The Andes mountain range shows its beauty in the Patagonian provinces. Millennial silent forests with native vegetable species are extended along the shores of glistening waters. On top of the mountains, nature overflows with granite peaks and ice fields spreading their glacier tongues into lakes of unsurpassable beauty.

Imposing mammals and sea birds, half-way between real life and fantasy, spend certain seasons on the rough coasts of Patagonia where they complete part of their life cycle. Seals colonies play on the islets and sandbanks. The world’s most important southern elephant seal continental colony is located in Peninsula Valdés. Every year, southern right whales come to Nuevo and San José gulfs to breed. Patagonian hares, “ñandúes” (South American ostrich) and “guanacos” run about the steppes, and the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in the world is located in Punta Tombo. This life cycle repeated since time immemorial, unfolds itself in front of the astonished visitors’ eyes.

In the south, Tierra del Fuego and the World’s southernmost city, Ushuaia, are the gateway towards the vast and mysterious Antarctica.

Chubut

Things to do

Adventure Tourism. Trekking in Lago Puelo and Los Alerces national parks. Rafting in rivers Carrileufú and Corcovado. Diving in Puerto Madryn.

Skiing. La Hoya winter resort is 13 Km away from Esquel, and open from June through October.

Sport fishing. Salmon and trout fishing in lakes and rivers. Deep-sea fishing in Mar Argentino.

Watching marine life. On the Atlantic coast, you can see whales, orcas (killer whales), birds, seals, and elephant seals.

Welsh tea and traditional confectionery. Gaiman and Trevelin are typical Welsh communities where you can have Welsh tea with traditional sweets and confectionery.
 

Places to visit

HUGE AND ANCIENT LARCHES (Alerces). Los Alerces National Park preserves this type of trees, which can be more than 60 meters high and are more than 3,000 years old.

ANIMAL PENINSULA. In Peninsula Valdés, you can visit sea bird colonies, as well as sea lions and elephant seals from the South, and the Southern right whale (ballena franca austral).

SEALS AND ELEPHANT SEALS. An important colony of 800 South American sea lions lives below the steep rocks of Punta Loma, while 1,500 come to breed to Punta Pirámide Natural Reserve from December through February. Punta Norte reserve shelters the world’s most important southern elephant seal continental colony. These animals get their name from the males’ trunk-like nose.

ANNUAL WHALE GATHERING. Gulf Nuevo and Gulf of San José are the places where Southern right whales come to give birth and perpetuate their species from June through mid-December. Whale sightseeing tours depart from Puerto Pirámides.

PENGUINS. More than 1,500,000 Magellanic penguins and other sea bird species, such as skuas, sea gulls, gaviotines (member of the gull family) and cormorants inhabit Punta Tombo.

Other places of interest: Bosque Petrificado Sarmiento is a geological reserve formed by the outcropping of almost 65-million-year-old fossilized forests.