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Perito Moreno boardwalks
Four balcony circuits face the glacier’s seventy-metre front — open year-round, ramps included, and the ice calves whether you’re ready or not.
EL CALAFATE
El Calafate — the glacier side
The park’s southern gate. One entry fee (foreigners, set June 2026 at ARS 50,000, online only) covers both the glacier and the El Chaltén trails; winter park hours run 9:00–16:00.
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Safari Náutico
An hour on the lake, pausing four hundred metres off the glacier’s south wall — runs every day of the year, even midwinter.
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Minitrekking on the glacier
Crampons on, ninety minutes walking the ice itself. New for 2026: it runs year-round for the first time since 1989 — winter included. Ages 18–65, strictly.
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Glaciarium
The ice museum on the steppe — glaciology done properly, plus a bar carved from ice at minus ten where the drinks come in frozen glasses. Free shuttle from town.
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Laguna Nimez
A flamingo-filled lagoon reserve a ten-minute walk from downtown El Calafate — three flat kilometres of birdlife against Lago Argentino.
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El Calafate
The base town: one long avenue of parrillas, outfitters and calafate-berry everything. Eat the berry — legend says it brings you back.
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Upsala & Spegazzini boats
The full-day boat to the park’s giants — Spegazzini’s front rises 135 metres, half again taller than Perito Moreno. Runs year-round from Punta Bandera.
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Cerro Frías
The adventure hill between town and the park — 4x4s, horseback, and a four-stage zipline over the steppe with Torres del Paine on the horizon on clear days.
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Estancia Cristina
A century-old estancia reachable only by catamaran up the lake’s far arm — a ten-hour day of glaciers, canyons and sheep-station history. Summer only: October to April.
EL CHALTÉN
El Chaltén — the trekking side
Argentina’s trekking capital sits inside the park, so the trails start at the end of the street. From May to September registration is mandatory before you walk.
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Laguna de los Tres
The Fitz Roy pilgrimage: twenty-five kilometres round trip, brutal final hour, and the granite spires filling the sky above a turquoise lake. Register first May–September.
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Laguna Torre
Eighteen kilometres to the lake below Cerro Torre’s impossible needle — gentler than the Fitz Roy trail, with icebergs drifting off the glacier at the end.
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Loma del Pliegue Tumbado
The viewpoint hike guides pick for themselves: both Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre in one frame, twenty kilometres round trip from the visitor centre.
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Chorrillo del Salto
A twenty-metre waterfall in lenga forest, under four kilometres from town on flat ground — the rest-day walk.
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Mirador de los Cóndores
An hour’s stroll from the visitor centre to a condor-patrolled overlook with the whole town and the massif behind it. Do it your first evening.
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Laguna Capri
The short version of the Fitz Roy trail — eight kilometres round trip to a lakeside camp with the full mountain view for a third of the effort.
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Piedras Blancas glacier
A blue hanging glacier at the end of an eleven-kilometre valley walk from the Río Eléctrico bridge — the quiet alternative when the main trails are busy.
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Lago del Desierto
A fjord-like lake two gravel hours north of town, near where Argentina and Chile once argued the border. Boats and services run September to May — winter closes it.
Winter reality In July the marquee trails are snowbound and conditions decide everything — register, carry layers, and turn around when the weather says so. Both of El Chaltén’s destination lodges close for winter; base in El Calafate (EOLO is the classic out-of-town stay) and day-trip north when the forecast opens.
BETWEEN & EAT
Between the towns, and dinner
Three hours of steppe, one historic coffee stop, and lamb over fire at the end of it.
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La Leona roadhouse
The 1894 parador on Ruta 40 where Butch Cassidy allegedly stopped — still pouring coffee halfway between El Calafate and El Chaltén, museum in the back.
EAT
La Tablita
El Calafate’s oldest parrilla, open since 1968 — Patagonian lamb splayed over the fire the way the estancias always did it. Book in season.
EAT
La Cervecería Chaltén
The trekkers’ brewpub on San Martín — house beer and locro after the trail. Winter hours follow the town’s rhythm; check the door.
FAQ
FAQ
When is the season?
December–February for the big trails. The park is open all year — winter hours 9:00–16:00, registration mandatory May–September — and Perito Moreno with its boats runs every day of the year.
Can you walk on the glacier?
Yes — minitrekking puts you on the ice in crampons for about ninety minutes, and as of winter 2026 it runs year-round for the first time since 1989. Ages 18–65, strictly.
Calafate to Chaltén?
A paved three-hour bus, year-round, at least twice daily — past the La Leona roadhouse, which has been pouring coffee since 1894.
How hard is Fitz Roy?
Laguna de los Tres is 25 km and 8–9 hours with a brutal final climb. Laguna Capri gives the view at a third of the effort; Pliegue Tumbado shows both massifs in one frame.
Practical notes
- Park fee: one foreigner ticket covers both zones — bought online only, no cash at the gates. Reset June 2026; check the current price when you book.
- Getting there: fly Buenos Aires–El Calafate (~3h20). The El Chaltén bus runs year-round, ~3 h.
- Registration: mandatory for El Chaltén trails May–September — free, at the visitor centre or online portals.
- Weather: Patagonian wind is a fact, not a forecast. Layers always; summer days can hold all four seasons.
- Money: see the Argentina money note — cards work at market rate now.