Two things about this approach changed in the last two years, and no English-language guide has caught up with either. One is good news: an airport 150 km from the trailhead reopened to commercial traffic. The other is not news at all, but a correction — the fuel stop that every guide names has not sold fuel for years, and the real one is 120 km further back.
Start with the fuel, because it is the fact that decides whether the trip works.
The fuel trap
There is no service station in Varvarco. None. The intendant of Varvarco, quoted directly: "Tenemos la estación de servicio más cercana a 120 kilómetros, en Chos Malal."
Wikiexplora tells climbers that Las Ovejas is the "último poblado en donde se puede abastecer de combustible" — the last village where you can refuel. As of 2026 that is wrong, and it is wrong in the direction that leaves a vehicle dry on a gravel road with no scheduled traffic on it.
What actually exists between Chos Malal and the mountain:
- Chos Malal — the nearest full service station to Varvarco, 120 km back down the valley.
- Andacollo — a municipal MAS module (Módulo de Abastecimiento Social), two pumps, diesel and premium, restocked weekly by YPF. It is a social-supply module, not a filling station, and "restocked weekly" means it can be empty.
- Varvarco — nothing yet. A YPF station breaks ground October–November 2026, alongside the RP 43 paving works and a fibre run. Do not plan a 2026/27 season around it being open.
The working rule for 2026/27: fill in Chos Malal. Top up in Andacollo if the MAS module is stocked, and treat that as a bonus rather than a plan. Carry enough fuel for the 88 km Varvarco round trip to El Playón plus reserve. Anyone leaving Chos Malal on a part tank is committing to a roughly 350 km gravel round trip on it, or to jerrycans.
Continue reading Ruta Normal o Sur — the Domuyo ascent, and the rule change nobody translated →
The news: Chos Malal has flights again
Commercial service to Chos Malal (HOS) resumes on 14 September 2026. American Jet, two weekly frequencies, Mondays and Thursdays. Tickets went on sale 14 August 2026. The runway and terminal were rebuilt, with works completed in August 2024.
| Day | Outbound | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Neuquén 10:00 → Chos Malal 10:50 | Chos Malal 11:20 → Neuquén 12:10 |
| Thursday | Neuquén 13:10 → Chos Malal 14:25 | not published in the source |
Source: La Angostura Digital, 4 August 2026.
This matters more than a 50-minute hop usually would. The bus from Neuquén to Chos Malal is roughly 400 km and six hours, and it lands you with a second day still to drive. A Monday or Thursday flight removes that leg entirely and puts a climber in Chos Malal before lunch, with the whole afternoon available for the road north. It is the difference between a two-day approach and one long one.
Two constraints come with it. Two frequencies a week is a thin schedule — miss the Monday and the next departure is Thursday. And the flight only reaches Chos Malal; the 150 km from there to El Playón still has to be solved, and the last 44 km of it has no bus at all.
The gateway: Neuquén, and the Buenos Aires transfer nobody mentions
Neuquén / Presidente Perón (NQN) is the practical gateway. Bariloche and Santiago are long detours and can be ignored.
NQN is served from Aeroparque (AEP), not Ezeiza. An international arrival at EZE therefore means a cross-city transfer in Buenos Aires before the domestic leg — budget the time and the taxi. No defensible 2026 fare range for international arrivals into EZE could be sourced, so none is quoted here.
Domestic fares, KAYAK AR, September 2026:
| Airline | BUE → NQN return (ARS) | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Flybondi | 85,100 | 56 |
| JetSMART | 104,241 | 68 |
| Aerolíneas Argentinas | 143,520 | 94 |
All peso figures in this article convert at ARS 1,530 = USD 1, the Banco Nación sell rate on 8 September 2026. Argentine prices move fast. Treat the USD column as a snapshot with a date on it, not a conversion that will hold.
