How many days in Mendoza: from two days to a week

Key Takeaways

• Four days is the standard Mendoza trip: one arrival day, two full winery days in different valleys, and one departure day.
• The Uco Valley is the furthest wine region, with its main town Tunuyán 81km from Mendoza, about 48 minutes by road, so it needs a day of its own.
• Las Cuevas, at the end of the Andes road past Aconcagua, is 190km from Mendoza, about 2h23 each way: a fifth day, not an add-on.
• Mendoza allows car drivers up to 500mg of alcohol per litre of blood, but a tasting day uses that up quickly. Plan wine days with a driver.

How many days in Mendoza do you need for the essentials?

Four days, if the trip is about wine. Mendoza has three wine valleys at different distances from the city: Maipú and Luján de Cuyo are close, and the Uco Valley is the long drive. One full day per valley is the honest pace, because two wineries and a long lunch fill a day on their own. Our Mendoza wine tour planning guide explains why two wineries is the ceiling.

The arrival and departure days rarely hold a winery visit. A flight that lands at midday leaves the afternoon for the city, and the last morning goes to packing and the airport. So four days on the calendar give two real winery days. Three days give one.

If Mendoza is part of a longer Argentina trip, the split changes: the Buenos Aires and Mendoza in one week guide covers the combined route and the flight between the two cities. This page is about Mendoza on its own.

What fits in two days in Mendoza?

One valley and the city. Land, check in, walk the centre and the Plaza Independencia in the afternoon, then give the next full day to a single wine tour.

The closest options for a two-day trip:

• Lati Travel’s Malbec Wine Tour runs six hours in Luján de Cuyo, with two wineries and lunch at a third, from US$136 per person.
• The Olive Oil Factory and Wine Decanting Tour stays mainly in Maipú, with a winery, an olive oil producer and a paired lunch, from US$99 per person.

Two days rules out the Uco Valley, unless you skip the city entirely. It also rules out the mountains. For most travellers that is a reasonable trade on a first visit, but it is a short trip, and it leaves no margin for a delayed flight.

What does a four-day trip add?

A second valley, and breathing room. Four days is the length most Mendoza itineraries settle on, and it is how Lati Travel’s 4 Day Mendoza Wine Tour Package is built, from US$822 per person:

1. Day 1: arrival, with an optional private transfer from El Plumerillo airport (MDZ) to the city centre.
2. Day 2: the olive oil factory and wine decanting tour, with a tasting at a boutique winery and lunch at a second.
3. Day 3: the Malbec wine tour in Luján de Cuyo, with two wineries and a gourmet lunch at a third.
4. Day 4: departure, with the same optional transfer back to the airport.

The package includes the hotel nights; transport can be added as a separate service. The private transfer between MDZ and the city centre can also be booked on its own, at US$55 per booking.

What about three days?

Three days is the awkward length. On paper it holds two valleys; in practice the arrival day and the departure day each take half of the trip’s time, so one of the two winery days ends up squeezed against a flight. If three days is all you have, book one full wine tour for the middle day, keep the arrival afternoon for the city, and treat the last morning as free. If a fourth night is possible, it changes the trip more than any other single addition: it turns one winery day into two, without a flight on either side of them.

The rest days between tastings matter more than they look. Two wine days in a row are fine; three in a row is where tastings start to blur.

Is a week in Mendoza too long?

Not if the week has more than wine in it. Five to seven days lets you add the two things a four-day trip leaves out: the Uco Valley and the Andes road.

The Uco Valley: a day of its own

Tunuyán, the valley’s main town, is 81km from Mendoza, about 48 minutes of driving before any winery stops. The wineries are spread out across the valley floor, so a day here runs longer than one in Maipú. Two Lati Travel options cover it:

• Decanting Wine in Mendoza, Uco Valley: eight hours, with visits in Vista Flores and lunch in Gualtallary, from US$160 per person.
• Decanting Wine in Maipú: El Enemigo and Zuccardi: nine hours, starting at El Enemigo and ending with lunch at Zuccardi Valley in the Uco Valley, from US$209 per person.

Aconcagua and the high Andes: a full day on the road

Aconcagua, at 6,967m the highest mountain outside Asia, stands next to the road to Chile. The drive west passes Potrerillos, 51km from Mendoza, then Uspallata at 106km, and ends at Las Cuevas, 190km and about 2h23 from the city. In the provincial park, the most visited short walk goes to the Horcones Lagoon, about a 2-hour walk on marked trails to a viewpoint of the south face.

That is a full day of driving, so it does not share a day with a winery.

Rafting and hot springs

Potrerillos is also where Mendoza’s river and spa days happen. Lati Travel’s Mendoza Wellness & Adventure Tour Package runs five days, from US$943 per person: rafting and a canopy circuit in Potrerillos, a full day at the Termas de Cacheuta hot springs, and a Green Wine Tour through three wineries. It suits travellers who want only one wine day in the week.

How many days in Mendoza, by trip length

Days available	What fits	Lati Travel option
2 days	The city plus one valley, Maipú or Luján de Cuyo	Malbec Wine Tour, US$136 per person
3 days	The city plus two valleys, with no slack	Two day tours, booked separately
4 days	Arrival, Maipú, Luján de Cuyo, departure	4 Day Mendoza Wine Tour Package, US$822 per person
5 days	Wine, rafting and hot springs	Mendoza Wellness & Adventure package, US$943 per person
6-7 days	Four days of wine plus the Uco Valley and the Aconcagua road	The 4-day package plus the Uco Valley tour

When to go, and how it changes the count

Harvest runs from February to April, and it is the busiest time at the wineries. The Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia closes it: in 2027 the Vía Blanca parade is on Friday 5 March and the Acto Central on Saturday 6 March. Hotels fill up that weekend, so a trip in that window is worth booking further ahead, not lengthening.

Which Mendoza trip to book

For a first visit, the 4 Day Mendoza Wine Tour Package covers Maipú and Luján de Cuyo with the hotel nights included. For a shorter stop, book the Malbec Wine Tour on its own. For a week, add the Uco Valley and a day on the Andes road. The Mendoza place page covers the wider region for anyone still deciding.