Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas

North of El Chaltén, the Ruta 40 crosses hundreds of kilometres of empty steppe. This is the Patagonia of the first settlers: the canyon of the Río Pinturas, where the Cueva de las Manos keeps hands stencilled on the rock some nine thousand years ago; Lago Posadas and Lago Pueyrredón, two lakes of different blues separated by a narrow strip of land; and Cerro San Lorenzo, the second highest peak of the Patagonian Andes. Further north, the town of Perito Moreno and Los Antiguos, an oasis of cherry orchards on Lago Buenos Aires, close the stretch.

It is a road journey rather than a stay: from El Calafate or El Chaltén north, with a night at an estancia on the way, a day for the Cueva de las Manos, and two nights at Lago Posadas, at a lodge such as Lagos del Furioso on the strip between the two lakes, for walks, fishing and wildlife. From here the journey can cross into Chile towards the Carretera Austral, or continue north on the Ruta 40 towards the Lakes District.

November to March is the season. The roads are long and partly gravel, and outside the summer many services close.