John Manion worked with luxury travel operator Modern Adventure to curate a stacked seven-day itinerary, from dinner at Francis Mallmann’s Siete Fuegos and horseback rides through the vineyard-rich Uco Valley to intimate walking tours of Buenos Aires’s atmospheric barrios. While the accommodations have VIP vibes, Manion’s priority is giving travelers a local’s view: “The Michelin Guide’s gonna tell you where to eat if you’re a millionaire, but not where the people who actually make shit run eat.”

About the guide: Though the man behind El Che and the forthcoming Brasero lived in South America as a kid, he says it was during a return visit, as a young chef, that Argentina made a serious impression: “It was like, This is my place, these are my people, this is my method of cooking — the live fire.”

Bring: A Bluetooth speaker. Tango was born in the streets and dancehalls of Buenos Aires. Load up classic Argentine musicians like Juan D’Arienzo and Astor Piazzolla to set the mood before heading out in the city.

Watch for: Blue skies. “If people have never been to the Southern Hemisphere, the sky is different,” Manion says. “Especially when you see it in the mountains, in this beautiful high-desert wine-growing region, the sky in Argentina is impossibly blue, and then the stars are breathtaking.”