La Alondra Casa de Huéspedes

Ask an Argentinian to name a familiar landmark to help you locate Corrientes on a map, and you’re bound for an awkward pause. “It’s close to Paraguay,” he might say — a statement that tells you everything you need to know. Though historically and economically significant, Corrientes is in the middle of nowhere, a full thousand kilometers north of Buenos Aires, and many travelers are just passing through on the way to farther-flung destinations.

The relative remoteness of the location makes the sophisticated La Alondra Casa de Huespedes, a small guesthouse near the city’s historic center, especially surprising. Perhaps inspired by the old-fashioned Argentinian tradition of the pulpería — a tavern-meets-guesthouse that hosted gauchos and travelers during their long journeys across the pampas — La Alondra brands itself as a “refuge for nomads.” The assumption is that the traveler misses the comforts of home and, after many hours on the road, is eager to socialize during a stopover.

The set-up caters to both predilections, offering spacious, elegant guest rooms with grand king-sized beds and plasma TVs, as well as a swanky library bar and bistro, a cozy living room, a pretty shaded patio with mango trees and a small swimming pool. Accommodations are located in two separate areas, la casa (the main house) and an adjacent space referred to as El Salvador.

The look is simple and refined, typical of any upper-class country house in provincial Argentina — think rich leather armchairs, exposed brick, classic dark wood, gilded antique mirrors — but there’s a sense of playfulness, too, evident in a glittering chandelier suspended from the old-fashioned tin ceiling in El Galpón, a particularly inviting living space that beckons you to serve yourself a nightcap and catch up on that book you’ve been meaning to read.