Hiking Tour to Cerro de la Cruz

Villa Carlos Paz is beautiful and privileged. The passing of time lets us discover new places every year, where we can go for a walk, go fishing or practice the activity we enjoy the most.

Hiking enthusiasts have the chance to be delighted by an amusing hiking tour to Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross), where a quiet spot boasts a panoramic view of Villa Carlos Paz.

To reach this location, visitors must get to the end of Estrada Avenue, at the foot of the famous chairlift, and turn left. A staircase will invite them up along a 2,200-meter-long path that leads to the cross of the city, after which the hill is named.

This tour does not demand optimum physical fitness. Hikers just need to find their own pace and drink water on a regular basis.

Thus, our group set out. We were eight people. Some of us were carrying hiking poles, others just used rigid sticks. We slowly started to go up along the path that would lead us to the cross. All along the trail, we spotted milestones made of cement on which a cross had been carved. We had heard that they mark the right track.

As time passed and we got higher, the view of the city zoomed out. We came to a clearing at the right moment. That is the best place to rest and take a deep breath, if necessary, or just behold the metropolis from the heights.

Cerro de la Cruz is the highest hill in Carlos Paz and it reaches 1,000 meters MSL. A 15-meter-high cross made of reinforced concrete stands at its summit. It was inaugurated in 1934 by a group of neighbors who searched to build a replica of Jesus’ Stations of the Cross.

Later on, it became a new tourist attraction in Villa Carlos Paz. On the year it was inaugurated, the Twenty-third International Eucharistic Congress took place in Buenos Aires. Therefore, Margarita Avanzatto, owner of this venue, donated the lands to the archbishopric.

After approximately one hour, the hike along the winding trail deposited us on the top. We had gone through seven hillocks before we finally obtained our longed-for reward.

At the base of the cross, it is possible to spot Villa Carlos Paz, Lake San Roque and some catamaran coming back from the tour to the dam, the road bridge and the nautical clubs.

The residential neighborhoods may be seen on the other side of the water body, and the District of Bialet Massé may be observed on the borders of town. Farther back, as a background curtain, the high summits close the postcard with a breathtaking view of Los Gigantes (The Giants).

The imposing white cross has an inscription in Latin, which reads: “Christus Vivit Regnat et Imperat”, and stands for “Christ lives, reigns and rules”. It is surrounded by a neat venue with typical vegetation from the mountain range area.

Just a few minutes of contemplation were enough for us to be ready to start our way back following the same trail. However, the path looked different now. We had managed to watch Villa Carlos Paz from above and after that, getting back into the city, walking its streets would never be the same again.