El Calafate

In El Calafate you will find yourself at the gateway to the majestic world of glaciers.
This town is near Lago Argentino, a green water surface covering 1600 km2, with a length of 60 km., a width between 12 and 14 km., and depths from 35 m. in Feruglio on the coast and centre, to 300 m. in Península Avellaneda.
The writer and journalist Germán Sopeña in his book La Patagonia Blanca, Ed. Elefante Blanco, describes this region as follows: "The viewpoint cannot be better. It is almost the prow of a ship from where we see everything around .
...There is an amazing attraction in white surfaces. One can stay for hours watching an apparently still panorama with a movement that we know gives life to it..."
Father De Agostini wrote:
"I remain astonished at the fascinating spectacle, and enjoy in anticipation the joy of revealing the last secrets of this eternal ice...
...There lies , precisely, the great magic of White Patagonia."

El Calafate is 316 km. from Río Gallegos, over Lago Argentino, 185 m. above sea level, and receives its name from the small bush calafate, indigenous of Patagonia, its fruit is a delicious berry very good for the ellaboration of jam. According to tradition, whoever eats calafate will return for more. But reality indicates that who visits El Calafate wants to stay forever. It is an important touristic resort of national as well as international importance, since there start all glacier circuits. It is an oasis of poplars, willows and pines at the border of the steppe.
El Calafate presents a dry climate, with an average maximum temperature of 19ºC, and an average minimum in winter of -2º. In summer the sun rises at 5.30 hs. and sets at 23hs. In winter the day is shorter, there are only 8 hours of light.
Los Glaciares National Park covers a surface of some 600.000 has. with 47 glaciers, like Marconi, Viedma, Moyano, Upsala, Agassiz, Bolado, Onelli, Peineta, Spegazzini, Mayo, Ameghino, Moreno and Frías, all of them draining to the Atlantic.
From El Calafate you can go on excursions by bus or in modern ships. Expert bilingual guides and travel agencies organize tours and outings to the classical viewpoint of Glaciar Perito Moreno or the audacious expeditions to cross the glaciers.
The "International Airport of El Calafate", inaugurated on 17th November 2000 receives direct flights from Buenos Aires, Trelew, Bariloche, Puerto Natales, and other cities.