There is a road trip hidden in the map of southern Patagonia that few people make: from the glaciers of El Calafate across the border to Torres del Paine, down to the Strait of Magellan, over the water by ferry to Tierra del Fuego, and on to Ushuaia, where the roads of the continent run out. Six days, two countries, a ferry crossing and a colony of king penguins on the way. It joins the two ends of the south that most itineraries reach by plane.
Day 1 · El Calafate
Highlight · A first free day on the shore of Lago Argentino, with the car collected in town.
The car is collected in town on arrival, and the rest of the day is free on the shore of Lago Argentino.
Night · El Calafate
Day 2 · Across the border to Torres del Paine
Highlight · The border at Cancha Carrera, then north to the park gates at Laguna Amarga.
Drive · 345 km · 5 h · 65 km gravel
East and south out of El Calafate, across the steppe past the hamlet of La Esperanza and west towards Río Turbio, to the border at Cancha Carrera; on the Chilean side, 60 km north to the park gates at Laguna Amarga or Lago Sarmiento.
Night · Torres del Paine
Day 3 · Torres del Paine
Highlight · The Base of the Towers, the Lago Grey area or the lookout over the Cuernos.
A full day in the park for its great walks: the Base of the Towers, the Lago Grey area, the lookout over the Cuernos.
Night · Torres del Paine
Day 4 · Puerto Natales and down to Punta Arenas
Highlight · The Cueva del Milodón, where the remains of a giant ground sloth were found.
Drive · 360 km · partly gravel
110 km to Puerto Natales, half of them on gravel, with a stop at the Cueva del Milodón, the cave where the remains of a giant ground sloth were found. Then south on the paved Ruta 9 across the plains to Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellan.
Night · Punta Arenas
Day 5 · Across the Strait to the king penguins
Highlight · Some eighty king penguins on the shore of Bahía Inútil, seen on a walk with the warden.
Drive · 354 km · 4 h
A two-hour ferry from the Tres Puentes pier crosses the Strait of Magellan to Bahía Chilota, by Porvenir, on Tierra del Fuego. 114 km further, on the shore of Bahía Inútil, a private reserve protects a colony of some eighty king penguins, a bird otherwise found no closer than South Georgia, seen from land and on a walk along the beach with the warden. The night is in Cerro Sombrero, a small oil town in the north of the Chilean side of the island.
Night · Porvenir
Day 6 · To Ushuaia
Highlight · Over the Fuegian Andes to Ushuaia, at the end of the Ruta 3.
Drive · 414 km · 7 h · 100 km gravel
South across the island, through the San Sebastián border back into Argentina, past Río Grande and over the Fuegian Andes to Ushuaia, at the end of the Ruta 3.
