El Calafate is a central town in the Patagonia region that acts a s a hub for a number of destinations in the area. It is known for being the gateway into the Perito Moreno Glacier. This article will talk about the activities to do in and around El Calafate.
The city is also close to El Chalten, the base of the Mount Fitz Roy. You can read this article to learn about visiting El Chalten and reaching one of the most iconic views in the Patagonia region.
The Main Attraction: The Perito Moreno Glacier
The Perito Moreno Glacier is most likely your reason for visiting El Calafate. Infrastructure has been built around this glacier because of some unique qualities that make it even more exciting to visit than others.
Located in Los Glaciares National Park, the glacier is part of the southern Patagonia ice field and just one of over 40 glaciers in the area. This ice field is the third largest in the world, behind Antarctica and Greenland.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is especially unique because it moves incredibly quickly in comparison to other glaciers. All glaciers are constantly growing and receding at the same time. At the top of the glacier, snow accumulates and compresses, pushing the rest of the glacier down. At the same time, at the bottom of the glacier, this compressed snow is lost through breakages, called calving. If the loss of the snow is greater than the accumulation, the glacier is receding. All glaciers around the world are receding at an increasingly alarming rate due to global warming.
This glacier moves up to 2 meters (6 feet) every day. And because it is receding, it is losing more than 2 meters every day. This loss happens in dramatic breakages that fall into the Lago Argentino. You can observe this when visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier, hearing large cracks and watching compressed snow break off from the glacial mass and making icebergs.
There are a few ways you can visit the glacier but the most interesting ways are through Hielo y Aventura.
Hielo Y Aventura Tours
Hielo y Aventura is the only company that operates on the Perito Moreno Glacier. They organize a number of different tours that allow you to interact with the glacier in different ways. We did the Mini-trekking tour and highly recommend it. We also describe the other excursions they have if they interest you as well. You can book any of their excursions here.
Big Ice: An excursion that is similar to the minitrekking but with a lot more trekking on the ice. You will get to hike for 3 hours on the ice in a small and personalized group experience. The activity includes transfers to and from El Calafate.
Safari Nautico: The only excursion that happens year-round, this activity is a one-hour catamaran tour of the ice walls of the glacier. This tour does not include a transfer to and from El Calafate. I recommend this tour if you are visiting during the off season and have your own form of transportation in the area.
Safari Azul: This excursion gets you to the edge of the glacier without trekking on the glacier itself. You will get to touch the glacier and enjoy the surface up-close. This excursion is great for people who may have difficulties with trekking directly on the ice.
MiniTrekking: This excursion is a smaller version of the Big Ice. You will have to opportunity to hike one the glacier for 1.5 hours in a guided group. The activity includes transfers to and from El Calafate. This is the excursion that we opted for and below is our experience:
Preparing for the Excursion
A few things that you need to bring/wear for the excursion
- A lunch and water
- Money (card or cash) for the entrance into the national park
- Hiking (preferred) or gym shoes
- Gloves (if you don’t have any, they can provide some to you)
- Long pants and a long shirt because the glacier ice is incredibly sharp
- Sunscreen
Getting to the Glacier
The minitrekking excursion includes a transfer to-and-from El Calafate. They will even pick you up directly from your hotel. We were staying at a short-term rental so we just picked the nearest hotel to our accommodations for pick-up. While the transfer is optional, I highly recommend it because the guide will give you information about the area and national park on your way to the national park.
Once you arrive, you will need to purchase your ticket into the national park. (This is not included in the price of the excursion.) You can pay with cash or card.
From here, the bus will take you to a dock where you will transfer to a boat. Make sure to go to the deck for some incredible views of the glacier as you make your way to the other side of the lake to get ready for your trek. People may be pretty aggressive in trying to get photos of the glacier at this moment. We found that the return boat ride was much better for photos because no one went to the deck and we had the space to ourselves.
On the other side of the lake, you will get off the boat and be split up into groups based on language (English or Spanish) and to make the group sizes smaller and more conducive to the trekking ahead.
You will have the opportunity to put anything you brought with you in the cabin at the top of the hill. We brought a backpack to hold our lunch and put the backpack in the cabin while we were on the trek.
The Trekking Experience
Next, we walked along the beach and shore of the lake and glacier, hearing from the glacier guides about this particular glacier. Our guide led us to an area where we were given crampons (spikes under your shoes) and a helmet to prepare us for walking on the glacier.
We were led through a guided path on the glacier that took an hour and a half. We got to see different parts of the glacier and the different features that define a glacier. The path that we were led on changes almost every day because of how fast this glacier moves. This tour completely follows a pre-defined path. If you are looking for something more rugged and less structured, the Big Ice tour might be the right one for you.
After walking over the ice and returning the gear that was lent to us, we were led through a path in the forest back to the cabin with our bags. We had time to eat lunch and relax while looking at the glacier in front of us.
