How Many Days in El Calafate and El Chaltén?
How to split your days between El Calafate and El Chaltén: what one day in each gets you, when the El Chaltén day trip is enough and when to sleep there, with three, five and seven-day plans.
Give El Calafate at least one full day for the Perito Moreno Glacier, and give El Chaltén at least two nights if you want one of its long walks: the park authority puts the walk to the Laguna de los Tres at 25 km and 8 to 9 hours, and Laguna Torre at 3 to 4 hours each way. With only one day for El Chaltén, the guided day trip from El Calafate is the way to see it without moving hotel, but it is a sightseeing day with short walks, not a hike. Patagonia Dreams’ Full-Day Tour to El Chaltén is from US$130 a person without lunch (checked November 2026).
The calendar shows two options, without lunch and with lunch. On the dates checked, every one started at 7:30 AM, and the days on sale were Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can cancel free until 24 hours before.
What each town is for
El Calafate is the base for the Perito Moreno Glacier, 80 km away by the park authority’s count, and for the boat trips on Lago Argentino. Its airport is the one with flights. One full day covers the glacier walkways; a second covers a boat or a walk on the ice.
El Chaltén is a village of trailheads under Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, 220 km north. The walks the park authority describes from the village:
| Walk | Length | Time | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laguna de los Tres (Fitz Roy) | 25 km in total | 8 to 9 hours | park authority |
| Laguna Torre | 18 km there and back | 3 to 4 hours each way | park authority |
| Laguna Capri | not printed | 3:30 hours there and back | El Chaltén tourism office |
| Chorrillo del Salto waterfall | 6 km from the village (park authority), 4 km (tourism office) | about 1 hour on foot (tourism office) | both |
Read November 2026. The tourism office classes Laguna de los Tres as high difficulty and Laguna Capri as medium.
None of the long ones fits in the free time of a day trip from El Calafate, which is 11 hours with about 5 of them on the road.
Three days
- El Calafate: the Perito Moreno Glacier.
- El Chaltén for the day: the guided day trip, back to El Calafate in the evening.
- Fly out, or a boat on Lago Argentino if your flight is late.
This is the plan the day trip is made for. You see the village, the Mirador de los Cóndores and the Chorrillo del Salto, and Fitz Roy if the cloud lifts. You do not walk to either lagoon.
Five days
- El Calafate: the glacier.
- Bus to El Chaltén in the morning (Chaltén Travel’s 08:00 or 11:00, Cal-Tur’s 08:00, TAQSA’s 08:00 or 10:00 on the October 2026 list), the Mirador de los Cóndores in the afternoon.
- Laguna Torre, or Laguna Capri if the weather is poor higher up.
- Laguna de los Tres, a long day.
- Bus back to El Calafate or straight to the airport: Chaltén Travel and Cal-Tur call there on the way.
Two full days in El Chaltén give you a second chance at a clear day for Fitz Roy.
Seven days
Two days in El Calafate (the glacier and the lake), then four nights in El Chaltén, with a spare day for weather, and back. The park authority recommends visiting between September and April and warns that summer winds are strong, so a spare day is not wasted.
The cost of sleeping there
A night in El Chaltén costs two bus legs, ARS 70,000 each way on the October 2026 list, plus the room; the day trip is one price with the transport and a guide. If the long walks are why you are going, the bus and a bed are the better trip. If you want the village and a view, the day trip does it without changing hotel.
The park fee, either way
Both towns sit by Los Glaciares National Park, and the fee is per day of entry: ARS 50,000 on the general rate from 1 June 2026, with half price on a second day within 72 hours and a three-day pass at ARS 100,000 (Administración de Parques Nacionales). At the El Chaltén portals it is sold online or by QR code, by card only. The day trip does not include it.
Days Out from El Calafate
Day Trips and Transfers with Open Dates
Days out of El Calafate and transfers with live availability. What is included and the cancellation terms show before you book.
Only One Day for El Chaltén?
Patagonia Dreams' guided day from El Calafate: hotel pickup, a stop at La Leona, guided walks to the Mirador de los Cóndores and the Chorrillo del Salto waterfall, and back the same evening. Park fee extra.
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