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Welcome to the Llao Hotel in Bariloche, Argentina. This Patagonian hotel feels like something out of a dream. It is set on a hill between two lakes, Moreno and Nahuel Huapi, and it has the epic Cerro Lopez directly behind it. This is a hotel that Sam and I had been eyeing and wanting to stay at ever since our very first trip to Patagonia many years ago. And on this visit, we finally made it happen. Today, we're bringing you along for a visit because this is one of those places where you have to see it to believe it. It's an alpine paradise, and by the end of this video, you'll probably be plotting a trip down to Patagonia yourself. So, let's begin.
All righty, friends. I am about to give you a room tour, and I can hardly believe where I am. I am so excited to be here at this hotel, this property. We are at the Llao in Bariloche, and this is a historic, iconic hotel. If you come to Bariloche, and you want to experience luxury in an incredibly beautiful, scenic setting surrounded by mountains, forests, and lakes, you choose to stay at the Llao. And this is a name I have been hearing since childhood. When I lived here in Argentina as a kid, I remember my parents used to talk about the Llao and how they would one day love to visit and stay here, and I can hardly believe that I am here today with Sam and with our daughter Rellee, and that we get to be guests here because this
this has been like a family dream um that sort of got passed on to me just from hearing about it. And yeah, it's it's an incredible property, and I just I cannot believe that we're here. So, we are spending two nights at the Llao. And previously, we had visited the hotel, but just for the day, like to come and have dinner at the Patagonia restaurant or to come and have afternoon tea in the winter garden. But this time around, we actually get to spend the night. So, I want to show you the room because it is beautiful. First of all, check out this bed, this two-post wooden bed. It is a work of art. It also looks really comfy, loads of pillows, and I love that they left a little crib for
our girl. Rellee likes to sleep with us in the bed, in between us. Um but it's also nice that she gets to have her own space and maybe watch some cartoons, play with her toys, have a little nap. So, it's really thoughtful that they brought a crib up for us. We've got a big screen TV, a little sofa we can sit on here, kick up our legs. I should mention that Sam and Rellee are walking the halls up and down, exploring the hotel, so I can have a few moments of silence to show you around in peace and not miss out on any of the details. We also have a large closet. I may actually bother unpacking, even though we're only here for two nights. I intend to live it up and make the most of it.
So, they left us little slippers that we can use. We've got the laundry bag here, but we already did laundry at an Airbnb, so we're all set. And they've got the price list for each individual item, um a safety deposit box. I never use those. I think I would be more likely to forget the pin and leave my passport in there. Um I've never had issues not using a safety box. Then we've got some ceramic up there, some art, a beautiful desk with lake and mountain views. That's incredible. They left us a few water bottles for free as a little welcome gift so we can rehydrate. What else? Even the light is beautiful. Enough said. What else can I show you? I mean, I love the curtains.
Look at these flowers, this beautiful pattern. This is really nice, the artwork, just floral. Can you tell I'm excited? Oh my gosh. Okay. And now, I think I'm going to bring you into the bathroom. But that is the room tour for now, so let's continue. Okay, in we go. Like any good Argentine bathroom, we've got the toilet, and we've got the bidet. Turn over here, we've got the sink, this cool little mirror so you can see all your pores as you do your makeup up close.
Another mirror here. Lights. Here's the shower. We've got the handheld shower head and the one that's fixed mounted onto the wall. They left us towels over here. Extra toilet paper. It's always nice when they leave you an extra roll of paper, Kleenex, hand towels, hair dryer. And I just pulled this down as well. Um lots of nice little soaps. Verbena. And then we've got shampoo, hair conditioner, body wash, moisturizer, a little shower cap if you don't feel like getting your hair wet, facial tissues, these little makeup remover pads.
