“Del Pedregoso was the perfect base for a group of us to enjoy rafting down the river, horse riding in the surrounding countryside, exploring the nearby National Parks and dropping in on Butch Cassidy's hideout.” Lynne Hughes

• Butch Cassidy’s cabin (2-hour excursion)

Just outside Cholila stands the original log cabin built by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where they lived with the gorgeous Ettie Place in the early 1900s before fleeing to Chile after a Wild Bunch-style bank raid in Rio Gallegos which put the authorities on their tail. The entertaining story of their brief episode in Argentina posing as North American cattle breeders and the friends they made during their stay is well documented in the memorabilia and sepia photographs on display.

• Museo Leleque (half-day excursion)

The museum was recently opened on the lands of the Estancia Leleque sheep farm. It provides a fascinating insight into life back in the early 19th century when the first immigrant pioneers arrived, and charts their changeable relationship with the communities of native Mapuche Indians already living in the region. The general store adjoining the museum, known as El Boliche, has been restored in authentic style circa 1920 and now offers visitors regional delicacies and handicrafts as well as the chance to leaf through books chronicling the life and times of bygone years.

• Parque Nacional Los Alerces (day excursion by boat from La Cholila)

This vast natural preserve was originally established in 1937 to protect the giant-girthed, slow-growing Southern redwood from extinction, as the durability of its dark copper-colored wood made it one of the most sought-after varieties for the construction and furniture industries. Today the park, with countless streams cascading down into a chain of crystal-clear lakes, is home to the largest and oldest collection of redwoods in South America, the most venerable of which is 2,600 years old. Visitors can choose from a wide range of water and land activities, including over twenty hikes of varying length and difficulty on paths which branch out from the Information Center at Villa Futalaufquen leading to waterfalls, hidden lakes, glaciers and mountain tops.

• Trevelin (day excursion by car)

Trevelin, or the Town of the Windmill in Welsh, was founded towards the end of the 19th century by a group of Welsh immigrants who crossed the Atlantic to Patagonia. The colonial town has lost none of its charm, linguistic heritage or musical traditions, for the church pews are divided according to singing voices, cherries and roses abound in summer and dozens of tea houses beckon visitors into chintzy interiors for home-made scones and rich fruit cake. There are several museums worth visiting, such as the Museo Regional and the Museo Cartref Taid dedicated to the extraordinary life of the horse Mala Cara, who was raised by Indians yet saved his Welsh owners on more than one occasion.

• Mapuches Tejedoras – the Mapuche weavers (half-day excursion)

There are over 35 different native Indian communities still living in Argentina, many of which live in reservations and work actively to revive ancient traditions and folklore. In the south, the best known are undoubtedly the Mapuche Indians whose early relationship with the immigrant European settlers ranged from outright conflict to trade and cooperation. Just outside Leleque there is a Mapuche community which has revived its old textile customs and is now open to visitors who can watch the Mapuche women working at their upright looms weaving colorful ponchos, blankets and rugs in traditional designs. 

• La Casa de Piedra Cholila (afternoon outing)

Casa de Piedra is a small but excellent tea shop just outside Cholila which serves home-made pastries, sandwiches and cakes, a great way to round off a short trip into the nearby village.

• La Trochita, the ‘Old Patagonian Express’, from El Maitén (day excursion).

The Old Patagonian Express, as it was affectionately christened by travel-writer Paul Theroux, is one of the few survivors of the vast railway network which the British built across Patagonia in the first half of the 20th century. The 400-km stretch from Ingeniero Jacobacci to the city of Esquel was served until the end of the 1970s by cargo trains, including La Trochita, bearing wood, grains and above all wool, on the first part of their journey to Buenos Aires and beyond. La Trochita came to occupy a special place in the hearts of the locals and although the line was closed for commercial activity in the early 1990s, it was not long before the short stretch from El Maitén to Esquel was reopened for tourists. Today, the magnificent old steam engine built in 1922 hauls wooden passenger carriages back and forth along the narrow-gauge railway crossing the Patagonian steppes, its distinctive whistle echoing through the rock canyons.