Most trips to Patagonia fly over it. This one drives across it, from one ocean of wildlife to one of ice. It starts among the elephant seals and penguins of the Atlantic coast, spends nights on estancias that measure their land in tens of thousands of hectares, follows Ruta 40 along the foot of the Andes past rock art and petrified forests, and reaches the Fitz Roy and the Perito Moreno having understood the size of the place in between.
Day 1 · Trelew to Península Valdés
Highlight · Guanacos and rheas crossing the road, and a night at the Punta Delgada lighthouse.
Drive · 260 km · 5 h
The car is collected in Trelew and the first drive heads straight for Península Valdés, a wildlife sanctuary where guanacos and rheas cross the road. The night is at the lighthouse of Punta Delgada, on the cliffs at the tip of the peninsula.
Night · Península Valdés
Day 2 · Península Valdés to Puerto Madryn
Highlight · Elephant seals lying on the shingle below the cliffs on a morning walk along the coast.
Drive · 200 km · 4 h
A morning walk along the coast, with elephant seals lying on the shingle below the cliffs. In the afternoon, Caleta Valdés and, time permitting, Punta Norte, before driving back across the isthmus to Puerto Madryn and a walk along its bay. From June to mid-December, a boat from Puerto Pirámides gets close to the southern right whales.
Night · Puerto Madryn
Day 3 · Punta Tombo to Bahía Bustamante
Highlight · Magellanic penguins walking right across the paths at Punta Tombo.
Drive · 425 km · 6 h 30 · part gravel
South first to Punta Tombo, the largest Magellanic penguin colony, where the birds walk right across the paths. Then a long and demanding stretch to Bahía Bustamante, a sheep estancia that is also the only seaweed farm in the country, with its own coast, lighthouse and petrified forest.
Night · Bahía Bustamante
Day 4 · Bahía Bustamante
Highlight · Caleta Malaspina by boat, among penguins, cormorants, steamer ducks and sea lions.
A full day on the estancia, planned around the tide and the weather: a boat across Caleta Malaspina among penguins, cormorants, steamer ducks and sea lions, the petrified forest, the Gravina peninsula, the seaweed industry, farm work, the Aristizábal lighthouse and Penguin Island, or walks and mountain bikes. Horses and kayaks are also possible.
Night · Bahía Bustamante
Day 5 · Across Chubut to Río Mayo
Highlight · The petrified forest of Sarmiento, tens of millions of years old, in the middle of the steppe.
Drive · 426 km · 6 h
West across the whole province at the latitude of Sarmiento, through pure steppe, with a 30 km gravel detour to the petrified forest of Sarmiento and its tens of millions of years. The night is on a working estancia near Río Mayo.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 6 · Ruta 40 to Los Antiguos
Highlight · Los Antiguos, the cherry capital, on the shore of Lago Buenos Aires.
Drive · 186 km
A quiet morning on the estancia, then Ruta 40 south to Los Antiguos, on the shore of Lago Buenos Aires, the national cherry capital, named for the native people who came here to spend their last years.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 7 · Cueva de las Manos to Lago Posadas
Highlight · Hundreds of red and yellow hands on the walls of a canyon over a hundred metres deep.
Drive · 280 km · 6 h
South on Ruta 40 and a 47 km detour from Bajo Caracoles to the Cueva de las Manos, a World Heritage canyon over a hundred metres deep, its walls covered with hundreds of red and yellow hands. In the afternoon, Lago Posadas, a small village in one of the widest glacial valleys of Patagonia.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 8 · Lago Posadas
Highlight · Lesser-known rock paintings on the eastern flank of the Andes, under the big skies.
A day to drive deeper into the eastern flank of the Andes, towards the Río Oro or the walls of the Furioso river, and to walk to lesser-known rock paintings. Or simply to stay put under the big skies.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 9 · Perito Moreno national park
Highlight · Cerro San Lorenzo on the horizon, and dinner at the owners' table on an estancia inside the park.
Drive · 270 km · 4 h
Back to Ruta 40 on gravel and south to the Perito Moreno national park, as spectacular as it is unknown, with Cerro San Lorenzo, at 3,700 m one of the highest peaks in Patagonia, on the horizon. The night is on an estancia inside the park, often with dinner at the owners' table.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 10 · Perito Moreno national park
Highlight · Monte León above the peninsula, or the old Estancia Rincón and the way towards Cerro San Lorenzo.
Walk · Monte León · easy
Another day on the eastern side of the Andes, depending on weather and roads: a gentle hike up Monte León, about 150 m above the peninsula, or a drive to the old Estancia Rincón and a walk towards Cerro San Lorenzo.
Night · Los Antiguos & Lago Posadas
Day 11 · Ruta 40 to El Chaltén
Highlight · Sheep estancias of thousands of hectares strung along the Ruta 40.
Drive · 445 km · 9 h · mostly paved
The longest drive. The road still connects the estancias of the region, sheep farms that need thousands of hectares to make a living.
Night · El Chaltén
Day 12 · El Chaltén
Highlight · The last steep climb to the Laguna de los Tres, at the foot of the Fitz Roy.
Walk · Laguna de los Tres · 8–9 h
The classic walk to the Laguna de los Tres, with a last steep 400 m to the foot of the Fitz Roy. The alternative is Lago del Desierto, 37 km north, with a boat along the lake for the north face of the Fitz Roy and the Vespignani glacier.
Night · El Chaltén
Day 13 · Laguna Torre and El Calafate
Highlight · The needle of Cerro Torre above its lagoon, reached through old lenga forest.
Drive · 220 km
Walk · Laguna Torre · 5–6 h
The other great walk before leaving: to the Laguna Torre, under the needle of Cerro Torre, the Adela range and Cerro Solo, through old lenga forest. Then to El Calafate, with a possible stop at a petrified forest with dinosaur bones.
Night · El Calafate
Day 14 · The Perito Moreno
Highlight · The first glimpse of the ice from the Curva de los Suspiros.
Drive · 80 km
Across the steppe and along Lago Argentino to the Perito Moreno, first glimpsed from the Curva de los Suspiros, then from the walkways right in front of the ice, for as long as one likes.
Night · El Calafate
Day 15 · El Calafate
Highlight · A last morning in El Calafate before the car goes back at the airport.
The car is returned at the airport.