The road, leg by leg
From Chos Malal the route runs north on RP 43.
| Leg | Distance | Running total from Chos Malal |
|---|---|---|
| Chos Malal → Andacollo (RP 43) | 58 km | 58 km |
| Andacollo → Las Ovejas | 35 km | 93 km |
| Las Ovejas → Varvarco | 20 km | 113 km |
| Varvarco → ANP entrance | 32 km | 145 km |
| ANP entrance → El Playón | 5 km | 150 km |
El Playón sits 44 km from Varvarco. About 112 km of the route from RN 40 is ripio. Beyond Varvarco, RP 43 is described as camino de ripio en cornisa — gravel cut into a hillside, with the exposure that implies.
Paving, and why it will not help beyond Varvarco
The 18 km Las Ovejas–Varvarco section was tendered in January 2025 and awarded to José Chediack S.A.I.C.A. on a 24-month contract worth over ARS 16 billion: Tramo I is 3.10 km of urban road, Tramo II is 15.1 km running to the Río Neuquén bridge. As of April 2026 the works were 25.22% executed.
Two consequences. Expect active roadworks and delays on that stretch through 2027. And expect no paving beyond Varvarco — the section that actually reaches the mountain is not in the contract. Guides that say "94 km of dirt road from Andacollo" are describing a road that is shrinking; guides that imply the whole approach will soon be sealed are describing one that is not.
Alternative route
A 2020 alternative runs Chos Malal → RN 40 (8 km) → Tricao Malal (40 km) → RP 68 over the Cajón del Curi Leuvú at 3,000 m. It is a genuine option, and it is a 3,000 m pass — weather and season apply.
From Chile
Paso Pichachén, reached from Los Ángeles in Biobío, is the shortest crossing and joins the route at Las Ovejas. It is open December to April only. Paso Pehuenche requires a long detour. Pino Hachado is open year-round but sits far to the south.
Public transport, and exactly where it stops
There is scheduled service most of the way, and then there is not.
- Norte Neuquino runs a daily bus Chos Malal → Varvarco, about 3 hours. Phone 02948/421707 or 02942/15663350.
- Cono Sur runs Neuquén → Las Ovejas twice daily, with a Varvarco connection.
- Transportes Rincón runs Neuquén → Chos Malal, seven services daily, and Chos Malal → Las Ovejas twice daily in about 1h15.
Public transport ends at Varvarco. The last 44 km to El Playón has no scheduled service of any kind. The options are to hire a private transfer in Varvarco (02948/494080), to drive, or to be on a guided package — and note that operator itineraries explicitly exclude the transfer to Punta de Camino from the package price. That exclusion is easy to miss when comparing quotes, and it is the single segment with no fallback.
Fares, with a warning attached:
| Route | Operator | Time | Fare (ARS) | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neuquén → Chos Malal, común/semicama | Transportes Rincón | 6h07, ~400 km | 94,645 | Low — single source |
| Neuquén → Chos Malal, cama | Transportes Rincón | 6h07 | 117,019 | Low — single source |
| Chos Malal → Varvarco | Norte Neuquino | ~3 h | not sourced | — |
| Neuquén → Las Ovejas | Cono Sur | not sourced | not sourced | — |
The Rincón figures come from a single aggregator, Central de Pasajes, and the operator's own timetable pages return 404. Rome2rio quotes US$13–22 for the combined Chos Malal → Varvarco journey; its "direct taxi US$4–5" for 113 km is not credible, so that whole table should be read as indicative only.
There is no through bus from Chos Malal to Varvarco on the Rincón network — Rincón stops at Las Ovejas and the last leg is a taxi or a lift. Norte Neuquino is the operator that runs the full segment.
Driving it
No Tier-1 source states that 4x4 is mandatory. Andeshandbook records the base-camp road as "en perfecto estado". That should not be read as an invitation to take a low car: ground clearance and a usable spare are the real requirement, and the risk on this road is not the surface but the cornisa sections and weather closures.
