Argentina's folk capital — Andean empanadas, carnavalito music, colonial baroque plazas, and wine from the world's highest vineyards
Salta (population 620,000, capital of Salta Province) is the cultural capital of Argentina's northwest — a colonial city founded in 1582 at 1,152m altitude in the Lerma Valley, surrounded by Andean ranges and the Calchaquí Valleys that produce Torrontés (Argentina's aromatic indigenous white grape) from vineyards at 2,000–3,100m. The city earned the nickname 'La Linda' (The Beautiful) for its preserved colonial baroque ensemble: the Cathedral Basilica, the Cabildo, and the Church of San Francisco form a plaza group unlike anything in Buenos Aires. Salta is also the folkloric music capital of…
Salta was founded on April 16, 1582 by Hernando de Lerma as a colonial staging post on the route between Buenos Aires and Lima. General Belgrano's victory at the Battle of Salta (February 20, 1813) during the Argentine War of Independence was decisive for the patriot cause. The three Inca children found frozen at 6,739m on Mount Llullaillaco in 1999 — now in Salta's MAAM Museum — are the best-preserved pre-Columbian human remains ever found, sacrificed in the Inca capacocha ceremony approximately 500 years ago.