The Bus Terminal in Salta
Most backpackers will arive in Salta at the bus terminal. So let me tell you a little about it. First, there is no decent tourist information in the bus terminal. This is one of my biggest complaints about it. The exception to this is that there are often several young people who work at some of the hostels who can help you. But there there is basically no official tourist information there. There is one automated computer stand but it is purely a marketing gimmick and it has terrible English and even worse iinformation. The only places you will find in that modern and impressive looking computer stand are the business who pay to advertise there. See pic.
If you arrive very late and tired and want to walk to the closest hostel, that would be Inti Huasi. But almost all of the hostels will pay for your taxi fare to their hostel. Just tell the cab driver the name of the hostel and then when you get to the hostel, tell the person at the reception desk that you came from the terminal by taxi and they will typically pay the fare. To check on which hostels are offering this, check the hostel comparison table or check with the hostel to be extra sure. You can call them from the "telecento" right in the terminal.
Bus companies (incomplete)
Here are some pics of some of the people who work in the terminal promoting their hostels. They hang around in the terminal most of the day. When there is no bus coming they usually sit and talk at one of these tables. They are all nice people. Some of them speak English well. On the day I took the pictures, one of them, Rosa, was studying to be an English teacher.
They all told me they would like to either practice their English while they wait, or give Spanish lessons. Today I saw an ad for Spanish lessons in a private school which charged 15 pesos an hour. I think the people in the picture would be very happy to help you with your Spanish for just 5 pesos per hour. And even if you just want to ask them about Salta or Argentina, I highly recommend you look for them in the terminal and get to know them.
In the back row is Cesar from the Hostleling International Hostels on the left, and Alejandro from Salamanca on the right. In the front row are Fernando from Quara, Lorena from El Andaluz and Rosa from La Maison de Olivier.
Here are some more pics
This one shows that they don't fight over the passengers like they do in Cafayate. To be honest, I asked them to hug for this pic, but earlier they were hugging without me asking them to. And they aren't dating, hugging is just much more common in South America.
Here is a bad pic of the badges the tourist office is now making them wear. Each hostel also has to pay about 50 pesos, per week, to the bus terminal to be able to seek customers.
Here are a couple of pics of them talking to, or waiting to talk to the passengers with backpacks. They seem to respect each other, again, unlike what the El Balcon family seems to do in Cafayate. Maybe a couple of the El Balcon family members could come up to Salta and see how the hostels here do things. What happens at the bus terminals in Cafayate is really ugly.
I went by the terminal again on Nov 30 (2006) and took this pic. In the pic are Cesar, Rosa, Sergio, Beto (from Quara/Puesto Viejo), and Graciela from Estacion Balcarce. Estacion Balcarce, by the way, is misleading backpackers a bit in their use of something that looks very much like the HI logo. I wrote more about this on the main hostels page under the note about Estacion Balcarce.
Here is a pic of the little van that is owned by the Hosteling International hostels. I think it sits there mostly for marketing purposes! Someone told me it is there all the time! I've heard they sometimes give you a ride to their hostel in this van, but usually just pay for your taxi fare like most of the hostels.
Geminis -
Phone 431-7778 geminissalta@arnet.com.ar
San Pedro de Atacama $136
Ten hours to get from Salta to San Pedro
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday 7:00 AM
You can't pay with a credit card only with US dollars, or Pesos Argentinos or Pesos Chilenos or with a bank transfer if you are reserving by phone or by email.
La Veloz is owned by the same person who owns the bus terminal. That is why they have the best location for their ticket offices. The same person also owns the 5 star hotel, Alejandro I. I won't say too much about the owner except that I have heard he berates his employees, even his managers, and his son died in a car accident. I will also add that sometimes the terminal seems to be run by the Nazis. For example, I have been told I can't plug in my laptop computer, I can't park my bike on the sidewalk.
They also supposedly have a WIFI Internet system there, but there is one minor detail. It isn't free like most WIFI places. You have to buy a card from Telefonica to use it. Little things like this make me feel very skeptical of the owner. Also, as I said above, there is no good tourist information there. You have to walk several blocks to get to the city tourist information office, which isn't always open like the bus terminal. I remember how impressed I was with the tourist information offices in the train stations when I first got to Europe many years ago. Well, this bus terminal is nothing like that. It is run by a private company whose goal is to make money. I heard they charge 2,000 pesos to have an office there, so a small bus company like Quebradeño can't afford to have a ticket office there. I suppose they even charge them to park their bus there to pick up and drop off passengers.
Anyhow here is the web page for La Veloz
El Indio
Phones 432 0846 431 9389
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From Salta to Cafayate
One way 22.90
Round trip 44.00
| Monday to Saturday | Sunday |
| Leaves 7 AM, 1PM, 7:15 PM | Leaves 7 AM, 2PM, 7:15 PM |
From Cafayate to Salta
| Monday | Tuesday | Weds | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 5 AM, 9 AM, 6:30 PM | 5 AM, 9 AM, 6:30 PM | 5 AM, 9 AM, 6:30 PM | 5 AM, 9 AM, 1 PM, 6:30 PM | 5 AM, 9 AM, 6:30 PM | 5 AM, 9 AM, 6:30 PM | 9 AM 6:30 PM |
Santa Maria Everyday at 7 AM
Catamarca,
Guachipas, Colonel Moldes
La Vina
In Cafayate Phone 03868- 421- 002
Quebradeño
Tel 427 1127
San Antonio de los Cobres
18 pesos
Monday - Saturday at 3 PM
Sunday 7 PM
Return from San Antonio de Los Cobres
Monday - Saturday
Leaves 7 AM
Arrives 11:30
Sunday
10
2PM
The fancy looking computer info stand
Here is another of these things. I wrote more about them on the tourist information center page. But this one is in the bus terminal. On the day I went to try out my new wireless adaptor with my laptop I looked all around for a place to plug it in. The only place I found was behind this thing. So I pulled up a chair close to it and plugged in my charger. Within a few minutes one of the security gaurds came up and told me I couldn't use the outlet! The only explanation I can come up with for this is that the owner of the bus terminal is nearly starving to death and if I used a little electricty he would die. I also found out that day the the WIFI system in the terminal is not free.
First, it is not free. Second, there is no place to plug in your laptop computer to charge the batteries. I wrote more about both of these elsewhere on this page.