The Seven Lakes Road, Argentina: what it covers

Key Takeaways

• The named Seven Lakes Road is the paved stretch of Route 40 between Villa La Angostura and San Martín de los Andes: 96km by the road authority’s marker, though Villa La Angostura’s own tourism board and Neuquén’s provincial tourism site both quote 110km for the scenic drive.
• The seven lakes it is named for are usually listed as Lácar, Machónico, Falkner, Villarino, Escondido, Correntoso and Espejo, the same order Wikipedia gives and the same seven that Lati’s own tour stops at. Official tourism sites do not all agree: some swap in Nahuel Huapi for one of the seven.
• Lati’s Seven Lakes Road day trip runs it as a 10-hour round trip from Bariloche, priced at US$80 per person, rated easy.
• The route has been fully paved since 2012, and two provincial roads that branch off it are being paved now, work that Neuquén’s government says will turn the circuit into an eight or nine-lake drive once finished.
• Verdict: the day trip fits the road as it exists today. The lakes being added by the current roadworks are not part of it yet.

Bariloche to San Martín de los Andes: the drive

Two separate legs make up the day, and only the second one is the road actually called the Seven Lakes Road.

The first leg, Bariloche to Villa La Angostura, runs 82km on Route 40, about an hour, tracing the shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi. This part carries the same name (Route 40) but is not the stretch the “Seven Lagos” name refers to.

The second leg is the road itself: Route 40 from Villa La Angostura to San Martín de los Andes. Wikipedia’s account, citing the road’s own kilometre markers, puts it at 96km, from km 2125 to km 2221. Villa La Angostura’s tourism board quotes 110km for the same drive and times it at about an hour and a half without stops, and Neuquén’s provincial tourism site uses the same 110km figure. Add the two legs and a one-way drive from Bariloche runs somewhere between 178km and 192km, before any of the photo stops.

The seven lakes, and why the list depends who you ask

The road takes its name from seven lakes, but which seven changes depending on the source, and that disagreement is old enough that it shows up even between two official tourism boards on the same route.

Wikipedia and the Neuquén newspaper La Mañana both give the same traditional list, running north to south: Lácar, Machónico, Falkner, Villarino, Escondido, Correntoso and Espejo. It is also the exact list Lati’s own tour stops at, in the opposite order, travelling south to north from Villa La Angostura.

Lake	On the traditional list?
Espejo	Yes
Correntoso	Yes
Villarino	Yes
Falkner	Yes
Escondido	Yes
Machónico	Yes, though Villa La Angostura’s tourism board lists Nahuel Huapi in its place
Lácar	Yes, though Neuquén’s provincial tourism site lists Nahuel Huapi in its place

Nahuel Huapi itself, the lake Bariloche sits on, is not on the traditional seven from either Wikipedia or La Mañana. Both note it as the lake visitors see right after finishing the drive, which is likely why some tourism sites fold it into their own version of the list.

What Lati’s day trip actually covers

Lati’s Seven Lakes Road tour is a 10-hour day trip from Bariloche, priced at US$80 per person, rated easy, and bookable daily with a two-day cutoff.

The route follows both legs above: pick-up in Bariloche at 08:00, north on Route 40 along Lago Nahuel Huapi, a stop in Villa La Angostura, then the Seven Lakes Road proper with photo stops at Espejo, Correntoso, Villarino, Falkner, Escondido, Machónico and Lácar. The tour reaches San Martín de los Andes around midday, leaves free time to walk the town and have lunch on your own, then retraces the route through Villa La Angostura for an estimated 18:30 return to Bariloche.

A bilingual guide and hotel pick-up are included; food, drinks and gratuities are not, so bring cash or a card for lunch and any shopping in San Martín de los Andes.

Is the Seven Lakes Road paved? Since 2012, and about to grow

Yes, for the stretch the name refers to. Wikipedia’s history of the road traces paving back to the 1970s and 1990s, with just 30km surfaced at first and the rest finished in stages; the whole stretch was already paved by 2012, when it was folded into Route 40’s own numbering.

What is not paved yet are two provincial roads that branch off it. Neuquén’s provincial roads authority lists Route 63, which connects Route 40 to Villa Meliquina, and Route 65, which connects it to Villa Traful. As of February 2026, Route 65’s first 34km stage was 47.65% built, due for completion in October 2026; Route 63’s 19km were 3.37% built, due in September 2027, a project reported at 29 billion pesos and built by CN Sapag SA.

Neuquén’s provincial government has described the finished roads as turning the circuit into an “eight-lake” drive once Meliquina is reachable by paved road, and a “nine-lake” one if Lago Lolog, near San Martín de los Andes, is counted too. Neither is part of the road as it stands today, and neither is part of Lati’s tour.

Seven Lakes Road vs a night in San Martín de los Andes

Lati’s day trip suits someone based in Bariloche who wants to see the lakes and the town without changing hotels: the drive, the photo stops and a few hours in San Martín de los Andes all fit inside the 10 hours.

A night or two in San Martín de los Andes suits anyone who wants more than a few hours there, since Lago Lácar sits right at the edge of town and the surrounding valley has its own trails and viewpoints beyond what a day trip can reach. Sleeping there also removes the return drive from the day you arrive, useful if the weather in the Lake District turns, which it can do at short notice in any season.

Either plan needs the road to be open and clear, which is mostly a November-to-March question: the same seasonal pattern that governs the rest of Patagonia applies here too, even though this route sits lower and colder-weather closures are less common than further south.

So: day trip, or more time on the lakes?

For a first look at the lakes between Bariloche and San Martín de los Andes, the day trip covers the named road end to end in one 10-hour round trip, at the seven lakes it has always been named for. If San Martín de los Andes itself, rather than the drive there, is the point of the trip, plan a night in town instead and treat the road as the way in, not the whole visit.

Our Bariloche guide covers the rest of what a stay there involves, and for paying your way once you are on the road, from a coffee in Villa La Angostura to lunch in San Martín de los Andes, paying in Argentina covers what still needs cash.