South America · Travel guide
Things to Do in Patagonia: 13 Highlights by Region (2026)
Things to do in Patagonia, from the Perito Moreno glacier and Torres del Paine to Ushuaia and the Valdés whales, with official distances and seasons.
This is the reasoning we use when we date a trip, not an article written to fill a blog. The itineraries it feeds are here.
The things to do in Patagonia split cleanly by border. On the Argentine side: the Perito Moreno glacier, the boats to the Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers, the day walks below Fitz Roy at El Chaltén, Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel, and the whales of Península Valdés. On the Chilean side: Torres del Paine, the penguins of Isla Magdalena and the marble caves of the Carretera Austral. Most first visits combine one area from each country, and the road between them is part of the trip.
This page lists what to do in Patagonia region by region, with the distances and seasons that the park authorities publish. For when to go, see our best time to visit Patagonia; for how many days each side needs, our Patagonia itinerary.
What to see in Patagonia, on one page
| Highlight | Base | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Perito Moreno glacier | El Calafate, Argentina | All year |
| Upsala and Spegazzini boats | El Calafate, Argentina | Check the operator |
| Fitz Roy day walks | El Chaltén, Argentina | November to March |
| Tierra del Fuego park and train | Ushuaia, Argentina | All year |
| Beagle Channel boats | Ushuaia, Argentina | Check the operator |
| Southern right whales | Puerto Madryn, Argentina | June to December |
| Punta Tombo penguins | Trelew, Argentina | September to April |
| Bariloche lakes | Bariloche, Argentina | All year |
| Cruce Andino | Bariloche or Puerto Varas | All year |
| Torres del Paine | Park lodges, Puerto Natales, Chile | November to March |
| Isla Magdalena penguins | Punta Arenas, Chile | October to mid-April |
| Marble caves | Puerto Río Tranquilo, Chile | December to March |
| Horse riding at an estancia | Several | November to March |
Around El Calafate, the glaciers
1. Walk the Perito Moreno glacier walkways
The Perito Moreno is the glacier most people come to Patagonia for, and the easiest to see. The access gate to the glacier area of Los Glaciares National Park is 50 km from El Calafate on Route 11, according to Argentina’s parks service, and from there the walkways run for more than 4.5 km through the forest to viewpoints in front of the ice, with accessible options for reduced mobility. Plan a full day. The park was created in 1937 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.
From the same area, boats sail below the face of the glacier, guided groups walk on the ice itself with crampons, and a two-hour kayak trip paddles in front of it with no experience needed.
The face of the Perito Moreno glacier, Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. Photo by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2. Sail to the glaciers of Lago Argentino
The other glaciers of the park are reached by boat from Puerto Bandera, 47 km from El Calafate. The parks service describes the routes to the Upsala, the largest glacier in the park, and the Spegazzini, the tallest, with a landing at the Spegazzini refuge on some programmes.
Around El Chaltén, the walking village
3. Walk to the lakes below Fitz Roy
El Chaltén is the village for walkers, and its trails start at the edge of town. The parks service rates the walk to Laguna de los Tres, the classic view of Fitz Roy, as medium to high difficulty, 25 km and eight to nine hours. Laguna Torre, below Cerro Torre, is 18 km there and back. For a gentler half day, the Chorrillo del Salto waterfall is 6 km from the village. The multi-day circuits in this area are a trekking trip of their own, and not what this page plans.
Ushuaia, at the end of the road
4. Ride the train into the national park
Ushuaia is the southern end of most Patagonia trips. Its national park, created in 1960 and covering 68,909 hectares, starts 12 km from the city, and Argentina’s parks service notes that it is the only place in the country where the forest reaches the sea. The End of the World Train runs 7 km into it, about one hour and 45 minutes there and back, with departures at 09:30, 12:00 and 15:00. The park entry fee is not included in the train ticket.
