A Complete Guide to Visiting Peninsula Valdes in Argentina

After spending a few days in Buenos Aires, most visitors choose to head straight down to southern Patagonia to complete some beautiful hikes there. Many probably don’t know that northern Patagonia has some incredible places to visit too. One of them is Peninsula Valdes, which is up there with the best places to see marine mammals in the world. Yes, that’s right! From the whale-tale shaped peninsula you’ll be able observe southern right whales, orcas, sea lions and elephant seals, as well as other animals such as Magellanic penguins.

In this guide, we’ve put together everything you’ll need to know before visiting Peninsula Valdes including how to get there, how to get around, where to stay, the best time to visit and the best things to do.

If you’d like to see our experience visiting Peninsula Valdes, make sure to watch our Puerto Madryn video, which we shared on our YouTube channel Kitti and Jon. For more videos from the country, check out our Argentina playlist.

About Peninsula Valdes

Peninsula Valdes is located on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, in the province of Chubut in northern Patagonia. It’s about 800 km south of Buenos Aires. The closest city is Puerto Madryn, which is a popular starting point for visitors to the peninsula. The only town on the peninsula itself is Puerto Pirámides, although there are some estancias (farmlands) too.

The peninsula is home to important breeding populations of the endangered southern right whale, southern elephant seal and southern sea lion. Peninsula Valdes was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, recognising the peninsula’s “global significance for the conservation of marine mammals”.

How to Get to Peninsula Valdes from Buenos Aires

It depends on your Argentina itinerary, but most visitors would likely arrive to the peninsula from Buenos Aires.

Flying to Peninsula Valdes

Taking a domestic flight is going to be the fastest way to get to Peninsula Valdes. You can either fly to Puerto Madryn or Trelew.

The main airlines offering flights are Aerolinas Argentinas and Flybondi. Flight time is around 2 hours. Flights usually depart from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), the domestic airport located in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, or from Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), which is the capital’s main international airport. Read our article if you need guidance on how to get around Buenos Aires.

Practical Information on Visiting Peninsula Valdes

Facilities on Peninsula Valdes

Toilets. There are toilets at the Visitor Centre, in Puerto Piramides, Valdes, and at other major stopping points.

Restaurants and cafes. Puerto Piramides has a variety of restaurants and cafes. Beyond that, you’ll find a handful of places at the main stops. It’s worth noting that only cash payments are taken after Puerto Piramides.

Best Time to Visit Peninsula Valdes

The best time to visit Peninsula Valdes will depend on what wildlife you want to see, as well as where else in Argentina you’re planning to go. The short answer will probably be the second half of November / first week of December, which is the end of spring and beginning of summer in Argentina. During this time, you would still be able to see Southern Right Whales, orcas, seals, penguins and more. You can download the wildlife calendar from the website, as well as the forecast and tide times.

Arriving from Buenos Aires means that you would’ve also experienced the blooming Jacaranda trees in the capital. December is also the start of the hiking season in southern Patagonia.

September to November (Spring in Argentina)

If you want to see as much wildlife as possible on Peninsula Valdes, time your visit in the spring, between September and November. Elephant seals and sea lions are either breeding or caring for their young at this time of year. This is also when Orcas will be around thanks to the reliable food source. Southern Right Whales will also be breeding and nursing here during spring, before they migrate. There will also be plenty of Magellanic penguins and other wildlife, such as guanacos.

December to February (Summer in Argentina)

Whilst the summer months are the peak season to visit southern Patagonia, it’s probably not the most ideal time to visit Peninsula Valdes. Around December, the Southern Right Whales migrate and won’t return until about June the following year. We arrived in mid-December after a visit to Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Iguazu Falls. As our long-haul bus pulled into Puerto Madryn, we saw one of the last whales waving goodbye to us from the bay. After that lucky sighting in the distance, we didn’t see another one throughout our stay. Fortunately, we were compensated plentifully on our expedition cruise to Antarctica.

Orcas also won’t be around very often in December and January, although you might see them in February. However, Magellanic penguins and seals will still be around, as well as guanacos and other terrestrial wildlife.

March to May (Autumn in Argentina)

Although you won’t see Southern Right Whales in autumn, you’ll see plenty of Southern Elephant Seals in the earlier half of this season. They arrive to the peninsula from August onwards and stay until around April. They’ll be nursing their pups, which attracts Orcas. March and April will be a good time to witness their unique hunting technique right on the beach. You’ll also see sea lions and Magellanic Penguins.

