Day Trips

After pickup at your hotel in Puerto Madryn, drive along the Patagonian roads, until you arrive at Punta Tombo Provincial Reserve. See local animals like guanacos, choiques, liebres, and other wildlife that’ll make the experience much more enjoyable.  Punta Tombo is the place where Magellanic penguins choose to carry out another reproduction cycle every year. Once there, you will stay at the reserve for no less than three hours in order to walk along the paths and enjoy them up close and personal.  Observe them in their birth nest or while swimming in the sea. Visit the Punta Tombo Interpretative Centre or have lunch at the cafeteria restaurant (not included).

Meet the varied and fascinating wildlife of the Valdés Peninsula in Chubut Province on this full day guided trip. See whales, seals, penguins, various bird species, and more in their natural habitats. After pickup from your hotel in Puerto Madryn, head to Peninsula Valdés, a protected natural area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take a one-hour drive to Puerto Piramides, where you’ll embark on a whale watching boat trip (if option selected). See Southern Right whales from June to early December and Southern sea lions and cormorants from January to March. If you have not chosen the whale watching option, you’ll have free time to enjoy Puerto Piramide.   Next, continue your journey to Estancia San Lorenzo, a traditional sheep farm, where you will taste a spectacular lamb barbecue for lunch. After free time for lunch, visit a stunning Magellanic penguin colony where about 500,000 penguins are located. These timid feather-shedders are named after the famed Portuguese explorer whose crew spotted them in 1520.   Your next stop will be the Wildlife Reserve Punta Norte, where depending on the time of year, you can see Southern elephant seals, Southern sea lions, and maybe even orcas. Finally, leave for Punta Cantor to observe Caleta Valdes, a large inlet that stretches along the peninsula’s Atlantic coastline. On the way back, stop at the Visitor Center situated on the Isthmus Carlos Ameghino. On the way back to Puerto Madryn, you may run into wild rheas, tinamous, guanacos, foxes, cavies, and armadillos.

After pickup at your hotel in Puerto Madryn, head towards Peninsula Valdés, a protected natural area. After a one-hour drive to Puerto Piramides, where you will go on a boat trip to see whales from June to the beginning of December and sea lions and cormorants from January to March (if option selected).  Those who do not choose the optional whale watching will have free time to enjoy Puerto Piramide for lunch time. After lunch you will visit the sea lion colony of Punta Piramides. After that, continue to Punta Cantor in Caleta Valdés (Valdés Inlet) and get to know the geological formations and observe elephant seals.  Then head back to the Ameghino Isthmus and visit the interesting interpretation center. On the way you’ll have a good chance of coming across wild land fauna such as guanacos, rheas, foxes, maras, armadillos and skunks.

In the early morning, you will be driven from your hotel towards Peninsula Valdes Provincial Reserve. After an hour's drive you will arrive at Puerto Pirámides. Here, you can choose to go whale watching (not included - available until December), or watch sea lions and cormorants from January onwards. The next stop is Estancia San Lorenzo, a Patagonian ranch where you can enjoy a typical Patagonian lamb on the spit (lunch not included). After lunchtime, be prepared to visit an amazing penguin colony: the largest Magellanic penguin colony in the world. Finally you will meet these curious birds! Then visit the provincial reserve of Punta Norte where, according to the season, you can see elephant seals or fur seals and eventually killer whales. From there you will return and stop at the Interpretation Center located on the Carlos Ameghino Isthmus. At the end of the excursion, you will be transferred to your accommodation in Puerto Madryn.