Llao Llao Hotel & Resort

Kilometre 25 of Avenida Bustillo, the road that follows the south shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi west from Bariloche, ends in a small bay called Puerto Pañuelo. Above it, on a glacial knoll with water on three sides, stands Llao Llao Hotel & Resort, Bariloche, with Cerro López across Lake Moreno to the west and the Andes closing the view. The site was chosen in the 1930s by Ezequiel Bustillo, head of the national parks directorate, and the building designed by his brother Alejandro.

History

The hotel was part of a state project. Argentina created Nahuel Huapi National Park in 1934 and wanted a hotel grand enough to make Bariloche a resort on the model of the Alps. Alejandro Bustillo, later the architect of the Banco de la Nación headquarters in Buenos Aires, drew a lodge in local cypress on a base of green stone, with a tall roof and a chapel, San Eduardo, beside it on the lake shore. It opened in January 1938. In October 1939 a fire destroyed the timber building in a night; Bustillo rebuilt it on the same plan with more stone and reopened it in December 1940.

Run by the state for decades, the hotel declined and closed in 1978. It stood empty for fifteen years, until a private group restored it and reopened it in 1993. Since then it has been the address for state visits to the region: Bill Clinton stayed in 1997 and Barack Obama in 2016. A second wing on the Lake Moreno side, opened in 2007, roughly doubled the room count.

Architecture and design

The Bustillo Wing is the original, with its timber walls, deep porches and the long gallery of windows facing the lake. The public rooms have the proportions of a mountain lodge rather than a city hotel: the lounge with its stone fireplace, the winter garden, the bar with its view of the water. The Lake Moreno Wing of 2007 follows the same materials in a more spacious plan, with larger rooms, a second spa and an indoor-outdoor pool. The chapel of San Eduardo stands on the shore below and is used for weddings.

Rooms and suites

The 205 rooms and suites divide between the two wings. Rooms in the Bustillo Wing are smaller and carry the original character, some with views of Lake Nahuel Huapi and the Llao Llao peninsula, others of Lake Moreno and Cerro López. The Lake Moreno Wing has the largest suites, with private terraces and, in some cases, their own hot tubs.

Dining

Los Césares is the formal dining room, with Patagonian lamb, trout and venison and a list of Argentine wines; Patagonia Restaurant in the newer wing serves international cooking in a room over the lake; the Winter Garden takes breakfast and afternoon tea, a tradition the hotel has kept since the 1940s. The bar in the Bustillo Wing is the place for an evening drink by the fire.

Wellness

The resort has an 18-hole golf course laid out around the hotel with lake views on most holes, two spas, an indoor pool in the original wing and an indoor-outdoor pool in the newer one, tennis courts and a kids' club. Boats leave from Puerto Pañuelo below the hotel for Isla Victoria and the arrayanes forest, and the Circuito Chico road loop starts at the gate.

Weddings and events

The chapel and the lawns above the lake make it the most sought-after place for a wedding in Patagonia, with receptions in the hotel's function rooms. Larger meetings use the convention rooms, and the hotel has hosted heads of state and summits; the Lake Moreno Wing added purpose-built meeting rooms. Capacities depend on the room.

Location

Bariloche's centre is 25 kilometres east along the lake; the drive takes about 30 minutes. Bariloche airport is about 40 kilometres away, roughly 45 minutes by road. The Cerro Catedral ski area is about 30 kilometres from the hotel, with a season from June to October. In summer the attractions are the lakes, the Circuito Chico and the walks of the Llao Llao municipal park next door. For a luxury hotel in Bariloche, this is the one the country has long treated as its own.