Around the lake
by TheWanderingCamel
There can't be too many first-time visitors to Bariloche who fail to follow the Circuito Chico, featured in every tour brochure and an easy half-day excursion offered by all the local tour companies. It's a nice introduction to the region that takes you on a 65km loop along the lakeside with some stops at points of interest along the way. Of course, heaps of other people will be doing it at the same time, and the main features will inevitably have lots of other people there (as well as the ubiquitous souvenir sellers) when you arrive, but it is undeniably lovely, the views from the high points are spectacular and if, as we did, you go on your own and at your own pace, you'll find there are spots where you can stop and soak it all in in solitude.
Barloche's cathedral
by TheWanderingCamel
If Bariloche's cathedral, dedicated to Nuestre Senora de Nahuel Huapi - Our Lady of Nahuel Huapi, seems oddly proportioned - its height is disproportionate to its length and width - it's not surprising. Begun in 1946 and meant to be a much larger building, it was never finished and what serves as the cathedral today is, in fact, what was meant to be the entrance. Its soaring steeple is a landmark.
Inside the cathedral, the rather bare simplicity of the the interior is relieved by some 50 stained glass windows with both religious themes and images of the history of the Catholic church in South America, including Magellan celebrating the first mass on South American soil and some rather graphic scenes of the martyrdom of the first Jesuit missionaries.