We arrived in Puerto Madryn after another long, long bus journey from Puerto Natales. This included a 7 hour layover in the tiniest, greyest town we’ve been in so far; Rio Gallegos. There seems to be lots of buses leaving from this tiny town and teeny bus station, so thankfully we could get a bus out that night and didn’t have to stay over!
Puerto Madryn was HOT and SUNNY. Such a welcome change to the freezing cold of Chilean Patagonia. (Actually Puerto Madryn is still Patagonia, on the Argentinian side, it just seems strange to call it that as it is very removed from the mountainous landscape you’d relate to that region.)
The main reason to visit Madryn, and the reason we had come was to try and see the Southern Right Whales, which come each year on their way to… somewhere else! We visited in September.
We looked in to the best viewpoints for the whales, looked at the horrible prices of the organised tours (900 ARS / £39) and went down to the beach to eat our lunch. Whilst sitting there, we suddenly jumped up …. “whale!”. There were whales jumping out of the water, that you could see from the shore. Amazing.
We went from there to the pier and watched them pop up and down for hours. Some would creep up and down on the surface, looking like mechanical models of whales. Others would stick straight up in the air and slap down sideways. Some would just poke their tails out and shake them. They came and swam right under the pier. They made a huge noise shooting water from their blowholes and made dinosaur-like noises from their mouths. It was an amazing afternoon and at high tide we could see twenty, all at once. These whales are 15 metres long; it was incredible to see them in the water.
Well, that was easy! We came to Madryn hoping we might see one whale. We had seen twenty without even trying.
The following days we tried again to see more whales. We asked about a taxi to Playa La Cantera, but it is another 900 ARS / £39. We settled on renting bikes; 300 ARS / £13 per bike per day – yep, Argentina is expensive!
We took off on our bikes with a packed lunch. We first followed the route suggested to us by the rental guy; there’s another beach further up the coast where you can apparently view the whales. He said to go up there, then cycle back through town on the way to the popular viewpoint. For us this route didn’t reap any rewards. I would recommend going straight to El Doradillo beach (specifically Playa La Cantera) and waiting it out there. It’s a tough cycle in the heat so don’t waste your energy going anywhere else first.
As you approach El Doradillo you’ll start to notice the whale signs pointing you in the right direction. Keep going, but keep an eye on the sea. We saw whales popping up along the coast continually.
Once you make it to the beach it’s a waiting game. You’ll see whales immediately but it’ll take a moment for one to decide it wants to come near the shore. Once it does you’ll experience the beauty of seeing these fantastic beasts so close up.
We had a brilliant time seeing whales in Puerto Madryn. Overall, our best viewing was from the pier. We thought we would get better views from El Doradillo but should have been satisfied by our first day’s viewing, which was for free!
We saw whales again, but never as closely or as many as that first day. That one day has propelled Madryn to near the top of our favourite things list. Amazing!
TIPS | Head to coincide with high tide.
GETTING IN | We came via Puerto Natales > Rio Gallegos > Puerto Madryn. Another popular destination about these parts is El Calafate, where you can easily get from, to Madryn.
STAY | We stayed in Loica Hostel. We opted for dorm beds instead of a double room this time because Argentina is just sooooo expensive! 233 ARS / £10 per bed.
GETTING OUT | The bus station is situated right in town so you can go and book your tickets in advance. If you specify that you will pay in cash you’ll get a much better deal.
