Patagonia in December: 10 day Patagonia road trip
Rugged mountains, emerald lagoons, and majestic glaciers: Patagonia is a true paradise for anybody who’s into photography. The dramatic sceneries of this beautiful corner of South America will definitely have your memory cards filling up fast – ours certainly did!
Here is a selection of our favourite photography from our road trip to Patagonia in December.
The pictures appear in the same chronological order as our Patagonia itinerary. Hopefully, they will ignite your wanderlust and help you get a better idea of what a trip to Patagonia looks like.
First 2 days in Patagonia – Punta Arenas and a tour to Isla Magdalena
A half-day trip from Punta Arenas to Isla Magdalena is a great way to start your Patagonia in December adventure and is definitely one of the experiences you shouldn’t miss in Patagonia.
This tiny island is home to tens of thousands of Magellanic penguins. These cute little black-and-white guys walk funnily, “talk” loudly and make your camera’s memory card fill up quickly.
The tour to the “penguin island” is normally available from October to April or May, during the period of Austral summer. This is when a hundred thousand Magellanic penguins flock to Isla Magdalena in the Strait of Magellan to breed.
Related: 10 day Patagonia itinerary
This couple of penguins in the front didn’t pay the slightest attention to our presence. It seems they knew the purpose of their visit very well 🙂
Isn’t he cute?! Watching the penguins offers so many fun moments and so many exciting photographic opportunities.
And you even might get to see tiny little baby penguins!
Days 3, 4 and 5 of the Patagonia road trip – Torres del Paine National Park
The absolutely breathtaking Torres del Paine national park in Chile is the next stop on our trip to Patagonia in December.
The sceneries are mindblowing and the colours are otherworldly and the whole park is a paradise for anybody who comes to Patagonia to do some photography.
There’s no lack of beauty and drama in Torres del Paine – the jagged mountains, the fierce weather and the dramatic sky form the quintessential picture of Patagonia.
Guanacos represent the typical species of fauna in Torres del Paine. They are members of the camel family and are closely related to llamas.
But the Patagonian wildlife is much richer than just guanacos. You can find pumas, skunks, and even parakeets and flamingos in the park!
The Patagonian weather is wayward and teasing.
This morning had the best weather forecast during our whole stay in Torres del Paine, so I was hoping for some beautiful light. Even though it didn’t work out exactly as planned, it was still pretty amazing.
This is a snowstorm rolling in in the middle of the summer, by the way.
The Patagonian weather knows the rule: if you blow, you do it with all your strength and passion 🙂 Winds up to 120 km/h (75 mph) are nothing unusual in Patagonia.
Hiking in Torres del Paine can be both challenging and rewarding. But one thing is for sure, it’s better to visit Patagonia in December if you wish to hike.
From short hikes to multi-day treks, there’s something for everybody. When the sun came out after two days of rain and all the stunning sceneries showed up, our excitement soared higher than an Andean condor 🙂
Days 6 and 7 – El Chalten and Los Glaciares National Park in Argentine Patagonia in December
The next stop on our Patagonia itinerary is El Chalten.
They call this place the trekking capital of Argentina, and for a good reason.
Hiking par excellence awaits you, such as this hike to Laguna de los Tres with an incredible vista of Mt. Fitz Roy. Out of our 10 days in Patagonia, this was the only day when a sun lotion was needed 🙂
Related: Patagonia 10 day itinerary
By the way, this Patagonia road trip was actually a part of our honeymoon!
Hiking to Laguna de los Tres in El Chalten made for an unforgettable day for us.
The wind was light (in Patagonian slang, that means it was blowing merely at 50 km/h (30 mph) instead of the more usual 100 km/h (60mph)), the big-ass cloud sitting at the top of Mt. Fitz Roy gradually disappeared and the sun came out.
A perfect day at a perfect place 🙂
Jagged mountains, glaciers, lagoons, grey clouds, white clouds, lenga trees, and two happy hikers.
Here in the picture above you can see the glacier Piedras Blancas. It’s actually quite an easy hike that you can do in Los Glaciares, and it’s part of the Laguna de los Tres trail.
This was before the hardest part of the Laguna de los Tres hike was still in front of us, so we weren’t even that tired yet!
The raw beauty of Patagonian nature. We could spend hours just enjoying the views.
Kristīne enjoying the warm sun and a stupendous view of Laguna Sucia. Laguna de los Tres is also visible from this spot, even though it’s not captured in the picture.
Days 8 and 9 in Patagonia – drive to El Calafate and visit Perito Moreno
The last stop on our Patagonia road trip is the wonderful Perito Moreno glacier, one of the very few advancing glaciers in the world.
Situated about 80 km west of El Calafate, visiting this amazing place is fun for the whole day.
And going on a glacier hike, whether it be Perito Moreno like we did or some of the other hikes, is definitely one of the things you must do in Los Glaciares National Park.
The front wall of Perito Moreno glacier is 60 – 70 metres tall. And the glacier itself moves at an incredible speed of 2 metres every day.
Huge chunks of ice regularly calve off the front wall of Perito Moreno, causing a little “tsunami” as they fall into Lago Argentino – a natural spectacle that is guaranteed to send shivers down your spine 🙂
The viewing platform is an incredible spot for some landscape photography – perhaps you would catch one of those falling chunks of ice in a picture as well!
Just make sure to dress warmly, as the wind is strong here as well. We spent a couple of hours just enjoying the glacier, the noises, and the ice moving, but it did make us freeze to the bone.
Even if you go to Patagonia in December, which is theoretically the middle of the summer.
A small iceberg is seen from the boat while sailing towards Perito Moreno. There are several ways to enjoy the beautiful glacier. Watching it from the viewing platforms is great, sailing around it in a boat is superb, and putting on the crampons and walking on it is the best!
Incredibly blue and pure glacial water of Perito Moreno. The glacial water has an extremely low mineral content and one would eventually die of lack of minerals if he/she drank only such pure water. So don’t make such a mistake and have a whiskey with glacial ice instead while trekking on Perito Moreno 🙂
Crampons on, happy smiles on! Here we are after finishing the ice trekking on Perito Moreno, an unforgettable experience that we definitely recommend. The whiskey didn’t make it to the picture 🙂
And this was the end of our road trip in Patagonia in December. Already on the next day, we enjoyed swimming in the ocean in Santiago! A real summer!
So thank you for coming for the ride.
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We want you to come with “wanderlustdesigners” on this trip, by reading stories. You can imagine the world around you through someone else’s eyes and hope to inspire you to experience the world yourself.
Like you I dreamed of visiting the place of the beautiful, I save it to spend time! As I said, I heard from several people now that driving there is insane. I and my friend used to on the Canadian wide street so I do not know how well we will do in haha haha. Still, worth trying exactly as I said. Beautiful shots in this post By the way, you really capture the beauty of places. Look forward to your next publication!
Great and an article!
King regards,
Dinesen Cannon
Thank you!