Valle Hermoso is a small town in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of
Córdoba, Argentina, located from the city of
Córdoba and from
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the RÃo de la Plata, on South ...
. It had about 5,500 inhabitants at the .
Valle Hermoso ('Beautiful Valley') is one of a number of small towns straddling Route 38 and the now disused railway line, which runs through the
Punilla Valley
The Punilla Valley ( es, Valle de Punilla) is a broad fluvial valley in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. It is located in the center-northwest of the province, bordered by the Sierras Chicas in the east and the Sierras Grandes and the Pampa A ...
from the south, and the city of Córdoba, north to
La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nà ...
. The town's central district contains commercial stores and a number of hotels.
Valle Hermoso sits at an altitude of about providing a temperate climate. It is high enough to moderate summer heat yet low enough that winters are mild. Tourism peaks during the summer months of December through February when town population can double. Several large, old, hotels, such as El Peñón and
El Castillo are in the area. Hotel VaquerÃas, over a century old, sits in a hillside niche with artesian springs, swimming, and horseback riding.
''"VaquerÃas"'' or "place of cattle" is a natural funnel where
vaqueros
The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...
(cowboys) would drive the cattle from the grazing pastures for branding, birthing, or collection. Today, La Reserva Natural de VaquerÃas is a nature preserve dedicated to preventing construction at or alteration of the area's natural environment, fauna and flora.
References
Córdoba Serrana: Valle Hermoso
Populated places in Córdoba Province, Argentina
Tourism in Argentina
Populated places established in 1921
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