For travellers coming from Chilean Patagonia, El Calafate & Perito Moreno glacier are often the first stops in Argentina. You’ll immediately find yourself overwhelmed by offers of tours, Patagonian asado (splayed lamb cooked over an open fire), endless types of sweet alfajores (a national obsession) and last but not least, trouble withdrawing your money from a cash point. Make sure to have a Visa debit or credit card with you as no bank in town will accept MasterCard (this a recurring issue in Argentina). We think it’s safe to say that you should probably wait to indulge in any culinary exploration until you get out-of-town as prices are above Argentinean standards…so bye bye asado, hopefully see you in Buenos Aires!

The main reason to visit El Cafafate, Argentina is for the UNESCO World Heritage Perito Moreno Glacier, although there are numerous other activities between El Calafate and El Chaltén further north. El Calafate town itself is compact and nice, although (a frequent theme for us in Patagonia!) we found it expensive and even had to downgrade to a lesser B&B. It rests on the shore of Argentina’s largest lake, Lago Argentino and is close to the Parque Nacional los Glaciares.

Getting to the glacier is fairly straightforward. You can take a tour which you can book from hotels or one of the many agencies in the town or, like us, just take a bus there and back from the bus station. (£28 per person). The advantages of taking a tour are that they will collect and return you to your accommodation, and they will stop at various scenic points along the way. The disadvantages are that you are stuck with their timetable, and of course it is more expensive. That said, we were also stuck with quite a long visit as all bus companies leave you at the glacier for 6 hours. Entrance to the national park is not included in any of the prices and the tour/bus will stop at the entrance for this fee to be taken (£18 per person).

There seem to be two main types of tour; the first is to visit the walkways around the glacier with the option of also taking a boat trip to the ice face. The second is to take an ice trekking package to walk on the glacier (expensive!). We decided that we would be content with just looking at the glacier but we did treat ourselves to the boat trip as well, because we had been unable to do this in Torres Del Paine.

Boat to the ice-face

This little boat, despite being a rip off (£17.50 per person) and full of annoying Homo Sapiens wielding the plague that is the selfie-stick, is a great way to see the ice-face close up (although at a safe distance), and get to witness some chunks of ice falling off into the lake. For this perspective you get a sense of how tall the glacier is with its jaggedy peaks rising from the water. Some of the peaks are an ethereal blue like an icy Disney palace (without Snow White or the oversized hotdogs), due to the way that the ice absorbs all the colours of visible light except blue (or are they fake inflatable chunks of ice?). We did see a couple of small break offs, and it was certainly exciting to hear the ice creaking and cracking…but not quite being able to catch it on camera!

The walkways

It’s obvious that a considerable amount of money and effort has been put in to building the raised metal walkways around the glacier face. There are several paths of varying difficultly but to be honest they are all pretty easy! This is a major tourist attraction and it has been made accessible for everyone. It even has ramps and a lift for those that are less able to tackle stairs. Of course that means more humans to dodge, but some of the view points are exceptional and you can get closer to the ice than on the boat trip. It would be nicer and more exciting to walk freely around the ice but it is obvious that the danger of icefalls and subsequent waves has led to this enclosed walkway solution.

The main focus of the walkways is on the right hand side when looking at the glacier and the snout which has been pushed up over a peninsula of land in the centre. It really looks like this part of the glacier has a sense of movement and has been stuck in time, about to crash down over the land. We actually saw some of the best icefalls on the left hand side, so it is definitely worth walking over there. From the perspective of the raised walkways it is really possible to see the immensity of the glacier, it reaches as far as the eye can see and sprawls out to either side as it scrapes the land aside.

Some facts!

• Lago Argentina is a milky blue colour due to the sediments that the glacier is bringing down with it.

• The glacier is a whopping 250km², 30km long and 5km wide. It has an average height of 74m above the surface of the lake.

• It is one of only 3 Patagonian glaciers that is growing. We overheard a guide saying that for ice to move from start to the nose it takes approximately 500 years. So the ice that we saw falling may have been formed when the conquistadors were still galloping around.

• The snout of the glacier splits the lake in two. This causes the water level in one side of the lake to rise until it forces the snout to rupture spectacularly.

Whilst certainly a more polished and tourist friendly experience than Torres del Paine for example, the glacier is still an unmissable stop in any self-respecting tour of Patagonia. The sheer magnitude of the glacier will make you forget of all the tourist infrastructure built around and the sterile walkways. Another great thing that this outstanding land has to offer.