Mendoza is best discovered on foot: 6 tours to experience the city differently

To understand why wine is so deeply woven into Mendoza’s identity, you don’t have to start at a winery. The Origins of Wine Free Walking Tour takes visitors through the city center to discover how winemaking began, how it evolved and how it ultimately influenced the cultural and social life—and even the urban development—of the capital, recognized as the International Wine Capital.

Accompanied by a local guide, the tour connects different parts of the city through stories and references that offer a different perspective on its streets. And, as you might expect, it ends with a glass in hand: the experience concludes at a wine shop in the city with a tasting of local wines.

The tip: the experience is free and does not require registration. Places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s a good opportunity to understand Mendoza’s wine culture from the city before heading out to explore its wineries.

Where: You can find updated dates, days and times each month on the Mendoza City Municipality website.

To understand the relationship between José de San Martín and Mendoza, this tour swaps textbook dates for the places where part of that history actually unfolded. The starting point is the San Martín House Museum, from where the tour continues through different sites connected to his legacy and the campaign for independence.

The route through the New City includes places such as Paseo Alameda, Plaza San Martín, the Museo del Pasado Cuyano, the Provincial Legislature and the Flag Memorial. There’s also a small game that turns the walk into more than just a guided tour: participants can bring their Sanmartín Passport and collect stamps from the places they visit.

The tip: the tour is free; you only need to pay the corresponding museum admission when the itinerary includes one. It is recommended to arrive ten minutes early.

Where: You can find updated dates, days and times each month on the Mendoza City Municipality website.

For those who want to see a lot without doing quite as much walking, the City Bus completely changes the format. The route connects some of the capital’s major tourist attractions and offers a more panoramic view of the city, particularly useful on a first visit.

Highlights along the route include the Foundational Area, where Mendoza’s urban history began in the 16th century; Plaza Italia; General San Martín Park; and Cerro de la Gloria, home to the Monument to the Army of the Andes. It’s an itinerary that takes you from the historic center to the capital’s major green and monumental spaces in a single trip.

The tip: while walking tours allow you to stop and delve into a specific story, the bus works better as a first mental map of Mendoza: a practical way to get a sense of distances, neighborhoods and places worth returning to with more time.

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Route: Foundational Area, downtown, General San Martín Park, Cerro de la Gloria and other tourist attractions. See the official Mendoza City Bus route.

When the sun goes down, the City Cemetery becomes the setting for one of Mendoza’s most unusual tours. Guided nighttime visits take you among mausoleums and graves while recounting the lives of figures who left their mark on the province’s political, social, cultural and urban history. And there’s another reason to come back: the route changes throughout the year, with new themes and protagonists for each edition.

Recent offerings, for example, have included “Outstanding French Figures,” a tour focused on people of French heritage who contributed to Mendoza’s development, and “Cuyana Women,” centered on women connected to educational, cultural, social and political transformations in the province. These are just two examples of a program that allows visitors to discover the cemetery through different chapters of Mendoza’s history.

The tip: the tours are free, with limited places. Since dates and themes change, it’s best to check the Mendoza City calendar before going to find out which route is currently available.

Where: Mendoza City Cemetery – Av. San Martín 1000, Las Heras, Mendoza. You can find updated dates, days and times each month on the Mendoza City Municipality website.

One of Mendoza’s distinctive features is the almost imperceptible boundary between city and nature. Just 15 minutes separate downtown from the Divisadero Largo Natural Reserve, where the landscape changes completely and the foothills begin. The Divisadero Tour makes the most of this proximity with a guided trek that explores the capital’s wilder side without requiring you to organize a full-day excursion.

The route heads into the reserve to explore its natural and geological heritage, uncover part of its mining history and encounter formations more than 200 million years old. During the daytime version, the trail leads to the waterfall on the Divisadero stream, with a break before heading back. There are also nighttime editions, designed to experience the sunset, moonlight and the sounds of animals that emerge after dark.

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The tip: the real luxury here is proximity: you can be walking through downtown Mendoza and, 15 minutes later, trekking through a nature reserve. Places are limited.

Where: Divisadero Largo Reserve – Provincial Route 99, Mendoza City. You can find updated dates, days and times each month on the Mendoza City Municipality website.

There are tours that don’t happen every day. Throughout the year, Mendoza City adds themed tours, special routes and seasonal experiences that reveal corners often left out of traditional sightseeing itineraries. Architecture, heritage, water, neighborhoods and specific anniversaries can all serve as the starting point for itineraries that change with the calendar.

Some examples? The 2026 heritage program included walks through Barrio Bombal, a tour of the historic shopping arcades in the city center, and a visit to the former site of Hospital Emilio Civit. There have also been tours dedicated to Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture, while others completely change the way visitors explore the city: the Waterways Bicitour, for example, connected the areas of Capital, Godoy Cruz and Luján de Cuyo by following irrigation ditches and water systems to explain how water made Mendoza’s oasis possible.

The tip: in this case, the best plan is not to have a fixed plan. Before visiting Mendoza, it’s worth checking the official tourism calendar: some of these experiences take place only once or are offered during specific months, making them the unexpected tour that wasn’t part of your original itinerary.

Where: The official calendar is updated with available activities and registration requirements on the Mendoza City agenda.