The steppe of Patagonia in the south is home to vast ranches and to the breathtaking Perito Moreno glacier.

Perito Moreno is one of the world’s great natural wonders, where huge pieces of ice crash into Lago Argentino as the glacier creeps forward inch by inch each year. To the South is Tierra del Fuego on the Beagle Channel, the southernmost tip of the Americas. One cannot get closer on land to Antarctica from any other country on earth.

Iguazu Falls, straddling the border of Argentina and Brazil, are possibly the most impressive waterfalls in the world, with over 270 separate falls, up to 80 metres high, stretching through lush sub-tropical jungle. Argentina hosts hundreds of bird species – including the Andean condor and flamingo – plus pumas, armadillos, llamas and tapirs roaming the forests and the dizzying heights of the altiplano, or puna.

However, nature’s wonders are only part of the pull, and Buenos Aires has long been the cultural capital of Spanish South America, with a distinctive European feel, Here the locals pride themselves on enjoying the good life, with excellent food, local wine (from the Mendoza region), carnival, futbol and the passionate tango.