The stunning sandstone cliffs of Talampaya, with their unique rock formations and petroglyphs, offer an unforgettable journey into the past, inviting to appreciate the beauty of a landscape formed by tectonics and erosion over millions of years, and to discover the mysterious inscriptions that its ancient inhabitants have left on the rocks.

Talampaya and the neighboring Park Ischigualasto have been jointly inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, being the only place in the world where fossilized remains of prehistoric animals and plants have been found, that reveal the evolution of life in the Triassic Period.

At about 60 km from the town of Villa Unión in the province La Rioja, the Talampaya National Park extends 215,000 ha on the western border of the Sierras Pampeanas within Argentina's ecoregion called "monte", a dry thorn scrub and grasslands area along the Andean foothills. Its exceptional landscape is known for its red sandstone cliffs reaching 200 metres in height at the Canyon of Talampaya.

Visits to the Talampaya National Park are only allowed in organized tours accompanied by a guide. Directly booked at the park's entrance, they are done in specialized vehicles that stop at several stations where you can take short walks.

You can also book online, for example, the most popular site tours via Civitatis or a completely organized trip via TourRadar.

Botanical Garden and Chimney

At the station called Botanical Garden you can appreciate the flora of the area, characterized as a shrub steppe with a predominance of jarillas, accompanied by several species of cactus, retama bushes, carob trees, chañar trees, as well as green bark shrubs called brea.

From the base to the top of the vertical cliff wall you will see a large cylindrical groove, a product of water erosion, which has been called "The Chimney" and that produces a remarkable echo effect.