El Calafate Overview

V!VA User‘s Description

Sitting on Lake Argentino, El Calafate is your gateway to the glaciers. About four hours northwest of Rio Gallegos, El Calafate is close to some of the world’s best big ice, such as the Viedma Glacier which at 100 meters (328 feet) high and five kilometers (three miles) wide is the largest in Latin America.  Some of the other famous glaciers in the area, which attract tourists and scientists alike the world over include the Upsala Glacier, Onelli Glacier, Spegazzini Glacier, Mayo Glacier, Frías Glacier, and Perito Perito Moreno Glacier known as "the eighth wonder of the world" and declared World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981.

Yet is it is not all about ice: the town is named after a wild, thorny bush berry, available in abundance and cooked into many local sweets. The town itself, with no more than 8,000 inhabitants, offers a host of craft shops, restaurants, as well as lodging options.

This Patagonian pueblo, split by a stream  with willows hanging over its banks, is also notable as an oasis of poplars, pines, and willows, and its creeks and tributaries flow into Atlantic through the Santa Cruz River. 

The distance between the glaciers is wide, but a fleet of busses are on hand to take from one to the other., and despite El Calafate’s seeming remoteness, its International Airport offers direct flights from Buenos Aires and other major Argentine cities.