San Martín de los Andes

Before the town existed, the Chapelco valley was used by Indigenous Puelche people as a winter refuge, and they traded horses with communities across the Andes in what is now Chile. The area was part of the territory of the Mapuche Curruhuinca community. The Argentine and Chilean military campaigns of the late 19th century ended that trade and displaced Indigenous communities, and merchants from southern Chile, many of German descent, set up cattle and trading businesses around Lácar and Nahuel Huapi lakes.

Border disputes with Chile prompted the army to occupy the valley. Chile argued that because Lake Lácar drains to the Pacific the area should be Chilean, and Buenos Aires worried about the area's dependence on trade across the mountains. On 4 February 1898 Colonel Celestino Pérez founded San Martín de los Andes as a military outpost. Logging and livestock farming sustained the village for its first decades, and buildings such as the first post office of 1899 and the old Lácar hotel of 1910 date from that time.

The creation of Lanín National Park in 1937 changed the town's course. Logging was gradually reduced, small settlements along the lake disappeared, new roads connected San Martín with the rest of Argentina, and tourism replaced farming. The Chapelco ski area grew from the 1970s, when bank credit financed many tourist businesses, and the airport opened in 1981. The town has grown quickly ever since.

San Martín has always been a meeting place. Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Dutch and French settled alongside Syrian-Lebanese shopkeepers and Chilean families, and later arrivals came from across Argentina; the town is twinned with Pucón in Chile, Steamboat Springs in Colorado and Mayrouba in Lebanon. Mapuche culture is present in the woodcraft sold in the shops, and seven Mapuche communities live within Lanín National Park.

The town takes pride in its architecture of stone, wood and shingle roofs, the traditional materials of the region. After the national park restricted logging, two-storey houses became common, and modern building since the 1970s has prompted rules meant to keep new construction in scale with the setting.

Outdoor life defines local identity — skiing and snowboarding in winter, fishing, mountain biking, riding and rafting in summer — and the town has hosted marathons and FIS Snowboard World Cup events. Each year it celebrates the National Mountainman Festival and the Trabún Festival, both tied to local culture, and it hosts the South American Bird Fair, the continent's main birdwatching meeting.

About 37,000 people lived in the municipality at the 2022 census, a third more than in 2010, making it one of the fastest-growing towns in Argentina and the sixth-largest municipality in Neuquén. In 1970 there were fewer than 7,000.

Tourism is the economy: hotels, cabins, restaurants, shops, ski instruction and guiding employ much of the town through two high seasons, the southern summer and the winter ski months. The national park headquarters is here, small-scale logging survives. A new hospital opened in 2022.

The rhythm of the year follows the visitors. In January the lakefront and beach are crowded with families, in July skiers fill the streets on their way to Chapelco, and in the quieter seasons of autumn and spring the town returns to its residents, the schools and the routines of a provincial administrative centre.

Lake and river fish set the local table apart from the beef-centred menus of the rest of the country. Rainbow trout and perch come from the lakes and rivers of the region, which draw sport fishers to the national park, and trout is served grilled, in sauces or as a starter in many of the town's restaurants.

Meat is still central. Cordero patagónico, Patagonian lamb, is traditionally cooked whole over an open fire, and the grills serve Argentine beef cuts, chorizo and morcilla with chimichurri.

Like Bariloche, San Martín is known for its chocolates and ice cream, sold in shops along the main streets of the centre. Mate is shared everywhere, and the calafate berry of Patagonia finds its way into jams and sweets; the shrub is a symbol of Patagonia, and a legend says that anyone who eats its berry is certain to return.