Santa Cruz, southern Patagonia
El Calafate
The ice fields of the far south, on the shore of Lago Argentino. The scale here is geological, not scenic.
Illustrative image
El Calafate sits on the southern shore of Lago Argentino, at the edge of Los Glaciares National Park and of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field — the largest mass of ice outside the poles and Greenland. It is a town that exists because of what is behind it.
Perito Moreno is the glacier people come for, and the only one most visitors see on foot: a front several kilometres wide that calves into the water while you watch. The park holds many more, reachable by boat across water that is milky with rock flour.
The country around the town is steppe — flat, dry and enormous — which is why the transition from estancia to ice happens so abruptly. Most trips here pair the two: horses and wind on one side of the day, ice on the other.
Experiences in this region
We are preparing the experiences for this region. Tell us what you have in mind and we will design one.
Design your trip