Also, excellent toilet paper quality. This is nice, thick, two-ply toilet paper, and they even put a little Llao sticker there. Ooh, and I was about to forget, bathrobes. We get two bathrobes here at the Llao. So, yeah, I mean, even the bathroom is beautiful. Like, I love the tile in the bathroom. That says enough. I'm just amazed. I'm kind of in shock. I still can't believe that we are staying here. We made it happen. And yes, beautiful bathroom, beautiful room. I'm just a little bit giddy. But now that you have the room tour, we need to explore the rest of the hotel. So, we're going to go find Sam and Rellee, and our plan is just to walk the halls up and down, all the different floors, and explore and see everything that's
available to guests. So, you're invited to come along, and if you're planning a trip to Argentina, specifically to Bariloche in northern Patagonia in the Lake District, and you want a little taste of luxury, I think you'll want to consider this property. So, let's continue. We then set out to explore the hotel and all the different spaces and social rooms. The game room. Where everyone comes for fun, the pool tables, the foosball, ping pong. Ooh, you're going to Nahuelitos. Where the kids play. We learned that there's a kids program for children aged 4 to 10. Though the younger kids are also allowed to come and play with parental supervision. We dropped by here once a day for Rellee to play.
We are off to have sushi at the Lake Moreno restaurant if we can find our way there. We've got a pretty complex map here. It's a big property, guys. Yes, it is. So, we're going to see if we can navigate through the maze. No one's more happier than the Let's go, doll. Rellee doll is super happy. Morning, girl. Here we go. And we are going, oh lord, down to two. So, we're on three right now, down one. I think that's right. Yes. That sounds correct. Getting around the Llao Hotel definitely required a map, at least on the first day. There are so many floors and wings and staircases and elevators. In some ways, it felt like a bit of a
maze, but I think that's half the fun of staying at such a big property. We got lost. We had to go to the lobby, to the reception, and ask for directions. Another elevator. And now, we're at zero. So, we got lost. We ended up going to reception to ask for help. Yeah, we needed to go down two more floors, and then walk across the entire floor, and then take another elevator down. And now, we're halfway there. We're halfway This is neat. Feels almost like a secret tunnel or pathway. Yes. Fascinating. We've never seen this part of the property before. Oh, look at the windows coming up here. Amazing.
Ooh, that's because we've never been guests before. Yeah. Nice. Looking at the map. Got a elevator with a view. And we're going all the way down to zero as well, right? Yes. That's right. Aurelia, sabes dónde estás? In Llao. Llao, Aurelia. And then, we finally found our way to Lago Moreno restaurant. On a sunny day, you can sit out on the deck and enjoy the views of Lake Moreno. I got sushi. My favorite is salmon, cream cheese, avocado. Pretty basic, but it's what I like. All the good stuff.
Rolled in sesame seeds. Going to dip it in the soy sauce. Give me some, too. Love it. I love sushi. Can't go wrong with it. All right, Sam. What's happening over here? What's happening is I got myself a double Angus. We're going to share this. We also shared the sushi. Absolute thing of beauty. I feel like the older I get, the more I like burgers even more. They've always been one of my favorite foods, but such a reliable fun food to have.
Delicious, so very good. The hotel explorations then continued. You're probably starting to see that Llao kind of has a log cabin feel. Its design was inspired by the Canadian cabin style, in this case with cypress logs. So, we are currently in the reading room. No one else is here, but I found these two beautiful books, photography books. One is called fly fishing moments, and we are definitely not experienced fly fishers, but we have stayed at fly fishing estancias, and it's a lot of fun, I can tell you. So, it's kind of cool to see this photography, different shots of really different areas here in
Patagonia. Like this one here says Rio Traful. That's where we stayed at one of the fly fishing estancias. So, it's bringing back memories. And yeah, just beautiful landscapes. And then the other book I love, this one I really do love. It's called Gauchos de la Patagonia. Gauchos of Patagonia by Philippe Bourseye. And just gorgeous shots of gauchos doing their thing. Out at work, with their sheep, rearing cattle, incredible scenes, just gorgeous golden light. I love Patagonia, and I just think this book captures the spirit of this area beautifully. Look at this shot. The gaucho and his trusty horse.
It's just such a beautiful book, incredible photography. Love it. One of the many spaces here at the Llao. Check out that fireplace. Yes, you can sprawl yourself there with some Bill Bryson or something. Yeah. Have the Bill Bryson. No, you know what? It would have to be the room. The old Patagonian Express, that's the thing to be here. And we're waiting for some hopefully some decent weather. It's been a couple days of Patagonian winds and rain. And um hopefully we'll be able to show you the window and be like, "Oh, look at the sun."
