Villa Traful
Encyclopedia
Villa Traful is a hamlet
of the Argentine
province
of Neuquén
located at the shore of the Traful Lake
, at 720 meters above mean sea level
. It is located inside the Nahuel Huapi National Park
on the Road of the Seven lakes, 60 km from Villa La Angostura
and 100 km from Bariloche
, at 40°40′S 71°24′W. The main access is Provincial Route 65. The town was founded in 1936 by the Argentine National Park Administration (DPN).
It's composed of about 80 houses, built in traditional Alpine-Andine
architecture that combines wood with stone, and its population is over 400 inhabitants. The most important part of the economy is based on tourism
, especially sport fishing, trekking, horseback riding and mountaineering. Since Villa Traful is inside a National Park
, fishing and mountaineering are allowed only with authorisation. Tourism is concentrated generally in summer and spring, while in winter there are almost no tourist.
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
province
Provinces of Argentina
Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...
of Neuquén
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...
located at the shore of the Traful Lake
Traful Lake
Traful Lake is a lake in the Argentine province of Neuquén with an area of 70 km². The lake is the starting point of the Traful River that empties into the Nahuel Huapi Lake....
, at 720 meters above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. It is located inside the Nahuel Huapi National Park
Nahuel Huapi National Park
Established in 1934, the Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest national park in Argentina. It surrounds Nahuel Huapi Lake in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes. The largest of the national parks in the region, it has an area of , or nearly 2 million acres...
on the Road of the Seven lakes, 60 km from Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura
Villa La Angostura is a village in the south of the Argentine province of Neuquén, on the northwest shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake.-Geography and climate:...
and 100 km from Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a city in the , situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake and is located inside Nahuel Huapi National Park...
, at 40°40′S 71°24′W. The main access is Provincial Route 65. The town was founded in 1936 by the Argentine National Park Administration (DPN).
It's composed of about 80 houses, built in traditional Alpine-Andine
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
architecture that combines wood with stone, and its population is over 400 inhabitants. The most important part of the economy is based on tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, especially sport fishing, trekking, horseback riding and mountaineering. Since Villa Traful is inside a National Park
Nahuel Huapi National Park
Established in 1934, the Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest national park in Argentina. It surrounds Nahuel Huapi Lake in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes. The largest of the national parks in the region, it has an area of , or nearly 2 million acres...
, fishing and mountaineering are allowed only with authorisation. Tourism is concentrated generally in summer and spring, while in winter there are almost no tourist.
Sources
- The Magic of living in the Nature - MercoTour.com (Spanish)
- Pictures at VillaTraful.com
- Traful History
- Villa Traful at Patagonia.com.ar (Spanish)