San Juan (province, Argentina)

San Juan is a province in the Cuyo region of Argentina. It has a population of 818,234 (2022 census).

Cities

 * – the provincial captial

Other destinations

 * aka the Moon Valley
 * – a village up against the Andes Cordillera

Understand
This province has an area of, within which stands out a mountainous relief with sparse vegetation, fertile oases, turbulent rivers from the Andean snowmelt, mountains and important paleontological sites.

Economically, agriculture is a key industry, standing out with the wine industry, being the second producer in Argentina and in South America. A good variety of fruits and vegetables are also produced that are produced in the fertile valleys irrigated by artificial channels at the foot of the Andes.

Because of the arid, steppe-like character of the province, most of the population lives concentrated in a few oasis valleys. Over 80% live in Gran San Juan (approx. 450,000 inhabitants), the metropolitan area around San Juan in the Tulum oasis. Other important cities are Caucete in the east of the province (38,000 inhabitants) and San José de Jáchal (11,000 inhabitants) in the north.

Get in
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport is the main way to enter via air. It receives flights from Buenos Aires on a daily basis.

National Route 40 follows a south-north route through the province between the region of Media Agua in the south and the province of La Rioja in the north.

In the west of the province, National Road 149 (which also has a north–south route) connects National Route 7 in the town of Uspallata in Mendoza to National Route 150 in the locality of Las Flores within San Juan.

The province is also crossed by National Route 20 which runs from Córdoba to San Juan.

See and do
San Juan is known for its modern architecture – the kind not found in other Argentine cities, with wide tree-lined streets, hardwood parks, plazas and walkways, in the middle of the desert of San Juan, earning it the nickname of 'city oasis'.

Ischigualasto Provincial Park or Valle de la Luna (lit. Moon Valley) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its moon-like landscape.

Eat and drink
As in all of Argentina, rich roasts, empanadas, locros are popular, but the chacinados stand out in San Juan, as it's a tradition to raise pigs in this province.

There's a good Syrah variety of red wine in San Juan, you can drink red wine – the most outstanding varietal among those most produced in the province for weather reasons and sparkling wines produced in cellars come from the San Juan mountains.