Martín Miguel de Güemes International Airport — Salta, Argentina

Salta's airport, coded SLA, honors General Martin Miguel de Guemes, the gaucho cavalry leader whose irregular militias defended Argentina's northern frontier against royalist forces advancing from Bolivia and Peru during the wars of independence. The airport sits in the Lerma Valley at a significant elevation, serving a colonial city celebrated for its well-preserved Spanish architecture and a cathedral skyline that has earned Salta the nickname 'La Linda,' or 'the beautiful one.' SLA functions as the gateway to Argentina's rugged Andean northwest, a region of high-altitude deserts, cactus-studded canyons, and the vineyards around Cafayate that produce the aromatic torrontes wine found on menus across the country. Domestic flights connect Salta to Buenos Aires and other provincial capitals, while the surrounding region draws travelers heading onward by road toward the Quebrada de Humahuaca and the salt flats near the Chilean and Bolivian borders further north and west.