Costs, if hiring:
| Line | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pickup hire, Neuquén | ARS 134,062/day | KAYAK average; a second aggregator gave 188,411/day |
| Nafta súper, Neuquén | ARS 1,809–1,889/L | combustibles.ar, 8–22 Aug 2026 |
| Gasoil G2, Neuquén | ARS 2,227–2,359/L | same source and period |
| Fuel, Neuquén ↔ El Playón round trip | ARS 258,000–270,000 | derived, see below |
The round trip from Neuquén capital to El Playón is roughly 1,100 km. At 13 L/100 km — loaded, on ripio — that is about 143 litres, or ARS 258,000–270,000 (US$169–176) at the August prices above. That figure is derived from the distance and a consumption assumption, not measured. The hire rate is an aggregator average; local 4x4 specialists publish no rates at all.
Set that against the flight table and the arithmetic is straightforward. For a pair sharing, a hired pickup plus fuel is a serious line item, and it exists mainly to solve the last 44 km that no bus covers.
What the trip actually takes
Buenos Aires to El Playón is two days each way — unless the Monday or Thursday Chos Malal flight lines up, which compresses it to one long day.
That is the honest number. A realistic non-flight sequence is: cross Buenos Aires to Aeroparque, fly to Neuquén, then either a six-hour bus or a long drive to Chos Malal, overnight there, then 150 km of mostly gravel north to the trailhead the following day. With the flight: Aeroparque to Neuquén, Neuquén to Chos Malal by air before lunch, and the road north the same afternoon.
Build the return around the same two weekdays, or around whatever transfer was arranged in Varvarco, because nothing on this route runs on demand.
Gaps, stated plainly
Some of what a planner wants does not exist in public form:
- No 2026 fare table could be sourced for Norte Neuquino, Cono Sur or Transportes Rincón. Rincón's timetable pages return 404. The Neuquén → Chos Malal fares above are single-sourced from an aggregator and unconfirmed by the operator.
- Phone is the only reliable route to a current timetable: Norte Neuquino 02948/421707 and 02942/15663350, Cono Sur 0299 4470433, Varvarco transfers 02948/494080.
- No international EZE fare range was researched to a defensible number, so none is published here.
- The Chos Malal → Varvarco taxi and combined-fare figures rest on Rome2rio estimates that fail an internal sanity check.
Call ahead. On this route, a phone number is worth more than a published timetable, because the published timetables are either absent or stale.
8 Sources
- American Jet resumes Chos Malal service, La Angostura Digital, 4 Aug 2026 — https://www.laangosturadigital.com.ar/2026/08/04/vuelven-los-vuelos-a-chos-malal-y-suman-una-nueva-conexion-aerea-entre-neuquen-y-chapelco/
- Flight fares BUE→NQN, KAYAK AR, Sep 2026 — https://www.kayak.com.ar/vuelos/Buenos-Aires-BUE/Neuquen-NQN
- Peso reference rate, El Cronista, 8 Sep 2026 — https://www.cronista.com/finanzas-mercados/dolar-blue-hoy-a-cuanto-abre-la-cotizacion-este-martes-8-de-septiembre/
- Varvarco service station, Río Negro — https://www.rionegro.com.ar/sociedad/varvarco-dejara-de-estar-a-120-kilometros-de-la-primera-estacion-de-servicio-en-el-norte-neuquino-4650833/
- RP 43 paving 25.22% executed, Neuquén Informa, 16 May 2026 — https://www.neuqueninforma.gob.ar/noticias/2026/05/16/257775-supera-el-25por_ciento-de-ejecucion-la-obra-de-pavimentacion-de-la-ruta-provincial-43
- Bus fares Neuquén → Chos Malal, Central de Pasajes — https://www.centraldepasajes.com.ar/cdp/pasajes-micro/neuquen/chos-malal
- Fuel prices, Neuquén, 8–22 Aug 2026 — https://combustibles.ar/precios/neuquen
- El Playón / Punta de Camino approach, Cultura de Montaña — https://revistadigital.culturademontania.org.ar/articulo/646cc94cfc0d3efac6f6e74e