Cycling and drinking craft beers around the Chico Circuit in Bariloche
Summary
The lakes and mountains around Bariloche are some of the most picture-perfect spots you can imagine, and the 25km hilly cycling loop of the Chico Circuit offers the perfect way to experience the area whilst sampling the beers from what also must be the most picture-perfect settings for a brewery in the world. A must do experience if you’re staying in or around Bariloche
highlights
#1 Cycling around the stunning lakes and mountains of the Argentinian Lake District
#2 Hiking to hidden viewpoints with breathtaking views of he mountains
#3 Sampling craft beers at what must be the world's most beautiful brewery
The route. For the link to see the route in google maps, see the link below in the Rough Itinerary
Rough itinerary
- From central Bariloche, get a taxi (or bus) to Km 18.6 (this is just how they do their road signs around there and everyone will know what you mean) and rent a bike there from Bike Cordillera (reserve ahead if you’re super keen)
- Head off around the loop (doesn’t really matter which way, but we went clockwise)
- Finish back at the bike rental and make your way back to Bariolche
- For the link to the route on google maps, see Chico Circuit in Bariloche Google Maps
Travel tips
- MUST visit the Cerveceria Patagonia (the Patagonia brewery). Its less learning how they make the beer and factory, and more sitting around gobbling up the views and tasting the various beers. Must be the world’s most beautiful brewery. Get there just before it opens, typically at midday, to have the place to yourselves
- Take the 2 hour Cerro Llao Llao hike for magnificent views of Lake Nahuel Haupi. Start from the eastern start of the hike and return to where you started (because you’ll need to pick up the bikes)
- Photos – I’d give tips on where to stop for photos but it is fairly obvious as you cycle along
- Difficulty – although its only 25kms, it can be quite hilly at times so be prepared for some decent exercise
- Drink! You’ll burn it off as you cycle around
- Google maps link – for the link to the route on google maps, see Chico Circuit in Bariloche Google Maps
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Similar beautiful drinking experiences around the world
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone