Things to do in  Patagonia

Part of the UNESCO–listed Los Glaciares National Park, Perito Moreno is known as one of the most beautiful glaciers in the world. The third largest in Argentina, it’s one of South America's last advancing glaciers, and boasts an area that’s bigger than Buenos Aires. But facts aside, this section of the South Patagonian ice field is a vision of crackling celestial blue, especially when you witness gigantic chunks of ice crashing into the water below.

PaLos Glaciares National Park (Parque Nacional Los Glaciares) protects Argentina’s wild Patagonian expanses of icy glaciers and mountain lakes. With a massive 47 glaciers, the Andean ice cap is the largest outside Antarctica and Greenland. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to several natural wonders, including Perito Moreno Glacier and Mount Fitz Roy.

When travelers make their way to the far southern reaches of Argentina, chances are they’re heading into Tierra del Fuego National Park. The country’s only coastal national park protects the Andean-Patagonian forest, a land of peat bogs, beech forests, glistening lakes, remote beaches, and snow-capped peaks ideal for outdoor adventures.

The narrow Beagle Channel, separating Argentina's island chain of Tierra del Fuego to the north from remote Chilean islands to the south, serves as a waterway for the world's southernmost city, Ushuaia. It’s also one of the most important bodies of water in South America.

Encompassing a colossal 566 square miles (911 square-kilometers), Argentino Lake (Lago Argentino) is the largest lake in the country. El Calafate, the UNESCO-listed Perito Moreno Glacier, and the Upsala Glacier are all perched on its shores, so the lake serves as the gateway to some of Patagonia’s most impressive glacial landscapes.

Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse is often mistaken for “The Lighthouse at the End of the World,” made famous by novelist Jules Verne. Verne was actually inspired by the San Juan de Salvamento lighthouse, further east, but it’s a fitting description nonetheless: Les Eclaireurs is the last landmark many sailors see as they sail south to Antarctica.

With deserted beaches, rocky isles, and glittering waters, and bordered by the snow-capped peaks of the southern Andes, Lapataia Bay serves up some of Patagonia’s most enticing views. Located at the very end of the Pan-American Highway, it’s one of the many highlights of the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

South America’s largest glacier, in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Los Glaciares National Park near El Calafate, measures 35 miles (56 kilometers) long and 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. Upsala Glacier is among seven glaciers feeding Lake Argentino, where boats dodge icebergs the size of small islands en route to the wall of ice.

This glacial lake in the south of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego National Park entices outdoor enthusiasts with its fishing spots, Patagonian forest hikes, and shoreline campsites. Crossing the border into Chile, where it becomes Lago Errazuriz, the area is also a convenient launch point for wider Andean adventure.

For the ultimate end-of-the-earth adventure, ride the world’s southernmost train to Tierra del Fuego National Park. Leave from outside Ushuaia and follow the historic convict train route, passing beech forests, peat bogs, and reminders of the timber-felling worksites of Ushuaia prisoners from 1901 to 1941.

Mt. Fitz Roy, the highest mountain in Los Glaciares National Park, rises 11,171 feet (3,405 meters) above the snow-blown landscape of Southern Patagonia to a granite peak that only serious climbers should consider. This recognizable landmark was named after Sir Robert FitzRoy, who once guided Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle.

The Esmeralda Lagoon hike is a popular afternoon and evening activity just outside of Ushuaia. Set in a wide valley in the Fuegian Andes, Esmeralda Lagoon is ringed by native coihue and lenga forests. The hike traverses several peat bogs, which cover much of Tierra Del Fuego’s low-lying lands, before arriving at the shore of the lagoon.

Stretching over 1.8 million acres, Nahuel Huapi National Park is Argentina’s oldest national park. Centered around the region’s largest lake, Nahuel Huapi, and encompassing the popular resort town of San Carlos de Bariloche, this enormous park offers mountain and forest hikes, and the opportunity to cruise the lakes.

The largest lake on Tierra del Fuego Island, Lake Fagnano (or Lake Cami stretches more than 62 miles (100 kilometers, all the way across the Chilean border. Flanked by virgin Patagonian forest and rolling steppe to the north and the steep peaks of the Fuegian Andes to south, it’s a thrilling introduction to Patagonia’s wild landscapes.

Argentinian Patagonia’s Lago Escondido (which translates as hidden lake) may no longer be a secret, but you'll still have to make an effort to get to this beautiful place. Glacier-fed, it glows turquoise, is ringed by the mountains of Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire), and is well worth the day trip from the world’s southernmost city.