Argentina - El Chalten : mini guide
How long to stay
Argentina is a huge Country with countless options to visit, from the fertile lands of Mendoza to the icy Patagonia. It all comes down to how long you can afford to stay and what you would like to see and where to visit. As a rough guide, I would not suggest to visit any less than 2 weeks to be able to enjoy the bare minimum this coutry has to offer.
When to travel
El Chalten is located in the South Patagonia region of Argentina and, it expiriences. From our expirience the best time to visit are the months of October and November, where the weather starts to become milder, whilst still avoiding the peak season crowds which is December - February. On the other side of the peak season ( March - April) the weather is much more wet and windy and as such it is not recoomended.
How long?
You can easily spend over a week in El Chalten if you would like to do most of the activities that the place has to offer but the minimum time we reccomend is 4 nights. That will give you 3 full days of exploring will get a good taste. You can split your 3 days in doing 1 hiking, 1 mountain bike and one horseriding day.
Where to stay
Depending on your budget for the trip, you can choose to stay in an appartment, hostel or a more expensive hotel option.
Staying in an appartment (which is what we did) gives you the flexibility to prepare your own meals as eating out twice a day in Argentina and in Patagonia specifically can get quite expensive. As a guide, we spent $35 pppd including a nice breakfast. We stayed in Andino Appartments El Chalten.
An alternative option to consider is Patagonia Travellers Hostel.
Activities
El Chalten is the hiking capital of Argentina and as such, it offers a plethora of outdoor activities. From hiking to horse riding a rafting, El Chalten is the paradise of any adventurer!
Hiking
Horse riding and more
Mountain Biking
We visited Chorrillo del Salto with a mountain bike via the cycling route from El Chalten, we found this as a much better alternative to walking as you get to go through a Patagonian woodland and enjoy going though streams and potentially some wildlife encounters.
You can rent bikes from, Patagoninan Hostels. At the time of visiting the rates were the below:
Rock climbing
Where to eat
Despite it's relatively small size, El Chalten offers a variety of options to eat out. Here are a few options that we tried and loved:
La Lomiteria, offers a cheaper option for a more quick meal
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