1 Salta has a population of just shy of half a million inhabitants and is one of the fasting growing in the country.
2 It is situated at just over 1100 metres (3300 feet) above sea level and has a subtropical climate with warm humid summers, a rainy season lasting from November to March and mild sunny and dry winters. Spring is beautiful but there can be dusty winds blowing off the plains. Fall is a great time to visit as the local vineyards celebrate their grape harvests.
3 As one of the country's major tourist centers Salta offers a huge array of facilities including many boutique hotels, gourmet restaurants and lively bars, plus some of the best museums in the country.
4 Salta was at the centre of the southernmost division of the Incan empire, the Collasuyu. The Incas arrived in the region only a few decades before the Spanish conquests.
5 Salta is the starting point of one of the few working railway lines in Argentine, plied by the superb Train to the Clouds, which hauls passengers up to the giddy heights of the Andes on a day long trip.
6 The airport, named after local independence hero Martin Miguel de Guemes, is only a few miles outside the city and there are regular flights to Buenos Aires plus Jujuy, Tucuman, Cordoba and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.
7 Salta was founded on April 16, 1582 by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma, who gave his name to the fertile valley where it is located.
8 The central plaza 9 de Julio, filled with dozens of different tree and shrub varieties, was restored in 2004 when it was the location for a whisky commercial.
9 In the 1960s the film Taras Bulba, loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's's short story, was shot in nearby San Lorenzo. Starring Yul Brynner in the title role with Tony Curtis as his son, Andrei, it relates the tale of fierce leaders of a Cossack clan battling on the Ukrainian steppes.
10 The vineyards in the valleys around Cafayate, a two-hour drive away to the southwest, make Salta one of Argentine's wine capitals. The famed white grape torrontes is the local favourite.
11 Salta is proud of its gaucho traditions and these are shown off musically and in dance at the city's many penas – folk music venues – where you can also try local specialities such as empanadas (meat pasties) and locro (a maize, bean and meat stew). 12 Locals are known as Saltenos – many are of aristocratic Spanish stock but there are also communities from Italy, the British Isles, Syria/Lebanon and central Europe.
13 The northwest is the region of Argentina with the highest concentration of indigenous peoples. Many people in Salta are of native origin, with the Kolla being the biggest ethnic group. Most of the local traditions (fiercely defended) are a syncretism of European and autochthonous customs.
14 Salta lies on a seismic fault and there are frequent (mostly minor tremors) – all buildings are constructed to withstand strong shocks. Back in September 1692 an image of the Virgin was paraded through the streets to ward off the effects of a major quake and the city was unscathed – this Milagro (Miracle) is celebrated every year from September 6th to 15th by processions and much celebration, with local dignities taking part in public events to commemorate the miraculous events of 1692.
15 There are different interpretations about the origin of the city's name. It could simply be the name of an indigenous tribe who lived there before the Incas arrived or might be derived from the Quechua (Incan tongue) "salla ta" meaning "craggy". The preferred explanation is that it comes from "sagta/saqta", or "very beautiful" in the language of the Aymara, a pre-Incan native group, but that is unlikely since the Aymara mostly lived across the borders in neighbouring Chile and Bolivia. Everyone still refers to Salta as La Linda, the beautiful city.