How many days do I need for a trip through northern Argentina by bus?

It really depends on your pace rather than some magic number. What works best is thinking about what you want to see (Tilcara, Purmamarca, Salinas Grandes, Cafayate...) and figuring out how much time you need in each place, because if you only spend a day in each town you'll basically be spending the whole trip on the bus 😅 The bare minimum would be around 10-12 days if you want to cover the essentials without rushing, but I know people who take 3 weeks and still say it's not enough. Better put together an itinerary first and then see how many days you actually have available.

A trip through northern Argentina by bus takes quite a bit of time if you want to actually enjoy it without rushing. You guys are right that it all depends on what you want to see, but honestly I think you're underestimating. A week is the bare minimum if you don't want to spend the whole day on the bus, and realistically 10-12 days is way better. The difference is huge between doing Salta-Jujuy-Purmamarca in 5 days stuck in transport versus actually having time to walk around, visit small towns, rest.

I'd say plan it like this: if you want the basics (Salta city, Tilcara, Purmamarca, maybe Cafayate), you need a minimum of 8 days without stress. If you're also interested in Salinas Grandes, the Quilmes ruins, Serranías del Hornocal, or doing some trekking, better plan for 12-14 days. The buses there are comfortable but the trips between towns are long, and losing days just staring out the window without being able to stop anywhere in between is frustrating.

My recommendation: make a list of places you don't want to miss, add a day for each one (minimum), and throw in 2-3 buffer days for whatever you discover along the way. That way you're not stressed and you actually enjoy it.

Your mates are right that it all depends on what you want to see, but I think they're underselling the time you need! If you really want to enjoy the north without rushing through it, you need a minimum of 10-12 days to do a proper route that includes Salta, Jujuy, Salinas Grandes, Purmamarca and Cafayate without feeling hurried. Sure, you can do it in 6-7 days if you travel fast and only want to hit the basics, but honestly it's a shame! The landscapes up north are brutal and deserve you spending a couple of days in each place to actually enjoy them, not just pass through and snap photos.

Between Salta capital and La Quiaca there's almost 500 km, so the trip itself is pretty long. I did a 10-day getaway through that area once and honestly, I came up short 😅 I visited Salta, went down to Cafayate, went up to Purmamarca and Tilcara, and barely touched Salinas Grandes. Time flies when you're seeing landscapes like that, especially if you want to stop in small towns to take pictures of everything.

If you travel by bus you have to account for travel time between cities (which is sometimes 4-6 hours), so that's going to eat into your daylight hours. I think the bare minimum would be like 8-10 days if you want to see the main stuff without rushing: a couple days in Salta, another in Cafayate, 2-3 in the Purmamarca-Tilcara-Maimará triangle, and if you want to get into Salinas Grandes or Serranías del Hornocal, that'll take you a whole other day. But honestly, with 14-15 days you'd enjoy it without stress.

The important thing is don't listen to anyone who tells you doing it in a week is fine. Those exhausting trips where you only see the bus scenery through the window aren't worth it - better to go at your own pace and stay to enjoy the places that blow you away 🌵

The thing is, the number of days barely matters if you're not clear on what pace you want to keep, because northern Argentina is huge and the distances between towns are pretty long by bus. What people usually overlook is that traveling by bus takes way more time than it seems: winding routes, stops, changing buses between provinces. My recommendation is that you first figure out if you want a relaxed two-week trip or something tighter over 10 days, and then plan your route based on that, because trying to squeeze too many places into a few days leaves you exhausted from being on the bus the whole time.

I'd say what a lot of people forget about is the factor of traveling between towns by bus, which eats up tons of hours and leaves you completely exhausted. Between Salta, Tilcara, Purmamarca, Cafayate and Salinas Grandes, just the travel between them already takes up full days, so if you actually want to enjoy it and not just tick boxes, plan for at least two weeks, three if you can manage it.