Talampaya is the reason most visitors come to La Rioja, and it more than justifies the journey. The park, about 180 km north of the city on Route 26, protects a landscape of extraordinary red sandstone formations — sheer canyon walls rising up to 150 metres, eroded over millions of years into towers, archways, and narrow corridors. Together with Ischigualasto Provincial Park just over the border in San Juan Province, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 for its outstanding geological and palaeontological record of the Triassic period.
The standard visit follows a guided circuit through the main canyon in a park vehicle, stopping at rock formations with evocative names and at panels of pre-Columbian petroglyphs incised into the dark canyon walls. The scale of the cliffs is difficult to appreciate until you are standing beneath them. Andean condors nest in the high cliffs and are regularly seen riding the thermals above the canyon.
The park is open year-round but is best visited from April to October when temperatures are bearable. In midsummer the heat in the canyon is extreme. Tours from La Rioja city depart early in the morning; independent visitors with a car can drive to the park entrance and join guided tours there. The road is paved throughout.