El Calafate is the gateway to Argentina’s Patagonia region. However, there isn’t much to do in this city as such beyond the Perito Moreno Glacier. If you are flying into El Calafate, then I would recommend first going to El Chaltén. And then spend your last day in El Calafate before flying out from the airport that’s less than 20 minutes away by taxi.
I took an 11500 AEP guided bus tour to Perito Moreno Glacier that included a pick-up and drop-off back to my hotel. Alternatively, one can take a bus from the bus terminal for 8500 AEP. Apart from that one has to pay 5500 AEP for glacier entry. There is an option to do a 1-hour boat tour of the glacier for 8000 AEP. And for 70,000 AEP, one can hike on the glacier. However, I had done that earlier in Alaska, so, I decided to skip that.
El Calafate is a weird city. It lacks the warmth of small cities like El Chaltén and Ushuaia. However, it lacks the planned big city feel of Buenos Aires as well. I would not recommend spending too much time here. El Calafate is about a 20-hour bus journey from Ushuaia and a 40-hour bus journey from Buenos Aires. There are direct 3-hour flights to those cities as well. My recommendation would be to fly.
Note
- 1 USD = 466 AEP (Blue dollar rate) at the time of this travel.