Malargüe

Malargüe is a city in the southwest part of province of Mendoza, Argentina, about 370 km south of the provincial capital Mendoza. It is the head town of the Malargüe Department, and it has about 23,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census [INDEC].

The city is located in a semi-arid area. Agriculture is focused on the production of seed potato, along with minor crops such as alfalfa, onion and garlic. In the past, the local industries included oil exploration and production (now almost completely deactivated) and uranium mining. As a touristic area, Malargüe provides hotels and cabins for visitors interested in eco-tourism in the summer and skiing in the winter at the nearby resorts of Las Leñas and Los Molles.

The city is known for its traditional dish, the chivito (baby goat). It hosts the annual National Festival of the Goat and the Provincial Festival of the Lamb, during the second week of January.

Malargüe is also home to the southern site of the Pierre Auger Observatory, an international physics experiment searching for ultra-high energy cosmic rays.

The European Space Agency is due to start building a deep space ground station 30 km south of Malargüe in 2010. This will be the third 35m dish in its ESTRACK network.

Malargüe is linked to the north of Mendoza by National Route 40. This route continues south, entering Neuquén Province, but is only partially built and not well maintained beyond Malargüe City.

Air traffic in the area (only local flights) is served by the Comodoro D. Ricardo Salomón Airport (IATA: LGS, ICAO: SAMM).