El Calafate is the closest tourist town to the glaciers. Thousands of tourists come to Calafate every year, attracted by the beauty of the lakes, forests and glaciers.
El Calafate is a thorny shrub with yellow flowers and small edible blue fruits, characteristic of southern Patagonia, especially in the transition zone between the steppe and the mountain range. The word is of Tehuelche origin (native to Patagonia) and its scientific name is Berberis Microphylla.
Legend has it: whoever eats calfate fruits returns to Patagonia.
Now it is also possible to book tours online to El Calafate Patagonia and prepare everything for your trip to Argentina
Location:
Coordinates 50 ° 16 ′ 49 ″ S, 72 ° 3 ′ 12 ″ W El Calafate is located 315 kilometers from Río Gallegos, capital of the Province of Santa Cruz, in Argentine Patagonia.
The city is located on the southern shore of Lake Argentino and 80 kilometers from the Perito Moreno Glacier (Los Glaciares National Park).
Tourism Calafate, Patagonia Tourist information
Phone calls
To call El Calafate by phone, you must dial the following prefixes before the local number:
from anywhere in Argentina: 02902
from abroad: 54 02 902
The population of El Calafate is estimated at more than 10,000 inhabitants.
In the surroundings of Lake Argentino, a wide variety of activities are organized, highlighting visits to tourist stays, 4×4 off road trips to the Frías and Huyliche hills, horseback riding of various durations, excursions to the Nimez lagoon ecological reserve and hiking in Lake Roca.
Trip Calafate, Argentina Useful data
Another advantage of its location are the Full Day tours in 4×4 vehicles, to places of impressive beauty, crossing the Patagonian plateau and returning on the same day; the most visited are: El Chaltén, Torres del Paine and Monte León. Another place of interest to be visited are: The Cave of the Hands.
Excursion to the Perito Moreno Glacier
The trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier
Duration: full day
This excursion departs from the City of El Calafate and travels 80 kilometers until it reaches the Perito Moreno Glacier. At the beginning, the path runs through Patagonian steppe environments, areas of ranches mainly for sheep farming. It is possible to admire specimens of Patagonian fauna such as guanacos and foxes.
You also get nice views of Lake Argentino. As you travel west and closer to the mountain range, the vegetation begins to change and become more abundant.
Once inside Los Glaciares National Park, the area becomes wooded. The lake and the mountains covered with vegetation along with the eternal snows begin to be part of the landscape.
After a surprise curve, the main protagonist of the excursion appears: The Perito Moreno Glacier.
The Perito Moreno Glacier
Once the Perito Moreno Glacier is reached, one will walk the different walkways from which spectacular views are obtained. The visitor is located a few meters in front of the Glacier, separated by the channel of the icebergs.
From this site it is possible to contemplate different landslides. It is also possible to take boat rides among the icebergs to get in front of the Perito Moreno wall. The rest can no longer be explained… .you have to live it.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is located in Patagonia, in southern Argentina, in the so-called Southern Patagonian Ice Field. It extends over the South Arm of Lake Argentino.
It has a front more than five kilometers long and sixty meters high. Its name is in honor of Francisco Moreno, creator of the Argentine Scientific Society and active explorer of the southern zone.
Information about the Perito Moreno Glacier
The Perito Moreno Glacier is located within the Los Glaciares National Park, created in 1937 in the Province of Santa Cruz and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier
The breaking of the Perito Moreno Glacier
The advance of the Glacier over the Rico Arm of Lake Argentino forms a natural dam, causing the water level to rise up to 30 meters above Lake Argentino, this accumulation of water makes pressure and erosion on the ice. In the first place, a tunnel is created in the ice with a vault of more than 50 meters through which the waters of the Brazo Rico descend to Lake Argentino. The erosion caused by the water finally causes the collapse of the vault, in one of the most impressive spectacles that can be witnessed.