Roly's favorite activity was getting to run up and down the main hall. This is probably where we spent most of our time burning off energy before meals and before naps. Now, let's talk about breakfast at the Llao. We honestly treated this like more of a brunch, two meals rolled into one. There was an abundance of choice for everything. I especially enjoyed the selection of fruit juices and pastries, while Sam loved the omelet station and the fancy coffees. You'd be shocked by how many cappuccinos this man can consume. Well, good morning, guys. It is another beautiful day here in Llao, and the good news, the clouds have
parted. We have some partial blue skies, so we are out enjoying the property, enjoying the gardens, walking around, snapping photos, and yeah, it's just like so picturesque, so magical. You can see the sun's coming out now. We enjoyed a wonderful, wonderful breakfast this morning. It was buffet style, and we're going to show you a few clips here. We had pain au chocolat and medialunas and fruit juices, cappuccinos, lattes. Sam had an omelet, scrambled eggs, deli meats. It was a feast of a meal. So, it was really, really tasty. So, yeah, we just wanted to enjoy this moment, show you the scenery, and continue exploring the property. The plan is to head to the pool a bit later on,
but we don't know how long the sun is going to last for, so we wanted to make the most of it. Okay, Sam is going to tell us about some of the free activities here at Llao. So, one of the best things about staying here is that there's just options galore. One of the coolest and most unique things you can do right behind me is practicing archery. Yes. So, that's something I'd love to try. I don't know if we'll get to do it on this trip, but uh it looks like a lot of fun. There's also an indoor swimming pool, there's an infinity pool, you can go on guided walks, you can go down to the lake, you can also partake in yoga or Pilates, go to the gym on your own. So, there's plenty to do at the hotel, and um yeah,
we're just going to be able to scratch the surface this time, but um definitely options galore. Our time in Bariloche was quite rainy, but this morning we had a break in the weather, so we set out to walk the grounds. We first gave Roly a chance to practice walking and running downhill. And that tired her out, so she enjoyed a stroller nap while we kept walking all the way down to Puerto Spiro. This is where we realized that every corner of the Llao looks like the perfect postcard shot. It doesn't matter which direction you turn in, there's a spectacular view waiting for you.
Zero or one? I don't think it's Still lost. The look. Still lost. Yeah, the look. I'm going to a toga party. No, I'm just kidding. This is just to the pool. Roly doll looking all cute. Roly in her bathing suit. She had fun the last time we took her to the pool, so we're anticipating a good time. Good times. There's a little cafe in there. I don't know if you guys It's a cafe. And the neat thing is that there's an indoor pool. It's nice and big, and then just head outside and you can get in the infinity.
Are you ready to splash and play? We had lunch at the lobby bar. This is where you can enjoy live music in the evenings, but we decided to eat here because we wanted a smaller, lighter lunch. I got the rice with vegetables and peanuts. Going for some Asian inspired flavors. Is that good? I like it. Yeah? Good stuff. And we ended the evening at the Patagonia restaurant where we ordered their classic dish, the fondue for two.
Except now we were three. You have got a lot with this fondue. So many different things to dip. We have potatoes, cauliflower, mushrooms, sausage, croutons, there's ham, apple, prunes, beef, chicken. I don't even know what's next to you over there, some kind of sausage or cured meat? This? Yeah. Those are dates. That's the dessert course. Yeah, there you go. But yeah, overall, this is delicious. We had this like 6 years ago and we were like, "We got to do this again." It's a fun meal. It's one of the specialties of the hotel. Yes, very interactive. Yeah. And that was our stay at the Llao Hotel. Short and sweet and the perfect way to end off our trip to Patagonia. If you're planning a trip to Bariloche, this hotel needs to be on your radar.
It's one of a kind, has impeccable mountain views, and all the staff we interacted with were so kind and attentive. Staying here was a dream come true and I hope you guys also get to experience it.
