Elite Traveler May-June 2016

EXPLORE PATAGONIA

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2016 126

Longer in… El Calafate, El Chaltén, Puerto Natales, Valdés Peninsula, Aysén

THE DETAILS AWEEKEND…

CASIMIRO BIGUÁ casimirobigua.com EOLO eolo.com.ar

Once you’ve explored southern Patagonia, it’s time to head north. There are two choices, depending on the season: either a landing at Puerto Madryn’s airport to visit the Valdés Peninsula, or up the Andes to Balmaceda airport in Chile to explore the Southern Highway. If you’re visiting between July and September, that’s the season when the southern right whales can be seen off the Valdés Peninsula. They can be seen around Golfo Nuevo, where the peninsula meets the mainland, but the best sightings are usually on boat trips in the smaller bay at Puerto Pirámides. You can hire a private zodiac for the day and spend as much time as you like with the beautiful beasts. The peninsula’s coasts deliver some of the best marine wildlife watching in Argentina. Book a night or two in the Estancia Rincón Chico, a lonely ranch in the peninsula’s south-eastern corner. Owner-manager Agustín will take you out on wildlife and birdwatching tours – the estancia has almost 10 miles of private beach, with seal and elephant seal colonies just a short walk away – and can arrange visits to penguin colonies, snorkeling and scuba diving with sea lions as well as sea kayaking trips elsewhere on the peninsula. Puerto Madryn is a pleasant town, with some excellent fish restaurants for lunch. Visit the chapels and teashops of the Chubut Valley – Gaiman is the liveliest of several small villages, with kitsch teashops and a goodmuseumdedicated to theWelsh immigrants that settled here 150 years ago. On the way back to the airport, drop into Trelew for the excellent dinosaur museum. If out of season, fly to Balmaceda, the main airport for Chile’s Aysén region, Patagonia’s least explored area. Get a sturdy pickup and set off from Balmaceda along the Carretera Austral to explore wondrous jagged peaks, glaciers and Lake General Carrera. The 173,000 acre Parque Patagonia, created by eco-philanthropists Kris Tompkins, former CEO of outdoor clothing firm Patagonia, and her late husband Doug, founder of The North Face and Esprit brands, is a stunning wilderness of unfenced golden steppe where rheas and guanaco feed, and mesas (tablelands) with giant Andean condors overhead. Between October and April, stay inside the park at the luxurious 10-room lodge at Valle Chacabuco, built out of local stone and recycled wood and which also functions as an environmental charity. The volunteer chefs cook exquisite dishes from the organic gardens. Hook your own last supper from the Cochrane and Baker Rivers, just a short drive west, which are renowned for their fly-fishing and full of rainbow, brown, and fario trout. The lodge can arrange guides and gear.

ESTANCIA CRISTINA estanciacristina.com HOSTERÍA ALTA VISTA hosteriaaltavista.com

LA TABLITA la-tablita.com.ar LA ZAINA +54 2902 496789 MI VIEJO +54 2902 491691 posadalosalamos.com ONE WEEK… AWASI

THE HUMUS cocktail bar at the HOTEL POSADA LOS ALAMOS

awasipatagonia.com DON LOS CERROS hoteldonloscerrosdelchalten. com EXPLORA SALTO CHICO explora.com THE SINGULAR thesingular.com TIERRA PATAGONIA tierrahotels.com LONGER… ESTANCIA RINCÓN CHICO rinconchico.com.ar LODGE AT VALLE CHACABUCO patagoniapark.org/the_lodge_ at_valle_chacabuco Chris Moss is the author of Patagonia: A Cultural History ($17, Signal Books)

Top: Kayaking in one of Patagonia’s many great lakes Middle: One of many hidden waterfalls in the region Bottom: The penguin colonies of Argentina’s Valdés Peninsula

Photos: Getty Images