El Calafate Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

El Calafate’s hilltop bus terminal (Av Roca s/n) is easily reached by a pedestrian staircase from the corner of Av Libertador and 9 de Julio. Book ahead in high season, as outbound seats can be in short supply.

For El Chaltén (AR$55, 3½ hours), several companies share passengers and leave daily at 7:30am, 8am and 6:30pm, stopping midway at Estancia La Leona for coffee and tasty pies.

For Puerto Natales (AR$50, five hours), Cootra (491444) departs daily at 8:30am, crossing the border at Cerro Castillo, where it may be possible to connect to Torres del Paine.

For Río Gallegos (AR$20 to $40, four hours), buses go daily at 3am, 4am, noon, 12:30pm and 2:30pm. Freddy (452671) and Interlagos offer connections to Bariloche and Ushuaia that require leaving in the middle of the night and a change of buses in Río Gallegos.

From mid-October to April, Chaltén Travel (492212/480; www.chaltentravel.com; Av Libertador 1174) goes to El Chaltén (AR$100 roundtrip, three hours) daily at 8am and 6:30pm. It also runs shuttles north along RN 40 to Perito Moreno and Los Antiguos (AR$215, 12 hours), departing on even-numbered days at 8am, to connect with onward service to Bariloche (AR$395, two days from El Calafate) the next morning. The same service also leaves from El Chaltén.

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Air

The modern Aeropuerto El Calafate (ECA; 491220/30) is 23km east of town off RP 11; the departure tax is US$18.

Aerolíneas Argentinas (492814/16; 9 de Julio 57) flies every day to Bariloche (AR$879), Ushuaia (AR$350), Trelew (AR$820) and both Aeroparque and Ezeiza in Buenos Aires (AR$380 to AR$675).

LADE (491262; at bus terminal) flies a few times a week to Río Gallegos (AR$118), Comodoro Rivadavia (AR$203), Ushuaia (AR$280), Esquel (AR$412), Puerto Madryn (AR$335), Buenos Aires (AR$336) and other smaller regional airports.

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