🏔️ Los Glaciares National Park: a natural wonder in Argentina 🇦🇷
Snow caps, vast glaciers, piercingly cold winds – an excellent start for an article about traveling to Antarctica. Or beyond the Arctic Circle. But today we will not talk about them, but about one of the southernmost countries in the world – Argentina!
This Latin American country stretches for 3,800 kilometers from north to south. Due to its length, it combines different climatic zones and natural areas. She appears to tourists either as a sultry and playful senorita with the seething streams of the Iguazu Falls, or as a cold and arrogant senorita with the harsh climate of Patagonia.
We are going to Patagonia. Our path lies in Los Glaciares National Park.
Why go to Los Glaciares?
The answer is as simple as possible: what could be more unusual than huge glaciers and snowy peaks in the far south? For the dreamiest, I’ll add: in Patagonia you will find yourself almost at the end of the world. Next is only the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, with ships leaving for the icy Antarctic unknown. Well, for the main skeptics, I’ll add that Los Glaciares National Park is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. And he does it absolutely deservedly.
A third of the territory of this park is covered with ice. The snows of the main Latin American ridge, the Andes, feed 47 large glaciers. The Los Glaciares ice massif (the name, by the way, is translated from Spanish as “glaciers”) is the largest after the ice of Antarctica and Greenland. While in other parts of the world glaciation begins at least 2,500 meters above sea level, in the Argentine park glaciers conquer the soil already at a level of 200 meters.
Everywhere you look there are records all around. What are the records? Your whole idea of the “south” will be turned upside down after such a trip.
How to get to Los Glaciares
The park is huge, its area is half a million hectares. Therefore, when planning, I recommend focusing on several of its main locations: lakes Argentino and Viedma and the glaciers of Perito Moreno, Uppsala and Spegazzini. The most convenient starting point to them will be the capital of the icy Argentine paradise – the city of El Calafate.
Flying to El Calafate by plane
The most logical, simple and often the cheapest way. There are a dozen flights a day from Buenos Aires to El Calafate. And also a few from Ushuaia and Bariloche. They are usually carried out by the higher-rated carrier Aerolineas Argentinas or the South American low-cost airline Flybondi. Off-season tickets can easily be found for $100* round trip. You can also search for great deals on TravelHub. You can find even more tips here.
There are three ways to get from the airport to the city itself:
- group transfer VES Patagonia, first come first serve, ticket costs about $3,
- taxi, about $15,
- car rental, average $40 per day.
If you have a driver’s license, then don’t hesitate to choose the car rental option. This way you can manage your time more effectively and not be tied to the schedule of group tours.
We go to El Calafate by private car
Not a good idea if you are in Buenos Aires. After all, the two cities are separated by two and a half thousand kilometers. But perhaps you enjoy watching the scenery of the South American pampa. Or you have an insurmountable aerophobia. There are no other reasons to use this option.
From El Calafate to Los Glaciares Park
But here the option of renting a personal car is much more attractive. You can get a car directly at the airport , where rental offices operate. Keep in mind that most of them are open from 9 to 18:00.
Friendly employees will explain to you the specifics of local traffic, point out the most dangerous areas and… force you to take chains in addition to renting a car. What kind of Middle Ages, you say. Nothing personal, just safety. These are chains for wheels, which you will have to learn to install yourself. In conditions of snow and icing on the roads, it is mandatory to use chains in the national park. Believe me, it’s not the police who need this, you need this.
If you don’t have a driver’s license, it doesn’t matter. There are many tourist offices in El Calafate itself. And they work until late in the evening. Arriving on an evening flight and reaching the city, you will still have a good chance of finding a tour that suits your taste and budget the very next day.
If you are going to the main glacier of Perito Moreno Park, then at the bus station in the center of El Calafate you can also buy tickets for a regular bus for $30 round trip. Flights depart every half hour from 8:00 to 14:00 from El Calafate and until 19:00 from Perito Moreno Glacier. Entrance to the park in the direction of the glacier costs $15 per person. The checkpoint is open until 18:00. And then the point doesn’t work… but cars can simply move freely towards the glacier. In general, you get the idea of saving money.
