San Rafael

San Rafael department is located in Mendoza province. It has 31.235 km² and 350.000 habitants, it limited with San Carlos, Santa Rosa and La Paz (In the north), Gral. Alvear (in the south-east), Malargüe (in the south), and Chile (in the west).
It has some important rivers, for example: Diamante river and Atuel river. The weather is tempered, with hot summers and cold winters.
San Rafael has been growing, now it surface is full of new houses and stores. It has many places for tourists, for entretainment, food, etc., we are going to mention them in our blog:

lunes, 31 de mayo de 2010

Cinemas and theatres



  • Holidays Cinema
  • Roma theatre.
San Rafael, is not a good place to go to the cinema, because it quality is not so good, Holiday Cinema, has 2 rooms, and no more than 4 moovies are shown per week.
The theatre, is not so big, and there aren`t many plays shown, some magicians are bands has came, but no imoportant spectaculous.
We have to say that San Rafael is not a good place to do this kind of things.

Chocolates Centers



  • Ketobac
  • La Cabaña
These places are very well known here, this chocolates are one of the most important in the province, with a big variety of things, cakes, and a lot kind of chocolates used in different products.
You have to go there and taste their handmade products!

Schools



  • Del Carmen
  • Maristas
  • San Antonio
  • Enet
  • Normal
  • Ebyma
  • Isabel la Católica.
  • Nazaret.
  • Normal.

There are a lot of schools, the private ones are:
  • Del Carmen.
  • Maristas.
  • San Antonio.
These schools are prestigious, and in comparison with schools in Mendoza, they aren`t so expensive, they are catholic.

Appart from that, we have technic schools (they are public), were you can learn art, music, cooking or engineering, for example:
  • Enet
  • Ebyma
  • CPA
  • Iaccarini

Places to visit outside the city






  • Cañón del Atuel: It is a circuit, rounding the mountains, were you can do adventureous sports or do it by car in the route.
  • Dique Los Reyunos
  • El Nihuil
  • Laguna del Diamante
These places, are artificial or natural lakes, that come from Atuel river, there you can rent or buy a cottage, go camping, and as they are near the city you can go just to spend a day, and do actvities in the lake, like go cannoeing, rent boats, kayacks, jet skis, windsurfing or just swim in the lake. Allthough you can do sports on land, for example, go walking, go on motorbikes, go on bikes, four cicles, cars, etc.
  • Rio Atuel y Valle Grande
Río Atuel, is across Valle Grande, this place is located between the mountains, and just 45 minutes far from the city, in this place you can do a lot kind of sports, there are different centres along the route were you can do: Rafting, Cool River, kayacking, etc. In the mountains of Valle Grande you can do zip, rappeling, rock climbing, trekking, etc.
In the route you can find cottages and places were you can camp.

Places to visit in the city




  • Mariano Moreno Library
  • San Rafael Arcangel Cathedral
  • Natural History Museum
  • Hipólito Irigoyen Park
  • Inmigrant square
  • San Martin square
  • Casino Tower
The places that we have mention, are in the city, so as it is a small location, you can find them easy.
Cultural Places: Mariano Moreno Library, San Martin Square, Natural History Museum, Inmigrant Square and San Rafael Arcángel Cathedral.
Entretainment Places: Casino Tower, Hipólito Irigoyen Park.

Where can you stay ?

Hotels:

  • Tower.
  • Nuevo Mundo.
  • Kalton.
  • San Martín.
  • Jardín.
  • San Rafael.
  • Veccia Tierra.
We have some cheaper hotels, hostels, residentials, appartments, etc. but the ones that we have mention before are the most important and luxurious hotels and actually, the most expensive too, they have restaurants, SPAs, gimnasyums,swimming pools, and in Tower Hotel case, a casino.