El Chalten, Argentina
El Chalten is an adventure and outdoors hotspot in the Patagonia region of Argentina. El Chalten is like the lesser known sibling town of El Calafate. It doesn’t have the amenities or luxury tours available like El Calafate but it more than makes up for it with its proximity to the Fitz Roy & Cerró Torres mountains as well as some stunning mountain lakes and rivers. We were lucky enough to have 3 days here to see the sights and explore the stunning vistas around El Chalten.
The most popular attraction in El Chalten is Fitz Roy, a stunning peak that overlooks the town. There are rock climbing, day hiking, and multi-day hiking trails all around the mountain. The main hike is a 12 mile walk one-way with a shuttle to take you back to town or you can do the first half of the hike as an out and back. Since our only goal was to see the peak and it was exactly halfway on the hike we were ok with saving the trouble of reserving a shuttle and just walking ourselves.
Our Airbnb was at the edge of town which was annoying when we had to walk the whole length of town from the bus station but really convenient for the hike because the start of the hike was in our backyard. Luckily this wasn’t a sunrise hike but we did start early to attempt beat the crowds. The initial section of the hike is uphill through an old growth forest. The trail then opened up into a valley that was snaked through by lovely streams and creeks. There were also some small mountain lakes and great viewpoints of Fitz Roy along the way.
We enjoyed the flat section because we knew what was next; the last 1km of the trail was at a 40% grade. This section took us about an hour and half for 1km!! Susan was very over the hike at this point, hence the lack of photos lol. The trail was so steep that you couldn’t even see the peak of Fitz Roy until you crested the top of the hill. And the trail consisted of large and small rocks that you have to climb up and over. Luckily the view at the top was pretty great and we had good weather to see the towering rocks!
After resting for lunch, we made our slow descent down the steep hill. We made a small detour to see the Glacier Piedras Blancas, a stunning glacier on the side of the Fitz Roy peak that had a waterfall and rushing rapids below it. We completed the rest of the trail without much fuss or talking since we were so exhausted. We are definitely glad we did the hike but we weren’t quite prepared for how much it knocked us out; seems like our hiking legs hadn’t quiet recovered from Torres del Paine and the Perito Moreno glacier!
In addition to the Fitz Roy peak, there are many lakes and rivers that flow from the valleys beyond El Chalten. El Chalten sits only 40km from the Argentina-Chile border; you can even go through immigration at a border crossing that you can’t drive to. Much of the forests and valleys here are private land but the community is working to protect the region around El Chalten from future development to preserve the pristine forests and wildlife. One option we had for sightseeing is to take a tour that drives you up the valleys along the main river, Rio de Las Vueltas, to a large alpine lake, Lago del Desierto, which is as far as the road goes. Naturally we found a way to make things more physically demanding on us and found a company that will take you to the end of the road and leave you with mountain bikes to ride the 37km back into town. Before you start riding, you can also do a short hike to the Huemel Glacier. The glacier wasn’t that impressive (we are so spoiled, we know) but the hike had some incredible views of the valley back into town.
We got back to our bikes and rode along the river back into town. The ride was mostly incredible. Along the way we saw waterfalls and rapids, had lunch at a picturesque river bend, viewed a war memorial for a “skirmish” between Chile and Argentina over a border dispute, and passed over many small mountain streams feeding into the larger river. Most of the ride was downhill and with the wind (the name of the company was actually called “Viento a Favor” which is how they say the wind is at your back) but we did encounter a few too many surprise uphills and we were attacked by flies a couple times along the river. We made it back to town and since our bike rental was for the full day we used our bikes to pick up our laundry and road to a really cool pub to finish the day with a cold beer and empanadas!
We only had three days in El Chalten and with two days of intense physical activity we made sure the middle day between them was on off day. Our Airbnb was a lovely cottage on a property at the foot of the mountains that had an upstairs loft where we slept plus a full kitchen and living room. This was the first place we have stayed on our trip that had an oven so we spent a lot of time cooking. We roasted vegetables, toasted bread, and baked some chicken for a delicious home-cooked meal that we had really started to miss after more than two months into our trip.
We really enjoyed the adventure and serenity of the small town of El Chalten and the surrounding scenery. It was our last stop in Patagonia and we will carry these mountains, rivers, lakes, and glaciers with us for the rest of our lives. Patagonia really changed what we expected to get out of our year abroad. We always knew we would enjoy traveling to new and far away places and that we were going to encounter some special experiences. But I’m not sure we were prepared to have these places truly change who we are; not just the kind of trips we take in the future but what kind of people we want to be and what our goals are together as partners. We would encourage anyone and everyone to get down to this frozen paradise and see what you end up discovering about yourself. Our next stop is the big city of Buenos Aires! We can’t wait to see a different kind of mountain landscape; the Urban Jungle.