The old town is built around Plaza 9 de Julio. On one side stands the Cabildo, one of the few almost complete colonial cabildos in Argentina, whose arcades gave Salta its porticoed square and which now houses the Museo Histórico del Norte. Facing it is the Catedral Basílica, a Monumento Histórico Nacional that keeps the images of the Señor and the Virgen del Milagro. Two blocks away, the Basílica y Convento de San Francisco has a bell tower 54 m tall, painted in deep red and gold. The Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (MAAM), at Mitre 77 on the plaza, holds the three Inca children found in 1999 on the summit of the Llullaillaco volcano and is closed on Mondays.
Above the city rises the Cerro San Bernardo, a municipal nature reserve with the Monumento a Güemes at its foot. The Teleférico San Bernardo, opened on 12 December 1987, runs from Parque San Martín to the summit, where lookouts face the whole valley, an artificial waterfall drops over concrete terraces, and the city lights come on at dusk below the frame.
The farther backdrop is the Puna. The Tren a las Nubes, run by a company owned by the province, leaves Salta by road at dawn and boards its train at San Antonio de los Cobres for the Viaducto La Polvorilla, above 4,200 m. Most clients are couples and families who give Salta three or four nights, wedding parties using it as a base for the valleys, and Salta families booking a fiesta de 15 in their own city.