June to August (Winter in Argentina)

During the winter season, Peninsula Valdes will be less crowded. Southern Right Whales start to arrive from June and male Elephant Seals from August, to mark their territory for the arrival of the females. For this reason, we suggest coming towards the end of winter for a chance to see more wildlife.

Best Places to Stay Around Peninsula Valdes

Puerto Madryn

The closest city to Peninsula Valdes is Puerto Madryn. It’s a great place to base yourself for a few days as it has everything you would need. The city is close to Peninsula Valdes and other popular places, such as Punta Tombo or Gaiman.

There are a variety of hotels, hostels and apartments for all budgets. You’ll also find plenty of cafes, bars, restaurants and other amenities. In addition, there are also plenty of car hire companies along the waterfront (Avenida Julio A. Roca) and plenty of day tours depart from Puerto Madryn.

Puerto Piramides

If you’d like to stay on Peninsula Valdes, consider booking your accommodation in Puerto Piramides. You’ll be much closer to all the iconic viewpoints there, without having to drive the extra hour or so from Puerto Madryn.

The downside though is that there won’t be as many options for both accommodation and other amenities. Plus, you’ll definitely need a hire car to access the town and surrounding area.

Here are a few accommodation options in Puerto Piramides:

• Rayentray Las Restingas Hotel De Mar. The hotel is located right next to the beach, which means many of their rooms offer sea views. Imagine waking up and seeing whales in the distance! They have a restaurant and offer breakfast and free parking.
• Oceano Patagonia is another great option because many of their rooms have sea views. Breakfast is included, as well as free parking for guests.
• Hosteria Puerto Palos is also super close to the beach. They offer free parking and tea/coffee facilities in the rooms.
• Hostel Bahía Ballenas is a great hostel option if you’re on a tighter budget or travelling with friends.

Estancias on Peninsula Valdes

For a unique experience, you can even book a stay at one of the private estancias on the peninsula. Estancias are essentially farms or ranches where the owners raise cattle or sheep. There are many across Argentina and, whilst many only operate as guest houses, a lot of them are still fully operational, giving an authentic taste of rural life in the country. These stays do come with a much higher price tag though!

• La Elvira Natural Lodge is located close to Caleta Valdes and offers a comfortable stay with traditional Argentine meals.
• La Ernestina is located right on the Punta Norte beach, from where you can witness the unique hunting technique of the Orcas if you’re visiting in the right season.

How to Visit Peninsula Valdes from Puerto Madryn

There’s no public transport to and around Peninsula Valdes. Therefore, the only two ways to visit the peninsula are either with a private vehicle or a tour.

Organised Tour to Peninsula Valdes

If you don’t want to hire a car, then the best way to see Peninsula Valdes is with an organised tour. There are many day trips departing from Puerto Madryn taking you on and around the peninsula.

Top Tip. Going on a dedicated whale watching tour between June and December is a must-do activity.

• Peninsula Valdes Tour with Optional Whale Watching. This popular day trip will take you around Peninsula Valdes, stopping at the iconic viewpoints to observe wildlife. In Puerto Piramides you’ll also have the option to go on a whale watching boat tour.
• Full Day Peninsula Valdes Experience Tour. This is another similarly structured full day tour departing from Puerto Madryn. An additional whale watching boat tour is also possible.
• El Doradillo Whale Watching Tour. If you’re a bit short on time, then check out this half-day tour to El Doradillo beach between Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdes for shore-based whale watching.

Hire Car

The best way to visit Peninsula Valdes is with a hire car. This will give you the freedom to stop wherever you wish and spend as long as you want there. There are many places you can hire a car from in Puerto Madryn. Once you leave the city behind, driving will be even easier because the roads here are ridiculously straight. However, it’s important that you are well-prepared, so below we’ll give you some useful advice for a safe driving experience.

Tips for Driving Around Peninsula Valdes

Arrive with a full tank. We suggest filling up your car in Puerto Madryn before visiting Peninsula Valdes. There’s only one gas station in Puerto Piramides and nothing beyond that.

Gravel road. The paved road ends in Puerto Piramides. From there it’s gravel road across the entire peninsula. After heavy rainfall, the road can flood. It was so nice to get back on the tarmac again after rattling around in the car all day on that gravel road.

