El Calafate AN UNFORGETTABLE PLACE

This Park is located at 80 km (50 miles) from El Calafate town. The travel from the city to the park allows you to appreciate the different types of topography as part of the countryside bordering the road, enjoying the view of lakes, streams, forests and snow-capped mountains. You can arrive to the glacier viewpoint and its walkways by private car, remise (a hired carriage), regular transport services, or by services offered by tourist companies.
Inside the Park you can stroll through the walkways and viewpoints circuit to get a better view of the Perito Moreno Glacier and the Península de Magallanes. This outstanding stroll will offer you the most wonderful panoramic views, and the possibility to observe unpredictable ice detachments from the glacier front wall in all its magnitude. This is a perfect tour to explore the Perito Moreno Glacier without any physical demand and with a lot of time to peacefully walk the balconies calm at each person’s pace.
For those who want to enjoy the glacier in a more adventurous way, there are diverse alternative walks on the glacier. Some of these options are: mini trekking and Big Ice. Both options offer walking in crampons on the glacier, with different lengths of time and complexities, the surface to be crossed is irregular and allows you to contemplate diverse topographies of ice, such as cracks, seracs, crevasses and small lagoons.
Otherwise, if you prefer to navigate by different rivers and channels converging in the glacier, you may choose among different options, such as navigating on a catamaran up to its highest walls, until a stop where you can fully appreciate the glacier and you can observe ice floes detached from the walls.

This lake tour starts at Punta Banderas, at the Argentino Lake, continuing the navigation in modern vessels along the north arm of the lake up to the Upsala Channel, where you can contemplate the stunning ice floe barrier, with a panoramic view to the Upsala Glacier. Then, the vessel heads to the Spegazzini Glacier, the highest of the National Park, to finally end at the Perito Moreno Glacier, navigating the north wall.

At 220 km (136 miles) from El Calafate, traveling some kilometers on National Route No. 40, and after bordering Argentino and Viedma lakes, you arrive to El Chaltén. This Patagonian paradise is located at the base of the Fitz Roy and Torre hills, at the shore of Las Vueltas River; there you can take a full day tour, returning in the evening.
Besides, being the youngest town of the Patagonia, El Chaltén is a fair-tale location, with cultural diversity. A lot of foreigners visit this place due to its perfect natural conditions for those who love life in open air, and specially trekking. Coined by its followers as “the Trekking National Capital”, the place offers several paths starting at the city streets, so you can climb the mountain through these different paths, getting to the impressive hills surrounding it, such as the Fitz Roy, the Poimcenot, or the peculiar Torre Hill. You can also do less difficult trekking tours excellent for beginners.
The surroundings of El Chaltén mix the magic of close glaciers, hidden lagoons, beautiful falls, the blue Viedma Lake and the mystical presence of the Fitz Roy Hill, whose distinctive and impressive summit can be seen from the town.
In El Chaltén it is also possible to make contact with the fauna of the place. Condors, guanacos, pumas, Darwin's rheas and foxes are part of this outstanding Patagonian destination.

This Ranch was founded in 1914, and you arrive here in a modern catamaran navigating among ice floes adrift by the Argentino Lake. Once at the Ranch, there is a menu of activities, such as the visit to the Customs Museum, trekking tours, 4x4 vehicle riding, fishing, and horse riding with awesome views of the glacial forests and the Andes Mountain Range. Besides, the Ranch includes a restaurant where you can eat regional food, including the special dish ‘grilled Patagonian lamb.’

The new attraction of El Calafate shows us the origin of the Patagonian glaciers, an experience that invites us to wonder about the climate changes and offers us a tour throughout the life of Francisco P. Moreno, among other entertainments. It is located a few kilometers from the town center; it has a 3D cinema and several audiovisual cinemas, besides the Glacio Bar, an “Iced Bar”, where the walls, the bars, the glasses and the couches were made with ice from the glacier.

Over 300 km (186 miles) from El Calafate, in Chilean territory, you find Torres del Paine National Park. This is a full day tour, starting early in the morning from El Calafate, and retuning in the evening.
An amazing experience in all ways, Torres del Paine is a unique place with stunning landscapes, flora and fauna. The Park includes the famous Torres del Paine and Cuernos del Paine mountains, which raise vertically from the plateau, creating a very peculiar scenery. Scattered among the summits, there are lakes resulting from the glaciers, and you can see a very rich fauna composed of pumas, guanacos, foxes, condors, greylag gooses, rheas and black-necked swans, among other species living in the region. You can also observe lush forests whose trees are renowned by their “beards”, giving a magical suggestion to the scenery.

The 25 de Mayo Ranch includes 17,000 hectares (42000 acres) of field, and its historical center, located a few steps from the center of El Calafate, is a perfect site to rest and enjoy the landscape at the base of the Calafate Hill, breathing the purest Patagonian air. It is a clear proposal to discover the rural style of this destination, in one of the large pioneering ranches.

In El Calafate you can visit the Patagonian Steppe through an “off-road” circuit in 4x4 vehicles, accessing astonishing sceneries and totally exclusive sites, and getting a panoramic view of the city, the Argentino Lake and the Andes Mountain Range.

At 110 kilometers (63 miles) from El Calafate, taking the National Route No. 40, on the shore of La Leona River and a few steps far from Viedma Lake – exactly half way from the road between El Calafate and El Chaltén, you find La Leona Parador and Hotel, witness and main character of more than 110 years of legendary history of the Patagonia. Identified as Cultural Heritage of the province, it is perfect to take a coffee with a piece of cake, and enjoy the landscape.

Walichu and Punta Bonita caves are a way of traveling through time. Located at 8 km (5 miles) from town, these caves are an archeological site that displays the footprints of the first men that walked these lands. Here you can observe cave paintings (originals and replicas), and find an exceptional viewpoint of Argentino Lake and Andes Mountain Range.

In El Calafate you can hire an amusing tour across the city, traveling through the main roads of the historical town center, visiting the first typical buildings of the pioneers, as well as today’s civic center. You can also visit the Regional Museum of El Calafate, which offers a tour through the local history, the flora and fauna from the surroundings of this graceful place and El Calafate Historical Interpretation Center, to learn about the history of this site and all the Argentine Patagonia.
Another possibility is to visit the Casino of El Calafate, with a trendy building, where musical shows are hold at season nights.

At the surroundings of El Calafate, adventurous sport lovers have the chance to do numerous activities related to their demands. You can go fly fishing next to the glacier at the Roca Lake and the Rico River, or else use a zip-line at the Frías Hill. In some tours you can also take a 4x4 vehicle drive or trekking circuits.
Another interesting possibility to discover and conquer the sceneries of El Calafate is to go horse riding across the region, enjoying several journeys mounted on a beautiful horse.

Just 1 km (0.62 miles) from the commercial center of El Calafate, in a place near to the Argentino Lake, you find the Avifauna Reserve of the Nimez lagoon, where you can enjoy a colorful bird watching.