The rugged landscapes of Argentina contrast the beauty of the wildlife found in this quaint port town that is Puerto Madryn.
This blog post is about my port-of-call experience in Puerto Madryn, Argentina during my 14-Night Antarctica cruise with Celebrity Cruises in early February of 2024. You can read all about this series of blog posts:
[ 14-Night Antarctica Cruise ]
[ Ushuaia, Argentina ]
[ Puerto Madryn, Argentina: Peninsula ]
[ Puerto Madryn, Argentina: Punto Tombo ]
[ Montevideo, Uruguay ]
A change in itinerary
The next port-of-call in our 14-Night Antarctica Cruise was supposed to be Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, however, due to inclement weather we were unable to stop there. With waves reaching seven meters and wind gusts of up to 100km/hr, we had to bypass this stop. Instead, we headed directly toward our next port-of-call, arriving in Puerto Madryn a day earlier than originally planned.
As we arrived in Puerto Madryn around 11am, we had time to take in an extra excursion, which worked out well since our excursion in Port Stanley had been cancelled.
Shore Excursion: Peninsula Valdez
The Peninsula Valdez excursion is a six to seven hour-long trip. The peninsula is located about a two-hour drive northeast from Puerto Madryn.
It sits on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and is teaming with wildlife ranging from whales to sea lions to penguins and more. Depending on what month you visit the area, you would see different wildlife on this tour.
There are three scheduled stops to see if we can spot any of the above-mentioned wildlife:
This was taken at the lookout with a focal length of 120mm.
Our visit in early February meant that we couldn’t see any whales, but were expected to see sea lions, seals, and Magellanic Penguins. While this was indeed the case, the sea lions and seals were extremely far away that it would have been very difficult to identify if you didn’t have any binoculars or a long telephoto lens on your camera.
From gangway to the pier
The dock at Puerto Madryn is very long. From where you get off the ship to the entrance of the pier where the tour buses and parking lot are, the walk will take you about 20min. This is important because if you didn’t sign up for your excursion from Celebrity Cruises, you will be responsible for walking the length of the pier to the meeting spot of the third party tour operator. As tours leave early in the morning, you’ll need to account for this extra time on the morning of the tour.
If you signed up for the excursion directly from Celebrity Cruises, their bus will pick you up directly from the gangway so you don’t have to walk the length of the pier.
Bus ride
The bus from Puerto Madryn will take you to Peninsula Valdez in about two to two-and-a-half hours. With the first half of the trip being on paved road, the second half is on gravel road. Since these buses aren’t as sealed as you may expect them to be, be warned that dust will come into the bus through the second half of the ride.
Our tour guide was very friendly and knowledgable, sharing different facts about the land and wildlife that we were expecting to see. But for the most part, you’ll be enjoying the sights of the Argentinian landscape.
The first stop is at the visitor’s centre, which houses a museum, including information about all the fauna and flora available in the region. Just outside the visitor’s centre is a lookout that lets you see all around the barren landscape of Argentina.
Caleta Valdez
After another 30-40 minutes of driving, we stop at Caleta Valdez for about 20 minutes. The parking area is right by the lookout so you don’t have to go far. The view along the coastline is fantastic albeit very windy. The guide told us we might be able to see sea lions and seals, however, didn’t tell us that they would be extremely far away to see without binoculars!
Even with a telephoto lens of 600mm, you can barely make out what it is you are looking at. Nevertheless I suppose you can say that we did see something there!
Parador La Elvira
There’s a really nice hike along the hilltop here where it will lead you to an area with more expansive views along the north. You do need to hike for about 10 minutes or so, but it offers a very nice view of the shoreline. We were alotted about 30 minutes here so we could make this hike.
With seals visible on the sand—we weren’t sure if they were alive or not—we saw one lone Magellanic penguin coming out from the ocean and trekking across the sand.
It was also very windy here so be careful that the sand doesn’t get into your lens or camera.
Magellanic Penguins
The most anticipated stop for this tour was to see the small colony of Magellanic penguins—and they did not disappoint! Just a short walk away from the parking lot is a small boardwalk where the penguins can be seen right in front of you.
Similarly with the other stops, we only had about 20 minutes here which was unfortunate since I could have stayed here for much longer.
While the penguins didn’t actually do a whole lot—perhaps they were hot from the sun—it was still interesting to see them interact with each other, see them in their dugout, and see them preening on the hilltop.
This was my very first encounter with penguins outside of a zoo or aquarium so I was quite excited to see them—especially so close!
Packed lunch
The tour includes a packed lunch and water bottle. While the lunch isn’t anything fancy, it was still tasty and I enjoyed every bite of it. It was quite filling.
The ride back
After the three stops, we headed home on the same route as we took coming to the peninsula. We stopped again at the museum/visitor’s centre for one last bathroom break. Then, it’s another two hours or so back to the pier.
Our tour came back to the pier at around 8pm. Since our ship was docked overnight there, we had the luxury of exploring the beach area and having a late night bite to eat by the water.
We opted to eat at a seafood restaurant which turned out to be pretty tasty.
Final thoughts
This was a last-minute decision to go on this tour, since we arrived to Puerto Madryn a day earlier than planned. Had we made it to Falkland Islands our excursion there would have been to see the King Penguins.
While this tour gave a great overview of the Peninsula Valdez and coastline, it was a lot of sitting on the bus. Each stop allowed us to see the area for about 20 to 30 minutes which was very short compared to the hours we spent on the bus travelling from one place to the next.
If it wasn’t for the Magellanic Penguins, this tour would have been a little underwhelming as most of the wildlife were very far away to really appreciate them.
Would it have been better to simply stay at Puerto Madryn and enjoy the shops and streets by walking all around? Perhaps. It really depends on what you deemed to be more a priority. We wanted to see some wildlife, so we opted for the trip.
YouTube
You can watch my YouTube video on my experience with this excursion to Peninsula Valdez.
Have you been to Puerto Madryn? If so, what did you do? Let me know in the comments!