Patagonia — A General Guide
The southernmost inhabited region on Earth, and why it's the one place you really do have to plan ahead.
Welcome to the end of the world. Patagonia, the southernmost inhabited region on the globe, split between Argentina and Chile.
A region of wild nature and breathtaking landscapes which, because of the weather, can only be travelled during a limited window in the year. That makes it fairly touristed, and a place where it’s harder to improvise and step off the known route.
But don’t let that introduction confuse you: Patagonia is an incredible region, and its landscapes — especially for us, an Israeli audience unused to snow and glaciers — are essential.
Patagonia is very popular and there are plenty of guides on what to do there, so I won’t go into that. In this guide I’ll pull together a few tips to help you get through the Patagonia madness properly.
Enjoy the tips below, and remember: if something goes wrong, it’s not the end of the world. Or is it?
Patagonia — general tips
Plan ahead
Planning ahead usually runs against the freedom of the trip, and for most of the journey I actually enjoyed the lack of planning. But it’s worth stressing that because of the crush created in Patagonia’s relatively short tourist season, this is something you need to factor in. It shows up in a few ways.
Book buses a few days ahead
Yes, I also thought at first this was overkill, but you’ll simply find yourself staying a few extra days somewhere you’re already done with, or paying a lot of money for a longer route — and that’s just a waste.
The moment you arrive somewhere, take a few more minutes before you get in a taxi and check with the bus companies how busy things are. From that you’ll know how much flexibility you have for the next destination.
Book beds
Hostels fill up very fast in peak season, so try to book ahead so you don’t end up in a mediocre hostel at an inflated price.
Book tours
There are particular tours — like the glacier walk at El Calafate, which I’d recommend — that need booking several days ahead. So if you’re planning something along those lines, know that it won’t always be a matter of signing up and going; it needs some forethought.
Airbnb
Because of the peak-season crush, hostels can and do allow themselves to ask prices that in many cases aren’t really worth what you get.
So a solution gaining traction is Airbnb, which gives you a bed and a private room at a price that’s usually a little cheaper than, or the same as, a bed in a hostel dorm full of people — which sometimes isn’t what you want before heading out on an early-morning trek.
Worth saying, of course, that this is only an ideal solution for someone travelling in a group who isn’t looking to meet people and is willing to give up the hostel atmosphere. Although often you can sleep in an Airbnb and go and visit friends at the various hostels anyway, and get the best of both worlds.
Enjoy the safety and the freedom
I don’t know about the most beautiful sunsets, but there’s something very beautiful about the end of the world, and that’s the calm and the safety you find there. It’s worth making the most of it, because it’s not a quality you can easily claim for everywhere in South America.
How true is it? When I was in Ushuaia, family friends picked me up for dinner in a grand Mercedes, something you don’t see much there. And after a short conversation it turned out that while we were in the restaurant they were leaving the car unlocked the whole time — and their villa, half an hour from the restaurant, was unlocked too. When I asked why, they explained that they’d come from Córdoba, an area with a lot of crime, and after a few years in Ushuaia they had understood what I’d recommend you do too: don’t worry.
How does that affect you? Take lifts (see the side story, A Ride to the End of the World), go out on trips with locals, trust people, and simply enjoy not having to lock everything with a thousand padlocks.