Obey the speed limit and other rules. The speed limit is 60 km/hr on gravel roads and 80 km/hr on tarmac. You don’t want to drive too fast to avoid tipping over, especially on gravel roads. By law you must have your lights on at all times.

Watch out for wildlife. Obeying the speed limit isn’t just important because of respecting the country’s laws. Wildlife roams free on the peninsula and they can cross the road at any time in front of you.

Spotty signal. After leaving Puerto Madryn, there will only be very spotty signal on Peninsula Valdes. We suggest downloading offline maps, although the roads are pretty easy to follow.  

Stop at the Visitor Centre. Don’t forget to stop at the Visitor Centre to get information about the wildlife and which roads are open on the day of your visit.

Bring enough food and drinks. Unless you want to get something in Puerto Piramides or at one of the few cafes, we suggest bringing enough food, drinks and snacks for the day.

Have enough local currency. Beyond Puerto Piramides, you can only pay with cash.

Have full coverage. Make sure to have full coverage and get insurance for your tires and windscreens too. We definitely ended up with a few cracks on the windshield because of driving on the gravel road. When people pass you, they can also stir up some dust and small rocks, so even if you’re careful, others might not be when passing you. It’s just better to be insured.

It won’t be the most scenic road trip. To be honest, the drive around Peninsula Valdes will be a little on the boring side. The roads are straight and the landscape is pretty flat too. Since there’s a lot of private land, you can’t just stop and get out of the car outside of the dedicated viewpoints. The most exciting landscapes and wildlife spotting opportunities will be around the coastal stops. Which will definitely make up for the boring drive, don’t worry!

What Wildlife to See on Peninsula Valdes

Southern Right Whales

Peninsula Valdes is one of the best places to see Southern Right Whales. In fact, the peninsula is one of the few places in the world where these whales come to mate, give birth and nurse their young. Weighing 40 tons and measuring 15 meters in length, a whale encounter will always be a memorable one. Between June and December you can observe them from boats, as well as from the shore.

Orcas

If you’ve always wanted to see orcas, then one of the best places will be right here on Peninsula Valdes. Between February and April and from September to November, you’ll have the chance to see orcas right from the shore of the peninsula. In addition, you can also witness the unique hunting technique they’ve developed. During high-tide, they hunt sea lion pups by propelling their bodies out of the water onto the beach.

Magellanic Penguins

Even though Punta Tombo, located further south of Peninsula Valdes, has the most famous colony of Magellanic Penguins, you’ll be able to see many on the peninsula too. They arrive around September and stay until April, before migrating to warmer climates. They breed in burrows on the shore, so you can observe them from pretty close.

Southern Elephant Seals

Southern Elephant Seals are actually the world’s largest seal species. Male seals can grow up to 5.5 m in length and can weigh as much as 3.5 tons. Their most distinctive features are the trunks of the adult males, hence their name. You can see a large number of them from August to March. The males arrive first to fight for territory, before the females arrive in the breeding season from September.

South American Sea Lions

There are around 3,000 individual sea lions calling Peninsula Valdes home. Although they’re not as big as the elephant seals, a male can still measure up to 2.5 m and weigh 500 kg. They aren’t a migratory species, which means that you can observe them all year round on the peninsula.

Other Wildlife

There are also many terrestrial animals on the peninsula. You’ll most definitely see plenty of guanacos, which are very similar to vicuña and are found everywhere in Patagonia. A group of them can just casually cross the road right in front of you. Also, keep your eyes peeled for choiques, which are large land birds similar to ostriches and emus. Smaller animals you could come across include armadillos, maras, gray foxes and different birds.

Best Things to Do on Peninsula Valdes

Carlos Ameghino Isthmus Visitor Centre

After buying our admission ticket at the entrance booth, our first stop was at the Visitor Centre. It’s actually a good 20 km further down the road from the ticketing gate, but along this section we saw our very first guanacos in Patagonia. Driving carefully is very important, as they can easily just cross the road right in front of you.

We suggest stopping at the Visitor Centre for a few reasons. Here you can get important information on the viewpoints, driving distances, park rules and road closures. The staff also told us what wildlife we may be able to see that day. They also had a small museum area, where we could learn more about the local wildlife and the area’s history. Plus, they also have toilet facilities, which may come in handy before heading to your next stop.

