Valle Hermoso is a small town in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

, Argentina, located from the city of

and from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. 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 () 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 Achala in the west, or ...

from the south, and the city of Córdoba, north to

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

. 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 Vaquerías, over a century old, sits in a hillside niche with artesian springs, swimming, and horseback riding. ''"Vaquerías"'' or "place of cattle" is a natural funnel where

vaqueros The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

(cowboys) would drive the cattle from the grazing pastures for branding, birthing, or collection. Today, La Reserva Natural de Vaquerías 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 Cities in Argentina {{CórdobaAR-geo-stub