After El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier it was time to head to El Chaltén, Argentina’s lower key equivalent of Chile’s Torres del Paine.
Having already been to Torres del Paine, I immediately noticed how accessible El Chaltén was, particularly the hiking trails. It’s wonderful! All trails start from the edges of town, which is max a 15 minute walk, and there are no entrance fee or park costs.
I was keen to do the two main hikes in the area: Laguna Torre for Cerro Torre and Laguna de los Tres for Fitz Roy. The latter I was super keen to do for sunrise as I had missed out on sunrise at the Towers in Torres del Paine and really wanted to see rocks bathed in a golden light! You can call it a mini obsession of mine!
We were blessed with three gorgeous days of blue sky and sunshine, an unusual occurrence apparently!
Laguna Torre – Day 1
We started with the easier hike on our first day to Cerro Torre. It’s a 9km hike one way and is estimated to take 3 hrs, so 6hrs in total. It was a beautiful walk through forest and open fields.
It took us around 2hrs45 to reach the top where we had lunch at 1pm ish. It clouded over slightly and I decided to wait it out for the sun to return. I had almost called it a day when an Irish guy arrived and persuaded me that the sun was almost coming out again. I’m glad I listened to him! He was right and we sat having a chat about our respective trips in the sunshine. I did the walk back to the start of the trailhead in 1hr50; it was a brisk one!
Fitz Roy at sunrise – Day Two
This was my El Chaltén hiking highlight and I finally got to see a sunrise in Patagonia!!! I was unlucky in Torres del Paine but I struck gold with Fitz Roy. The weather couldn’t have been any better – total clear skies and no wind!
To see the sunrise at Fitz Roy, most people camp overnight at Poincenot. I didn’t have a tent so decided I would have to walk from El Chaltén in the dark. I was prepared to do it alone, telling myself it was good character building, as I hadn’t found anyone else keen.
Last minute the guy I’d been talking to about the walk introduced me to Kaitlyn who was also keen. Both super excited, we set out at 2.45am and started at the trailhead at 3am. With our head torches guiding the way and flowing conversation we made great time.
Walking under the stars was so amazing; every so often we would turn our lights off and gaze up at the thousands of stars and galaxy. We even saw a comet flash across the sky! We arrived to the top with plenty of time to spare and saw the night sky turn to dawn. Fitz Roy was soon bathed in a gorgeous golden orange light.
Thankfully it wasn’t as cold at the top as it was at the Towers. No sleeping bag was needed! We were given two hand warmer packets to use by two Americans which was amazing! My pocket stayed hot for the day, it even melted my yoghurt cereal bar!
Warm, content and in no rush to leave, we stayed up there for hours admiring the spectacular views.
The walk is 20km return and estimated to take 8hrs. We reached the top in 3.5hrs arriving at 6.30am. We even had time to quickly pitch Kaitlyn’s tent. Those who camped at Poincenot started walking the steep final kilometre at 5.30am which takes around an hour.
The walk is described as difficult due to the final steep section. In the wind and rain that part would be dangerous. Personally I found the walk as a whole to be fine. The steep uphill at the end was hard but completely doable if you go slow and take breaks.
Hiking the W trek in Torres del Paine beforehand definitely helped as the final climb to Fitz Roy is similar to that of the Towers. The weather also made it a lot easier for us.
The return journey, like usual, was quicker! It took me 2hrs45 to get back to the trail start point. I was stepping on it though!
I highly highly recommend seeing Fitz Roy at sunrise if you can. It’s magical and utterly worth the early wake up call!
Chorillo del Salto, waffles and ice cream – Day Three
I’d originally planned to hike the Lomo del Pliegue Tumbado trail on my last full day (before getting the night bus to Los Antiguos and crossing back into Chile). It’s an uphill walk, 10km one way and estimated to take 4 hours, and offers panoramic views of both Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre together. I’ve since heard great things about this trail so maybe have a go if you have time!
I instead decided to go with the girls and do the shorter and easier walk to the local waterfall, Chorillo del Salto. The longest part of the walk was from town to the start of the trail. What a great decision!
The waterfall was fab and we had a relaxation meditation session led by Aerial. In the afternoon we shared a savoury and sweet waffle from La Wafleria. The chocolate and banana one was so so so yummy! I went back for seconds the next day, though admittedly having one to myself was a challenge!
Before Sarah left for her onwards journey, we also grabbed an ice cream. I highly recommend! I got two scoops: banana split and Andean chocolate. The banana split flavour was incredible! The long queue was a good indication as to the quality!
How to get to El Chaltén
The route you take depends on whether you’re moving South to North or vice versa.
From South to North, El Calafate is the most likely place you’ll arrive from. There are regular buses and flights to El Calafate. Buses to El Chaltén leave El Calafate at 8am, 1.30pm, 6pm and 9pm daily costing $800ARG. They take 3hrs approximately.
From North to South, you might be crossing the Chilean Argentinian border at Chile Chico/Los Antiguos. You can get a night bus from Los Antiguos which takes around 9hrs and costs $2090ARG (£40). You can also get a 24hr bus from Bariloche.
On arrival to El Chaltén from El Calafate the bus stopped at the visitor information office where we had a talk about the park and the rules to follow etc. I’m not sure if this happens for all buses and at all hours of the day. I imagine it closes in the evening so night buses might miss it.
Final thoughts
El Chaltén is a charming little town with some amazing hiking! You could easily spend lots of time there exploring the lesser known trails or just do the two main ones.
I can easily see how its accessibility and no park entrance fees combined with stunning hikes have made it into a must visit location in Argentina. It’s gorgeous! And one final time do the sunrise hike if you can, it’s fab!
I’m now going back to Chile to see the marble caves in Puerto Rio Tranquilo. I will then go to Villa Cerro Castillo for a day hike, before passing through Coyhaique to get to Futaleufu.
