Some 640 km southwest of Buenos Aires and 100 km from the city of Bahia Blanca is the seaside resort of Monte Hermoso founded at the beginning of the 1900s. Although the resort itself is not particularly attractive, it boasts 32 km of beautiful sandy beaches where the sun rises and sets over the sea. It also has a temperate summer climate and warmish waters.

The Sitio Arqueologico Monte Hermoso is just west of town along the coastal road next to Camping Americano. The site is more aptly referred to as El Pisadero. Here you can observe 7,000-year-old human footprints found in the 1990s. The Museo de Municipal Ciencias Naturales also on Avenida Costanera or the tourist office can tell you about tide times and how to get there. In 2007, also on the beach west of town, nine ground sloth (scelidotherium) footprints - each 21 inches long - were discovered by Vicente Di Martino, director of the Museo. They are believed to be some 15,000 years old.

On the coastal road to Sauce Grande some 6 km east stands the 67-metre-high Faro Recalada which towers over the Monte Hermoso, making it the tallest lighthouse in South America. It’s an extraordinary triangular open metal structure which was made in France by the same company who constructed the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It’s worth climbing its 300-and-something steps for the marvelous panoramic view it affords.