How to Get to Mendoza, Argentina

There are no direct flights to Mendoza from North America or Europe. You will connect, and realistically there are two sensible ways in: fly through Buenos Aires, or come from Santiago de Chile by short hop or overland.

Mendoza’s own airport is small. That is not a complaint — it is fifteen minutes from the city and painless — but it means long-haul aircraft do not land here, and your whole itinerary gets built around whichever hub you pass through.

Through Buenos Aires

This is the normal route from the US, Canada and the UK. You fly into Buenos Aires, then take a domestic flight west. The hop to Mendoza is under two hours.

It works well. It also contains the single biggest trap in Argentine travel, so read the next section even if you skip everything else.

The two-airport trap

Buenos Aires has two airports:

Ezeiza (EZE) — the international airport, roughly 30 km (19 mi) south of the center.
Aeroparque (AEP) — the domestic airport, right in the city on the river.

Your long-haul flight almost certainly lands at Ezeiza. A large share of domestic flights, including many to Mendoza, leave from Aeroparque. Getting between them means crossing all of Buenos Aires by road — plan on an hour and a half to two hours, and more in traffic. There is no train, no airside link, no shortcut. You clear immigration, collect your bags and go out into the city.

Two rules follow from that:

If you book the long-haul and the domestic leg as separate reservations, leave at least four hours between them, and preferably more. If you miss the second flight, nobody owes you anything — they are two different contracts.
Better: buy the whole journey on one ticket. Then the airline is responsible for the connection, and for putting you on the next flight if the first one runs late.

Some domestic flights do depart from Ezeiza, which removes the problem entirely. Check which airport your second leg actually uses before you congratulate yourself on a tight connection.

From Santiago de Chile

Often faster than people expect. Santiago is close — Mendoza sits on the other side of the same mountains — and the flight takes about an hour.

You can also do it overland, over the Paso Los Libertadores. It is one of the great drives on the continent, and the pass can close in winter because of snow, sometimes for days at a time. If you are traveling between June and September, treat it as a route that might not be there on the morning you want it. I have written that crossing up properly in Mendoza to Santiago.

The overnight bus from Buenos Aires

Argentina’s long-distance buses are genuinely good, and Buenos Aires to Mendoza is one of the main runs. It takes somewhere in the region of twelve to fifteen hours, and it goes overnight.

The seat class matters more than the price:

Cama — the seat reclines almost flat. This is the one to book. You sleep, and you save a night’s accommodation.
Semi-cama — reclines a long way but not flat. Fine if you sleep easily on planes, not if you don’t.

Whether the bus beats the flight depends mostly on how much time you have and how much travel is already behind you. Coming straight off a transatlantic flight, most people should just take the domestic hop. Coming from a week in Buenos Aires with time to spare, it is a good night’s travel and you wake up under the Andes.

I am deliberately not printing fares or departure times. Both move too fast to be useful in writing, and operators change their schedules by season.

Arriving in Mendoza

El Plumerillo (MDZ) sits about 8 km (5 mi) north of the center. It is small and easy to read. A taxi or a remis — a private car booked at a desk or by phone rather than hailed on the street — gets you into the city in around twenty minutes.

Have some pesos on you when you land. Not every driver takes cards, and the airport is a bad place to find that out; money in Argentina covers what to carry and why.

Getting around once you’re here

The city is a grid, with five squares and wide tree-lined avenues, and you can walk the center comfortably. That part is easy. The problem starts when you want to go where the wine is, which is why everyone comes.

Area	Distance from the city	How to get there
Maipú	15–20 km (9–12 mi)	Bike, taxi, the Metrotranvía tram
Luján de Cuyo	20–30 km (12–19 mi)	Car, or a tour with a driver
Valle de Uco	80–120 km (50–75 mi)	Car or a driver. Realistically nothing else

A driver or an organized tour is the right answer for most visitors. Someone else plans the day, knows what three wineries can actually be done between eleven and six, and — the point — you can drink. Wine tours goes into which format suits which kind of traveler.

Renting a car makes sense for the Uco Valley, where the wineries are far apart and far from town. The catch is obvious: somebody stays sober. Most wineries will offer the driver their pours packed up to take away instead.

A bike is the classic in Maipú, which is close, flat and has wineries within easy reach of each other. It is much less fun in the peak summer heat, so check when to come first.

For buses inside the city there is a rechargeable card system and drivers generally will not take cash. Ask at your accommodation; they will know the current card and often keep spares to lend.

One more thing, and it matters. Argentina has tightened its drink-driving rules and enforcement in the wine region is real. That, and the rest of the practical risk, is in is Mendoza safe.