been decreasing after days of stay in Mendoza. From wine, to beer and now to orange juice…Cost: 325 ARS (~ 5.5 USD)
All-You-Can-Eat
Let me give you a NO-GO warning. The food was actually OK with a very reasonable price of 560 ARS (~ 9.5 USD) with a bottle of coke. However, I thought you should not waste your dinning opportunities in Mendoza on all-you-can-eat restaurant. You can definitely find better options. I didn’t know what I was thinking that night.
La Lucia
A fancier restaurant with a little bit pricy menu. For its location, decoration, service and food, I think the price was reasonable.
Yeah, my 500 gram of ribeye with healthy veggie. Cost: 1275 ARS (~22 USD) I went to La Lucia on my last day in Mendoza. For my farewell, I ordered a full bottle of wine and finished it all ALONE. I believed that I proved myself and ended my Mendoza trip strong!
Endless Hostel Party
Choose your hotel wisely! Many of them are party hostels, which means all-night loud music, chatting, laughing until 3-4 a.m. For the first 3-nights, I was trapped in one of the party hostel. Nothing wrong with the travelers, the hostel owners and workers there, but I could NOT sleep at all. The last night, I moved to a hotel for a good night sleep before my early morning flight to Ushuaia.
So after my ‘STRONG’ finish of one bottle of wine, I encountered this…A backyard grill party?! The guys generously invited me to their party. I replied, ‘I just finished my dinner with a bottle of wine alone’. You know what? Here came the second slogan of Mendoza. ‘But it is a weekend. There is another level of getting yourself drunk for the weekend!’
What could I say? I had to challenge the new level of my wine drinking capability!
Log
Mendoza stay November 13 to November 17, 2019.
Next stop: Ushuaia, Argentina. (Flight to Ushuaia at 09:30, Nov. 17, 2019)
This post was published at Phoenix on June 26, 2020.