Ruta 40: The Great Andean Patagonia Highway

Driving south along the endless golden steppes of Ruta 40 brings you to the junction of Route 23, winding west to the mountain village of El Chaltén, the trekking capital of Argentina. Nestled inside the Los Glaciares National Park, the village sits in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy (Chaltén)—a colossal, jagged granite spire rising vertically 3,405 meters into the sky. Hiking the Sendero al Fitz Roy track is a deeply moving experience; you climb through pristine beech forests and along rushing rivers to stand before the colossal granite peak, framed by alpine glaciers and emerald lakes, looking like a giant stone needle piercing the clouds.

Driving south past the vast, blue waters of Lake Viedma brings you to El Calafate, the gateway to the southern glaciers. Nestled on the edge of Lake Argentino, a scenic paved road winds west into the national park to stand before the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is a spectacular, world-famous geological marvel. Unlike most of the world's glaciers, Perito Moreno is actively growing, forming a colossal, 5-kilometer-wide and 74-meter-high wall of solid blue-hued ice rising out of the turquoise lake water. Standing on the wooden boardwalk platforms, you look down onto the ice wall to watch giant, multi-ton chunks of ice calve and crash dramatically into the lake below with a thundering, cracking roar that echoes across the canyon.