We are pleased help you discovering our province through the first website directed to English-speaking readers who plan to visit Entre Ríos, or travel within Argentina including these roads in their itinerary.
Our aim is to assist you deciding what places and activities are most suitable for your preferences, in order to enhance your stay, whether it is for business or pleasure. In either case Entre Ríos is a fortunate choice for its growing relevance in a national context, and the variety of touristic developments that are taking place here.
This land and its warm people invite to feel at home. So take a look inside!
Political Organisation
Entre Ríos is the seventh most populated district (1 268 979 people as officially estimated this year) among 23 provinces and Buenos Aires, which counts as an autonomous city. All of them constitute the federal nation as a whole, and have their home rule, with their own Constitution, Government, Justice, and law-making, just like the North American states.
Departments are administrative clusters of neighbouring cities and towns within the province, and have no central government between them and provincial authorities. Each of the 17 departments in Entre Ríos is identified by the name of the main city into it.
Geography
Entre Ríos coordinates are comprehended between 30° 09' 34" and 34° 02' of the south latitude, and 57° 48' and 60° 47' of the west longitude.
The name Entre Ríos, literally Between Rivers, is a clear description of a province flanked by two major rivers, Paraná and Uruguay, which mean respectively relative of the sea and birds' river in Guaraní, an aboriginal language widely spoken at present. There are also two minor tributaries on the north, Gauyquiraró and Mocoretá.
Geographically, it embraces the southernmost third part of the Mesopotamia, which is composed by Corrientes and Misiones as well. Its north limit is precisely Corrientes, across the rivers Guayquiraró, Mocoretá, and their streams, Basualdo and Tunas. Santa Fe is on the west and southwest, on the opposite bank of the River Paraná, just like Buenos Aires in the south. The east limit through the River Uruguay is the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
Entre Ríos' surface amounts to 78 781 square kilometres (30 417.5 square miles), that is 2.6% of the continental national territory.
Its longest extension is 435 kilometres (270 miles) from south to north and 240 kilometres (149 miles) from east to west.
The total perimeter is above 1 250 kilometres (777 miles).
Its natural limits frame and define the character of the region, and provide it with magnificent riverside views, having an impact in its climate and nature.
However surrounded by waters, Entre Ríos got itself connected to other provinces and its neighbouring country, Uruguay. The Hernandarias Tunnel connects Paraná to Santa Fe under the bed of the River Paraná, and the Victoria-Rosario route also links the two provinces on a series of bridges. The road and railway complex Brazo Largo-Zárate connects Entre Ríos to Buenos Aires. The international bridges José Gervasio Artigas, and Libertador General San Martin, as well as the Salto Grande dam, are connective to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
Entre Ríos climate is privileged by the regulating action of the remote sea, the rivers' humidity, the winds, and its temperature. These factors combined, favour the proliferation of a varied flora and fauna, and the development of agriculture and stockbreeding.
Alternatives
The Tourist Corridor of the Paraná, mainly dependent on the majestic river that skirts the west and south ends of the province, shows off impressive riverside scenes:
The northern banks are high and their beaches with abrupt slopes are framed by steep clay and earth ravines, covered by thick vegetation. These heights of up to 80 metres (260 feet) present dazzling panoramas of the river, their lagoons, sand banks, and islands.
In the southern area, from Diamante to the tip of the territory, waters are divided into several streams and their silts are deposited, to shape a labyrinth of islands plenty of wild life. This is called Entre Ríos' Delta. Here the influence of the river facilitated the proliferation of autochthonous species. Near Diamante, the National Park Pre-Delta is an actual ecological reservation of charming islands, streams, and lagoons.
The Tourist Corridor of the Uruguay, dominated by the River Uruguay has special features: its banks are lower and waters are clearer due to the structure of the terrain and floor, having a rocky bed that emerges and gives origin to cascades such as Salto Chico.
Forest galleries live alongside the banks, whose dense vegetation is inhabited by several species. The yatay palms of the national park El Palmar, some of whom are over 2 000 years old, are remarkable, and the park itself is a unique ecological reservation to the world. On this corridor there are many other beaches bordering the Salto Grande reservoir.
The Central Region is also crossed by an important river, the Gualeguay. It is born in the Lomada Grande, Federación department, and runs down to the Paraná Pavón.
Although the cities in this area have different features, they are officially identified as part either tourist corridor.
Flora and Fauna
The soil and climate differences have determined the distribution of plants and animals in three large regions:
On the east and west of the province, by the coastal strip of the rivers Paraná, Uruguay and their tributaries, forest galleries get conspicuous with their varied and dense vegetation. Paraná side's most abundant species are willows, cockspur coral trees, and chañars, accompanied by climbing plants, and ferns. On Uruguay side you can find many pink trumpet trees, ñandubays, and palms that may also be distinguished as yatay, and pindó or queen. Typical animals are: capybaras, otters, pampas foxes, and neotropical otters.
Birds also abundant: parrots, red-crested cardinals, guira cuckoos, and goldfinches. The totoras of the aquatic areas are the natural habitat of ducks, coots, and herons.
The extensive water beds hold many fish species: dorado (salminus maxillosus), manduví (ageneiosus valenciennesi), sábalo (prochilodus platensis), wolf fish, neotropical silverside, surubí (pseudoplatystoma coruscans), boga (leporinus obtusidens), amarillo (pimelodus maculatus), armado (oxydoras kneri, ptedoras granulosus, and rhinodoras dorbignyi), etc.
Simultaneously the central region of the province is considered to have two parts:
North Centre, where native forests, called here "bosques del espinal", grew free from floods, but whose extensive surfaces were widely felled down.
Typical remaining tree species of this region are: ñandubay (prosopis affinis), black carobs (prosopis nigra), aromo (acacia caven), quebracho blanco (aspidosperma aposinas), espinillo (acacia caven), and ombú (phytolacca dioica).
Most seen animals are: armadillo, planis viscacha, foxes, elegant crested tinamou, coots, herons, and many more.
South Centre, or Pampa's Prairie Zone, where large extensions of tender grass are profited for cattle-breeding and agriculture. Trees that grow there are: aromo, peruvian peppertree, cockspur coral tree. Animals are: tuco-tuco, tortoises, hare, red-winged tinamou, and more.
Climate
The varieties to be found in Entre Ríos are:
Subtropical without dry season, in the north of Feliciano and La Paz departments, as well as the north and east of Federación and Concordia departments.
The subtropical area is warm with mild winters. Prevailing winds come from the east, north, and northwest. Rains are abundant throughout the year, e.g. 1 200 millimetres (47.2441 inches) in San José de Feliciano.
Temperate, Pampa's kind, embraces the rest of the province, with moderate temperatures, fair rains of around 1 000 millimetres (39.4 inches). Humidity is high due to the rivers and lagoons that surround the area. Winds blowing there are often from the southwest (Pampero) and from the southeast (Sudestada).
Terrain
Entre Rios's terrain combines flat ground and slight waves, with a slope from north to south, which can be noticed along its rivers. Waves produced a distinctive scene of smooth hills.
These waves are also seen in the south of Corrientes and penetrate Entre Ríos' North, where they fork into the Lomada de Montiel to the west, between the rivers Paraná and Gualeguay; and the Lomada Grande to the east, between the rivers Uruguay and Gualeguay.
This division leads waters from the main streams to the beds of the Paraná, Uruguay and Gualeguay.
The altitude above the level of the sea gets slightly above 100 metres (328 feet), and the highest spot reaches 119 metres (390 feet), near Estación Camps.