Puerto Pirámides

Puerto Piramides is the only town on Peninsula Valdes. Although it’s tiny, you’ll definitely want to stop in the coastal town for a few reasons. Being the only town, Puerto Piramides has a few cafes and restaurants, and the only gas station on the peninsula. There’s paid parking available right next to the beach and there are also public toilets. You can book a whale watching boat trip from here, but you can also observe wildlife from the coast if you’re visiting at the right time.

A few things to do around Puerto Piramides:

• Mirador Puerto Piramides. As you drive into town, there will be a small viewpoint with the iconic welcome sign. From here, we could enjoy an overview of the entire town, as well as the blue waters beyond.
• Playa de Puerto Pirámides. You can enjoy a little stroll down to the beach to stretch your legs after sitting in the car. Watch out for wildlife in the distance, as you may be able to spot some whales right from the beach, especially during high-tides.
• Mirador Atardecer. To appreciate the landscape, we climbed up to this viewpoint on the cliffs next to the beach. It gave us panoramic views of the town, the ocean and the coastline, which somewhat reminded us of Paracas in Peru. Between June and early December, you will often see whales spouting and breaching from here.

Punta Piramides (Mirador Loberia Piramides)

If you don’t take a boat trip from Puerto Piramides, definitely drive out to Punta Piramides. As you drive back out of town, just take the small access road to your left after the welcome sign viewpoint. At the end of the road, we could park our car and carry on walking along some dedicated walkways towards the edge of the cliffs. From this vantage point, we could admire the landscape and also spot some sea lion colonies in the distance.

We noticed that some of the boat trips from the town would pass around the seals colonies here, so you’d definitely get a much closer look at them from a boat. However, it was still nice to come up here to enjoy the landscape.

Caleta Valdes

One of the best viewpoints on Peninsula Valdes is Caleta Valdes. It’s quite a long drive from Puerto Piramides, around 75km on gravel roads! Luckily, we saw plenty of guanacos and even a family of choiques and Patagonian maras on the way, to keep us entertained.

Caleta Valdes is a prime place to observe Elephant Seals. When they have their pups with them, you can also see orcas hunting from here. If you want to witness this, you have to be here between February and April during high tide. They had a board here noting the dates and times of the latest orca sightings. To our surprise, there was one only a few days before our visit. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any orcas, but thankfully we could see many seals lying on the beach.

We also suggest completing the short hike along the coast from here. This allowed us to enjoy the landscape, as well as get an even closer look at the seals further down the coast.

Penguin Viewpoint (Mirador De Pingüinos)

If you want to see Magellanic penguins up close, the best place on Peninsula Valdes is the appropriately named Penguin Viewpoint. It’s a short drive further north from Caleta Valdes, just before the road splits.

It was our first time observing penguins in the wild. Everyone who arrived at the viewpoint stayed very quiet so as not to disturb their daily routines. They weren’t bothered by people and went about their daily business of power napping or waddling up and down the slopes to get to the water.

Note. Make sure to keep your distance from the penguins. They obviously won’t care about boundaries and can come up super close to you. In that case stop, wait and give them priority. Never approach one on purpose or try to touch one!

Punta Norte

North Point is located another 50 km from Caleta Valdes. Here you can observe a colony of sea lions and elephant seals. It’s also a great place to witness the unique hunting technique of the orcas. As mentioned before, you should ideally visit between February and April during high-tide.

When we visited, the direct road to Punta Norte was closed, so we would’ve had to drive inland then north. It was already getting late by this point, and we knew that our chances of seeing orcas were slim, so we decided to drive back to Puerto Madryn after the penguin viewpoint.

Final Thoughts on Visiting Peninsula Valdes in North Patagonia

Despite not seeing any whales or orcas on Peninsula Valdes, we still had a fantastic time driving around the peninsula. We had plenty of other wildlife encounters, which made up for the lack of others. Renting a car was a great idea because it gave us so much freedom to spend as long at the viewpoints as we wanted to. Hopefully, we can return in the future at a time when we can spot southern right whales and see orcas hunting on the beach.

Have you ever visited Peninsula Valdes before? If so, which month did you go in and what wildlife encounters did you have? If not, would you add a visit to Peninsula Valdes to your Patagonia itinerary? Let us know in the comments below.