Finally there is an option for those who want to complete the program to the maximum. Seeing all three key glaciers of Los Glaciares Park is a task with an asterisk, given their inaccessibility. In order to solve it, you can take cruises on Lake Argentino. This solves several problems at once: you will be picked up from your hotel and returned to the same place. The ship will take you as close as possible to the glaciers, so you will feel their numbing cold. And on some tours you will even have the opportunity to walk on these giant blocks of ice.
Among the operators of cruises on the lake, I can highlight Calafate tours. But be very careful on the website: all prices, despite the $ sign, are prices in Argentine pesos and are indicated in thousands. That is, $102,000 is 102,000 Argentine pesos, which at the unofficial exchange rate is equal to about $150 US.
Ice fairy tale
And so, tickets have been purchased, thousands of kilometers have been traveled, it’s a miracle in itself to get to this bearish corner of the world. But let’s not let the miracles end there and go to the glaciers, the most coveted tourist trophies of Los Glaciares Park. Most likely, you will go to see Perito Moreno, the most accessible, most interesting, most famous and simply the most glacier in Argentina, if not the world.
As a child, I never had enough imagination to imagine: how could a block of ice exist that covers such a large area? Well, finally, two decades after receiving historical psychotrauma, I saw in practice what a huge glacier is, spread out over hundreds of kilometers (the glacier’s area is 250 square kilometers, and the average height is 60 meters).
Historical flashbacks are more than appropriate. After all, Perito Moreno is a gray-haired old man, the glacier is about 30 thousand years old. He not only saw the birth of civilization, he saw our predecessors – the Neanderthals. Whether they admired him or cursed the cold winter will remain an unsolved mystery.
From past to present. Today, the ice plateau that appears to our eyes is the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world. From June to December, the glacier advances onto Lake Argentino, reaching the opposite shore and creating a natural dam that divides the lake into two parts. Such a “bone in the throat” does not please the lake at all, and it tries to get rid of the glacier, pressing on it with its mass. As a result: the happiest tourists receive a free attraction: viewing the so-called “gaps”, large and small.
Almost everyone has a chance to see little ones. Every hour, significant pieces of ice break off from the glacier and loudly splash into the water to the amusement of the public. Not every tourist is lucky with the big ones, but not every generation is lucky either. Due to the water in the ice, leaks occur, forming a tunnel with a vault more than 50 m high. When the ice skyscraper collapses, a truly epoch-making spectacle is presented to the eyes.
What else besides observing the glacier?
Taking into account the high-quality observation platforms created by the Argentines, easy and comfortable trails and a beautiful glacier created by nature, you will spend several hours exploring it. But is there any other entertainment on site?
Undoubtedly. The first of them is right under your feet. You are in the wild. And they invaded someone's house. Its inhabitants will sometimes glare at you from under the lattice ceilings. We came across squirrels, a fox and… a puma cub.
When you get bored of looking at the glacier, go photo hunting and try to capture the local inhabitants.
The second treatment is provided by local travel agents. Even if you didn't buy a special tour in El Calafate, there are two boat stations within walking distance near the glacier. You can go down to them and buy a boat ticket. It doesn't drop passengers off on the glacier, but it does come close enough and from different directions that you can feel the ice wall looming above you. Ticket price is $20.
The local cuisine in the tourist center is not particularly surprising. In the south, Argentines still endlessly love buns in different variations: from burgers to croissants. But after the frosty views, warming up with a cup of Patagonian coffee will be very helpful.
Don't miss the gift shop. You can buy magnets, cups for mate tea, local clothes and other souvenirs in El Calafate itself. But you can only get the “Perito Moreno” stamp on a postcard here. By the way, you can find out more about Argentine souvenirs here.
Again, a great attraction would be a day boat ride on Lake Argentino. However, you should take care of it in advance and buy a tour either on the Internet or in El Calafate. Such a tour will give you the opportunity to enjoy not only the endless Perito Moreno, but also two other grand glaciers of the park, Uppsala and Spegazzini. Their viewing is only possible from the water.
*All prices are quoted in terms of the unofficial US dollar exchange rate, which is twice the official rate.