Patagonia Part 1:
Fitz Roy to Perito Moreno

Overview: 

Patagonia was amazing. I was there with my friend Meg and we were there for this much time. We flew from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, then took a bus from El Calafate to El Chalten. The bus ride in was incredible, the mountains were so much larger and more majestic than I had imagined.

Chalten is a tiny backpacker town that’s the base for Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre hikes. Pretty much everyone in town is there to do the hikes, but there are are a couple other treasures in town not to miss! (La Chocolateria and La Ceveceria!, yum!)

Chalten: 

Chalten is a tiny town at the base of the hikes. There are several guesthouses and hotels. The bus station is at the beginning of the town and you can walk to many of the hotels from there. There are several bars, restaurants, and of course the chocolate shop in town and it’s a nice place to relax in between hikes. I would recommend 3-4 days in Chalten to ensure you get at least one day with sunny clear weather for Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. If you’re there and you see you only have one good weather day, prioritize Fitz Roy, it’s incredible on clear day. We were lucky to get good weather for Fitz Roy but when I did Cerro Torre it was pretty cloudy. With another day in town I would have tried to add in some of the other hikes in the area or taken a boat ride on the beautiful looking lake just outside town. Grab some empanadas for your hikes!

La Chocolateria

Upon arrival in Chalten, it was pretty cold and windy (which is normal there) and we were looking for a cozy place to hang out. Our guest house host suggested La Chocolateria, and it did not disappoint! It’s set in an old cabin that feels like a cozy ski chalet. The hot chocolate is made with real cocoa and they bring you the sugar on the side, that’s how you know it’s legit. We also shared the chocolate cake which was delicious. We did go back there multiple times and had various chocolates and pastries, however I think the chocolate cake was the best. There’s no wifi here, after my friend asked the staff he responded “solo la naturaleza.” And better for it, it’s best to soak in this place without any distractions.   

Fitz Roy

This is a very popular hike, however we saw very few other hikers throughout the 14 mile journey which was lovely! When we started out it was very rainy and cloudy, even all the way up until the first lookout point ___ miles in. We saw the clouds seemed like they wanted to clear up, so we kept moving. Turns out we were right, the clouds were clearing out and the Fitz Roy peak started to appear through the clouds. The rest of the afternoon was magical, working our way towards the summit. Most of the hike is relatively flat outside of the last big push to the top which is definitely steep and challenging. But SO WORTH IT!

We started our hike in the morning around 8am, however we learned that others start the hike a lot later as weather is generally better in the afternoon. If you’re going in the summer (or winter for us in the US) the days will be nice and long, so you could start this hike in the early afternoon around 1 and still make it back in the daylight. I found though that the light on the mountains was best in the morning/early afternoon, otherwise the peak is in shade which is a bit less exciting for pictures. With clear skies you can’t go wrong either way though.

La CEveceria

Don’t be deceived by the name, La Ceveceria has much more than beer. Also set in a ski chalet looking cabin, this place was so cozy and had delicious meals. We had the sqaush __ and the ___. The place was packed and small, so expect to wait a bit before getting a table.   

Cerro Torre

The second most popular hike from Chalten is Cerro Torre. This day my friend Meg wanted to rest so I took on Cerro Torre solo. It was a cloudy day with a little on and off rain. The hike itself is also relatively flat with a few sections of uphill spaced out throughout the hike. I saw a few people trail running which I thought was actually a good idea since the trail is pretty free of tree roots in most areas. The trail is ___ long and leads up to a glacier with peaks at the end. Unfortunately it was cloudy when I was there so I couldn’t see the peaks, but it was still cool to see the glacier chunks in the lake at the end of the hike. I did the hike in around 4 hours, but as a solo hiker I can be pretty speedy so I would account for 5 hours, especially if it’s sunny and you want to hang by the alpine lake.

El Calafate 

After hiking Cerro Torre we took the bus to El Calafate. The route is through some beautiful countryside and drops you off at the El Calafate bus station which is a bit outside of town. From there we walked the 15ish minutes to our hostel but you could just as easily take a quick taxi. El Calafate is quite a bit larger than El Chalten and feels kinda like a ski resort towns with some souvenir shops and bars and restaurants. Once we got there we coordinated with our hostel staff about going on a glacier tour the following day. They had two spots left but couldn’t reserve them for us since it was after hours, so we got to office by 7:00am when they opened the next morning and were able to book two tickets on the spot. If you know in advance you want to do a glacier hike I would recommend booking in advance! We easily could have missed our chance.

From there the bus leaves and drives out to the viewpoint looking at the glacier. I could not believe how giant the glacier was, it seemed so much bigger than it was in person.

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