El Calafate: What to Do in El Calafate Argentina?
El Calafate is located in Argentina and may well be part of your Patagonia travel itinerary. About 75 kilometers from El Calafate you’ll find the Perito Moreno Glacier, which you can admire up close. In this article, we share all our tips for visiting El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier.
How to Get to El Calafate
During your Patagonia trip, you can travel to El Calafate either by rental car or by bus during your road trip along the Carretera Austral. The town also has an airport with direct flights to and from Buenos Aires. Bus tickets can easily be booked via Busbud or directly at the bus terminal. There are several daily bus connections, for example to and from Puerto Natales.
How to Get to the Perito Moreno Glacier
Once again, you can either rent a car or take the bus. We chose the bus option, as renting a car was more expensive—especially since we were continuing on to El Chaltén afterward. Buses run in both the morning and afternoon, and you can choose from almost all operators available at the bus terminal. We went with Always Glaciers in the afternoon and had a great experience.
How to Buy Tickets for the Perito Moreno Glacier
Tickets for Argentina’s national parks are best purchased online. That said, we noticed that sometimes cash payments are required. During our visit, for example, the card machine was out of order and we had to pay in cash. So make sure you always carry enough Argentine pesos. We actually received a discount because we hadn’t brought enough cash with us.
Tip: If you visit another national park in Argentina within 72 hours, you receive a 50% discount. We were given this discount at the very first park we visited because we didn’t have enough money on us.
How Much Time Do You Need for the Perito Moreno Glacier and El Calafate?
Inside the park, there are several easy walking trails. If you take your time and stop regularly to enjoy the views, you’ll need at least two hours. The shuttle buses usually wait for more than three hours, so there’s plenty of time. There’s no real need to spend several days in El Calafate itself. The town is nice to stroll around for a bit, but you’ll see most of it fairly quickly.
Activities at the Perito Moreno Glacier
If your budget allows, there are some great activities you can do at the Perito Moreno Glacier. One option is a boat tour, which takes you even closer to the glacier. We personally chose not to do this, though.
