La Rioja Province · Argentina
La Rioja travel guide
La Rioja is a city in La Rioja Province, Argentina, home to about 212,000 people.
- Best months
- April to September
- Nearest airport
- IRJ7 km · Capitan V A Almonacid Airport
- Currency
- ARSArgentine convertible peso
- Time zone
- America/Argentina/La Rioja
- Language
- Spanish
About
About La Rioja
La Rioja, founded as the City of All Saints of New Rioja (Spanish: Ciudad de Todos los Santos de Nueva Rioja), is the capital city of the eponymous La Rioja Province, located in the Argentine Northwest at the foot of the Sierra de Velasco.
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in La Rioja
See
There is a municipal tourist information kiosk at Plaza principal 25 de Mayo, with information about sleeping, eating and what to do. The regional tourist information office is in a building beside the bus station. Staff at both the kiosk and the office are helpful but the regional tourist office is a bit better set up.
- Museo Folkloric
- Casa de Joaquin Victor Gonzalez
Do
A great one day tour can be undertaken by driving to Talampaya National Park via Patquia. It takes a little over 2½ hours to drive to the visitor centre. The park can only be explored by guided 4WD bus tour. The 4WD bus excursions leave from the visitor centre a couple of times a day and take about 2½ hours. It may pay to check what times the excursions are scheduled on the day you plan to visit as some days they are only offered in the afternoons in which case you may decide to do the trip in reverse. The park entry fee together with the price of the guided tour is approx AR$90,000 per person. Food and water is available at the park but it is very expensive so a picnic is a good idea.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
When to go
The best time to visit La Rioja
The most comfortable months for a city stay in La Rioja are April to September. December is the warmest month, with average highs of 34 °C; January is the wettest, with about 81 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to La Rioja: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Capitan V A Almonacid Airport (IRJ), about 6.8 km from the city centre in a straight line; Coronel Felipe Varela International Airport (CTC, 141 km) is also within reach.
IRJ · Capitan V A Almonacid Airport
CTC · Coronel Felipe Varela International Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in La Rioja
Eat
There are cafes around the Plaza 25 de Mayo and on the small street running south from the south east corner of the Plaza.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
La Rioja: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit La Rioja?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in La Rioja are April to September. December is the warmest month, with average highs of 34 °C; January is the wettest, with about 81 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to La Rioja?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Capitan V A Almonacid Airport (IRJ), about 6.8 km from the city centre in a straight line; Coronel Felipe Varela International Airport (CTC, 141 km) is also within reach.
What currency is used in La Rioja?
Argentine convertible peso (ARS).
Nearby
Destinations near La Rioja
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.