Mitre is Bariloche's main street, running east from the Centro Civico for about ten blocks before climbing into the hills. The shopfronts are wall-to-wall chocolate factories, smoked-meat shops, outdoor gear stores, ice-cream parlours, and bookshops. Mamuschka, Rapanui, Del Turista, and Fenoglio are the big chocolate names, all with shopfronts on Mitre and free samples.
The street is the social heart of the city. In late May and early June it fills with Argentine school graduation trips ("egresados"), thousands of teenagers in matching jackets out for their week-long rite of passage. The atmosphere is loud, cheerful, and occasionally chaotic — choose your dates carefully.