El Calafate

Standing stern on the cusp of the ice-berg peppered waters of Argentino Lake, the town of El Calafate rises between groves of blooming acacias in rows of tin-shack homes and quaint timber cabins. From afar it looks every inch the rustic sheep farmer’s town, but up close, the wealth of new hotels, Patagonian grill restaurants, hostels and backpacker bars belies a different kind of edge.

Today, this town in the wild depths of Argentinian Patagonia has become a hub for intrepid types looking to break out to the legendary reaches of the Los Glaciares National Park, where the colossal shapes of the Perito Moreno Glacier offer up front-row seats to great sheets of ice cracking and crumbling into the waterways below. As your El Calafate tour guide will tell you, the town’s location makes it a starting point for exploring the area’s natural wonders, from the soaring peaks of Torres del Paine, where eye-watering panoramas of the city and its adjoining lake open up across the horizon, to the El Chaten area, where hiking trails and primitive caves await. Back in town travellers can explore the fantastic exhibitions of the Glaciarium, or simply kick back with a glass of Argentinian wine and one of the regions legendary cuts of lamb.