The Rest of the Day
After lunch, we returned on the catamaran where Kevin and I were some of the few on the top deck and were able to get incredible photos of the glacier. When we arrived on the other side, we were driven to the glacier walkways, the Pasarelas Glaciar Perito Moreno, where we had an hour to explore. This was the time to see and hear ice calving. When a piece of the glacier breaks off, you hear a thundering crack followed by tumbling ice creating a large splash in the water below. The larger the ice calving, the bigger the sound and splash, leaving icebergs of different sizes floating in the Lago Argentino. Because of how fast the glacier moves forward, it also breaks fairly regularly, giving you a good opportunity to experience this when you visit.
Finally, our day was over and we were driven back to El Calafate and directly to our hotel if we wanted.
We highly recommend this tour at a minimum to have a unique experience interacting with a glacier.
Other Tours for the Perito Moreno Glacier
While Hielo y Aventura is the only company that can get you on the glacier, there are other companies that can guide you to kayak near the glacier, another experience we considered when we were deciding what to do at Glacier Perito Moreno. MilAdventura provides this excursion and you can read more about it here.
Visiting Without a Tour Group
You can also visit the Perito Moreno Glacier without a tour group. This is great if you have a car and only want to visit the walkways (pasarelas) that take you along the different facades of the glacier, allowing you to observe different breakages.
There are a number of walks that you can do with panels of descriptions of the glacier and different phenomenon that are happening in front of you.
Town Activities in El Calafate
The Glaciarium
This glacier museum is located on the outskirts of town. If you do not have a car to get there, the museum provides a free shuttle that leaves hourly from Calle 1 de Mayo, between Avenida Livertador and Roca.
The museum itself is a historical recount of the discovery and understanding of glaciers along with the science and unique attributes behind glaciers. The panels are in both English and Spanish with guided tours in Spanish that give overarching information. Each panel within the museum is truly informational and made us feel prepared for visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier in person the next day.
At the end of the museum is an auditorium where they play a video regarding a truly unique feature of the Perito Moreno Glacier when its end connects to land, creating a dam within the lake.
The museum also has an ice bar made from ice from the Glacier Perito Moreno and for a small increase in the price of admission, you can visit the ice bar and get two drinks.
Nature Reserve: Reserva Laguna Nimez
If you have more time to spend in El Calafate and want to have a peaceful walk in nature, we recommend heading to the Reserva Laguna Nimez. This nature preserve is a 3 kilometer loop through a lagoon and along the Lago Argentino. As you walk along, you will see different bird species in their natural habitat. You will also have the opportunity to go to the beach along the Lago Argentino where, weather permitting, you can see kite surfers playing in the waves of the lake. Cost of admissions to the reserve can be found here and is cash only.
Other Activities Available Around El Calafate
Besides visiting the glacier, there are other experiences in the region that could enhance your time in the region.
Horseback Riding at an Estancia
This is something that you can do all around Argentina but there are some large estancias in the El Calafate areas that could provide this experience for you. Estancias are large ranches. Today, many allow people to stay on the property and include different activities, including horseback riding, fishing and hiking. You can either do a day trip or stay overnight. While we did not have the opportunity to stay at an estancia, we found the following that provide some different experiences:
4x4 Adventure
You can also experience the Patagonia region by going off-roading to explore this beautiful landscape. These tours are typically half-day excursions, allowing you to combine this excursion with other town explorations (such as the glacier museum). This is one of the companies that provides these adventures. You may also be able to find others in town that have similar offerings. The main street of El Calafate is lined with tour operators.
Visiting El Chalten
Finally, if you are visiting this region of Patagonia, you may have heard about the Fitz Roy mountain and the town of El Chalten. This mountain is the inspiration behind the logo of Patagonia and there is a famous hike that leads you to an incredible lagoon with the iconic views of the mountain. We recommend visiting the town over a few days because weather is unpredictable and you may want options for when to do the hike. However, it is definitely possible to visit El Chalten and do the hike in just a day trip, if that is your only option.
You will want to take the first bus between El Calafate and El Chalten at 8 AM. Time is of the essence and you will have the best chance of completing the hike if you get there as soon as possible. (This is another reason to spend a few days in El Chalten. You can get on the trail even earlier and the hike gets crowded.) It takes about 3 hours to get between the two towns.
From the bus stop, you can walk about 30 minutes through the town to the trail head to start the hike. The hike itself is very straightforward and easy to follow. You can find it here on AllTrails. It took us 8 hours to complete the hike with a 30 minute break for lunch. You may have to walk even faster to complete the hike. The final bus leaving El Chalten for El Calafate is at 7 PM.
The overall hike is 14 miles (22.5 kilometers). It is an out-and-back hike with over 3,500 feet (1067 meters) in elevation gain. The last few kilometers to the turn-around point are the most challenging with uphill scrambles. In addition, the trail gets crowded throughout the day, causing back-ups, which may make the hike even more challenging.
If you are worried about making the bus, you can also hire a taxi or car service to drive you to the trailhead and back to El Calafate.
If weather is not ideal for your day in El Chalten, you can read this article to see the other things to do in the town. You can also use the article to build out a longer stay in El Chalten.
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We are Kevin and Melina, two avid travelers who have decided to take our hobby of traveling into our new lifestyle.
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