Lake Argentino

Day trips from El Calafate

With a total surface of 1.560 km2, Lake Argentino is the largest lake in Argentina and the third in South America.

Located 185 meters above sea level, it is 125 kilometers long and its maximum width fluctuates between 14 and 20 kilometers.

It has a main body and some ramifications or arms: the Upsala arm, the North arm, the Rico arm and the South arm. Rico and South arms join the main mirror of the lake through the Canal de los Témpanos (Iceberg Channel) – which goes past in front of Perito Moreno Glacier – into which it discharges.

Its depth ranges between 35 and 1000 meters. On the south coast and in the center, at the front of Avellaneda Peninsula, it is 300 meters depth.

Lake Argentino is the origin of Santa Cruz river, which discharges into the Atlantic Ocean. It owes the special color of its waters to a fine product, which is the result of the union of glaciers, called “glacier milk”.

Lake Argentino

As you sail around the lake, you can see the Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers as well as the ones in Onelli Bay. The navigation is carried out among huge ice floes of incredible colors. Excursions depart from Punta Bandera, 45 kilometers away from El Calafate.

This lake has a strange history of failed discoveries, due to its physiognomy. In 1873, the sailor Valentín Filberg arrived at the lake, but did not name it as he thought he was in Lake Viedma, which had been discovered by Viedma in 1782. Four years later, Francisco Moreno and Carlos Moyano got to the same place and realized about Feiberg’s mistake: this was another lake, and Moreno decided to name it "Argentino", on February 15, 1877.

Today, the lake is sailed by vessels leaving from Puerto Bandera and Bajo de la Sombra, which then navigate through the Canal de los Témpanos, entering into the North, Upsala, and Rico arms.

See Also
El Calafate		Glacier Perito Moreno
Lake Argentino		The legend of the calafate
Mount Fitz Roy		Trekking over the ice