Patagonia. What an incredible place. For us it almost felt like a holiday inside a holiday. So incredibly different from everything else, yet never felt out of place.
With some of them most beautiful landscapes you can witness, Patagonia should be on your list of places to visit if you’re in South America. While it can be expensive, don’t be put off by that, as there’s still so much you can do on a budget.
Now let’s get to it. The town of El Chalten. This cosy little town at the foothills of some of the most impressive mountains in the region is unparalleled. With a backdrop of Cerro Torre and Mount Fitzroy serving as a live wallpaper, this quaint town starts to cast a spell on you.
We arrived to El Chalten having finished the W trek in Torres del Paine. We wanted to continue trekking but maintain a reasonable budget, so booked the cheapest and worsted rated place available. We stayed in Don Joel, an incredibly basic hostel. With that being said, it was always warm (albeit very gassy) with showers to match. To be honesty I think the place got a bad wrap on booking.com. For the $5 we spent a night we were happy out with it.
We spent 4 days here and found that to be plenty. This gave us the chance to day hikes and chill in between.
Our itinerary was as follows:
Day 1: explore town and climb mirador cóndores for sunset
Day 2: all day hike to Mount Fitzroy
Day 3: all day hike to Cerro Torre
Day 4: relax on the final day before heading back to El Calafate
EXPLAIN DAYS…