Weather 16oC to 6oC
Design Suites Calafate – takes about 22 minutes to drive from the airport.
Arrive from Bariloche late afternoon for 3 nights, Wednesday to Sunday, leaving in the afternoon on our last day to go to Ushuaia. Picking up a hire car from Avis.
El Calafate is a town near the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz. It’s mainly known as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park, home to the massive Perito Moreno Glacier, whose ever-shifting icy landscape is popular for hiking and sightseeing. A modern interpretive center called the Glaciarium serves as a primer on the region’s numerous glaciers.
January and February are the most popular (and costly) months to visit. The best time to travel to El Calafate, or to anywhere in Patagonia, is in the summer months, between the end of November and the end of March. That’s when the day are longest and when you will get more chances of sunny days – though beware that Patagonian weather can be crazy and you may get rain, wind and snow even in the summer. Shoulder season (October or April) may be good months – provided that businesses are open!
See https://myadventuresacrosstheworld.com/el-calafate-argentina-things-to-do/
Los Glaciares National Park, where Perito Moreno Glacier is located, and connections to El Chalten, one of the main hiking hubs of the country. It isn’t the biggest glacier in the country, but it definitely is the most scenic to see, for it is very easy to access, and contrary to most glaciers which are now receding, it is actually stable.
Short treks are great addition to a visit to Perito Moreno Glacier. You’ll get the opportunity to see the glacier and the moraine up close; listen to the ice cracking; look into the cracks and even drink glacier water.
The short trek is fairly easy, suitable even for families with children. The only real requirement is that of being properly dressed: you’ll need a few layers of technical hiking gear and thermal underwear; a good snow jacket; hat, gloves and a scarf, and a good pair of hiking boots to which crampons (necessary to walk on ice) will be tied up.
Takes about an hour to drive to the glacier
Admire wildlife at Laguna Nimez
If you have a few hours to kill while in El Calafate, make sure to head to Laguna Nimez. This ecological reserve is an easy 15 minutes walk from the center of town; it is a protected area where an incredible variety of birds live, first and foremost the beautiful Chilean flamingo. The reserve is a good representation of the landscape of Patagonia, with recreations of the desert steppe, the wetlands and lake Argentino.
You can go on a self-guided tour that can last anything between one and three hours. It costs around $10 USD to get in.
Argentina Travel Log 2019 