5. Sail the Beagle Channel
Boats leave Ushuaia for the Beagle Channel, past the Les Eclaireurs lighthouse in the photograph at the top of this page, and to the penguin colony, according to Ushuaia’s tourism office. The same office points out that the trail to the Martial glacier starts less than ten minutes from the city.
The Atlantic coast, for wildlife
6. Watch southern right whales at Península Valdés
Península Valdés has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. From June to December, six companies take boats out from Puerto Pirámides, the only town on the peninsula, on two-hour trips, according to Chubut’s tourism office. The 2026 season opened on 9 June.
7. Walk among the penguins at Punta Tombo
Punta Tombo, 110 km from Trelew, receives Magellanic penguins from September to April, according to the same provincial office. The 2026 season opened on 14 September.
Bariloche, in the lake country
8. Cross the lake by boat
Bariloche sits on Lake Nahuel Huapi, inside a national park of more than 717,000 hectares whose origin, the Parque Nacional del Sud of 1922, was the first national park in Latin America. Boats from Puerto Pañuelo go to Isla Victoria and the Arrayanes forest, or to Puerto Blest and the Cántaros waterfall, according to the parks service.
9. Cross the Andes by lake to Chile
The Cruce Andino joins Bariloche and Puerto Varas across the Andes by three lakes and four stretches of road, a crossing of about 12 hours. Its operator says it runs every day of the year from Chile, and every day except 1 May from Argentina, with prices from US$355. It is the scenic way to link the Argentine lakes with Chile’s Lake District.
The Chilean south
10. See the towers of Paine
Torres del Paine is the heart of Chilean Patagonia. Without a long trek, the park road and its viewpoints show the Cuernos and the towers, and catamarans cross Lago Grey and Lago Pehoé, according to CONAF, Chile’s forest service. The big day walk is to the foot of the towers: adding up CONAF’s figures for each section, about 9.4 km and four and a half hours on the way up from the Hotel Las Torres. The W and the O are the park’s multi-day treks; CONAF has announced that the O stays closed initially until 31 October 2026.
Our 10-day Chile and Argentina Patagonia trip puts three nights in this park and three at El Calafate, joined by the road across the border, and it comes in an eight-day version with short walks only.
11. Visit the penguins of Isla Magdalena
From Punta Arenas, boats go to Isla Magdalena, 35 km away, where CONAF protects about 7,000 pairs of Magellanic penguins. Visits run from October to mid-April, only with guides certified by CONAF, and the stay on the island lasts at most one hour.
12. Boat into the marble caves
On General Carrera lake, on the Carretera Austral, the marble caves have been a nature sanctuary since 1994. The boat trip from Puerto Río Tranquilo takes about two hours, and a kayak option two to three, according to Chile’s tourism board. The Carretera Austral itself runs for about 1,058 km, by the public works ministry’s count, and deserves a road trip of its own.
13. Horseback riding in Patagonia
Horseback riding in Patagonia is offered on both sides. CONAF lists horse riding among the concession services in Torres del Paine, and Argentina’s parks service mentions day and overnight programmes with riding at the estancias near the Upsala boat routes. A half day on horseback is one of the best ways to see the steppe, and it suits travellers who would rather not walk all day.
Where to stay in Patagonia
Where to stay in Patagonia follows from the list above, because the distances are long. In Chile, you sleep in one of the lodges inside or next to Torres del Paine, or in Puerto Natales, the base town. In Argentina, El Calafate is the base for the glaciers and El Chaltén for Fitz Roy; Ushuaia and Bariloche are bases of their own. Our rule is three nights on each side, so a day of wind or cloud does not cost you the main sight.
The best places to visit in Patagonia for a first trip
If this is your first trip to Patagonia, in our view the best places to visit in Patagonia are Torres del Paine and El Calafate, with El Chaltén if you have fourteen days. Add Ushuaia, Valdés or Bariloche when you have more time or a particular interest: penguins and whales for Valdés, the end of the world for Ushuaia, the lakes for Bariloche. For a trip that also takes in Buenos Aires and Iguazu, see our Buenos Aires, glaciers and Iguazu trip.