Crossing Patagonia Road Trip

DAY 1: THE PATAGONIAN ANDES

If we have driven to Esquel today we will return our car, we will get off the 4 wheels for a couple of nights and we will get deep into the Andes, to a private reserve and have a unique once in a lifetime experience, glamping at Southern Patagonia. 

We will be taken by private transfer 25 km away from Esquel into a private ranch to have an opportunity to do more hiking, biking, horse back riding or just enjoying the southern skies, away from any disturbance.

DAY 2: GLAMPING IN PATAGONIA

This private Reserve offers more than 6000 hectares of Patagonian Andean Forests with numerous circuits for the most incredible activities in Nature. Your stay includes daily excursions you can choose that demand different levels of physical effort, so you can tailor your own experience, guided by a local team of experts.

These excursions will allow you to tour the lenga and ñire forests, cross melting snow formed creeks and discover at every step new landscapes in imposing Patagonia. During the activities you will be able to see the most representative local fauna animals: woodpeckers, upland geese, condors, foxes and both naiver or introduced deer, among others.

DAY 3: HIKING IN PATAGONIA

Until two years ago, this area was used during the summer months for cattle that were brought from the steppe to the mountains to feed on fresh grass. Today, although the activity continues on other sections of the ranch, this area is used solely for protection of the environment and low impact tourism.

DAY 4: THE CHUBUT VALLEY

Today we go back to Esquel and pick up our car to get back on the road! We will drive from west to east in the opposite direction than the welsh immigrants did, going along the Chubut river which flows towards the Atlantic. We have a long drive ahead of us, 580km separate us from Esquel to Gaiman, the centre of the welsh inmigration in Argentina.

Along the way you might encounter work being done on the road so leave with enough time to anticipate an hour or more of delay on the road. Besides that, the road should be fully paved with magnificent landscapes that will take you through different biomes as you go from the fertile valleys to the desert and back to the fertile lands.

A landscape filled with landforms and mountains with layered strata of different colors, are great excuses to play with your imagination and also look back at the hard work of the immigrants going up stream all the way to the Andes. Along the way, the Los Altares Valley, Los Mártires Valley will be excellent picnic opportunities and places to stretch our legs on the lonely, yet famous among resident patagonians, road.

We have the longest drive on our itinerary but also one of the best road trips in Argentina and certainly among the top self drive itineraries in Patagonia. 

DAY 5: GAIMAN

600km separated the Andes from the coast of Patagonia at this latitude, and as we drove along the fertile valley of the Chubut River, we arrived at another welsh colony, maybe the most famous in South America, Gaiman.

After the Welsh arrived to Patagonia, they made the best efforts to develop agriculture for which they constructed a series of irrigation canals that still exist today. The town offers little diversion beyond quiet strolls past stone houses with rose gardens after a filling teahouse visit, but Trelew, it’s neighbour city has everything that  Gaiman can’t offer.

DAY 6: WHAT’S NEXT?

From Gaiman you can continue your adventure towards the South Atlantic,  towards Valdes Peninsula or take a flight back to Buenos Aires and connect with any other destination. Even so, if you came from a longer drive trip, you could plan a longer stay in the vicinity of Gaiman, Puerto Madryn or a Patagonian Ranch or Lodge.