With an altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level and located about 20 km from the city center, skiing on Cerro Catedral or trekking in summer is one of the activities you have to do if you visit Bariloche.
Cerro Catedral is one of the most developed ski centers, in terms of infrastructure, in all of South America. Tourists of various nationalities, especially Brazilians, visit this ski center in winter.
Besides, Cerro Catedral is not only skiing. There are many activities to enhance, especially in summer, such as trekking and other outdoor activities.
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How to get to Cerro Catedral from downtown Bariloche?
Agencies and hotels offer door-to-door transfers from Bariloche city center to the base of Cerro Catedral. Normally, they make the trip early in the morning, and return after the closing of the lifts, around 5:30 pm.
There are two ways to make the excursion to Cerro Catedral with an agency:
- Excursion to Cerro Catedral on your own. It includes transfers and guide. You have four hours to walk, take pictures, or if you want to go up in the chairlift.
- Trekking to Cerro Catedral. Trekking route of medium difficulty to the Frey refuge with transfer and guide.
By public transportation, you can get there by taking line 55, which departs from the Terminal, goes through the city center and reaches the base of Cerro Catedral. To access the service, you must have a SUBE card. You can see the timetables for line 55 here.
If you choose to drive or rent a car, the base of Cerro Catedral can be reached by a fully paved road from the city center. There are two parking lots: Playa Sur which is fee-paying, and Playa del Valle which is free and with internal transportation to the base of the hill.
Skiing on Cerro Catedral
Cerro Catedral ski center is very large, encompassing 600 skiable hectares and with about 34 means of elevation. Each of the slopes has a different level of difficulty, with slopes ranging from 3 to 60 degrees of inclination.
The ski season runs from the beginning of July until the end of September, although the high season and when there is more snow on the slopes, is during July and August.
Price for skiing on Mount Catedral
According to the season (low, medium or high), the price of access to the Cerro Catedral ski center may vary. There are daily, two-day, three-day, four-day, five-day or six-day passes, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or full season passes. Check the updated prices of the Cerro Catedral passes here.
Children up to and including 11 years old have a discount on the fare. Adults over 70 years of age have free ski pass, but must pay if they want to do the Cathedral Tour.
Children from 4 to 11 years old have included in the pass the access to the Kids Club from 9 am to 5 pm. The time spent in the Kids Club is 3 hours per day, with a maximum of 10 days of use per child during the season. The nursery is for children between 45 days and 3 years, from 9 am to 5 pm, is paid separately and does not include lunch.
If you are not going to ski in the Cerro Catedral and you are only interested in going up to enjoy the views and have a snack in one of the paradores, you can buy the Tour Catedral pass, which is the cheapest. and includes the means of elevation. The access schedule is from 9 am am to 5 pm, with a last ascent at 4:15 pm and a last descent at 5 pm.
Services at Cerro Catedral
The Cerro Catedral ski center is one of the most complete in South America, has a great infrastructure that includes ski and snowboard school, ski adapted and school for children, all this paying an extra price. Snow and ski equipment can also be rented on site.
The base of Cerro Catedral has 7,000 beds in different hotels, bars, cybercafés, snacks and restaurants. There are two major shopping centres, Plaza Amancay and Shopping Las Terrazas, with a large number of commercial premises, a food court and a hotel reception area.
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For those who do not want to ski, the Cerro Catedral ski center offers mountain bike circuits.
Skiing hours at Cerro Catedral
The schedule is from 9 am to 5 pm every day during the winter season.
Cerro Catedral in summer
Although the greatest activity is concentrated in the winter months, during the summer you can do activities in the Cerro Catedral, which includes the Tour Naturaleza that includes the ascent to in the Amancay cable car, trekking, climbing and zip line. Also, some paradores remain open to enjoy the local cuisine with breathtaking views to the mountains.