Summer in Patagonia: December to February
Traveling to Patagonia between December and February places you firmly in Chile and Argentina's summer. One clear advantage of being in Patagonia in summer: the long evenings. It doesn't get dark until around 9.30pm, which means dinner is often interrupted by the need to rush outside and catch the last sun on the mountains, or the ever-changing cloud formations in soft pinks and oranges. Not a bad reason to abandon your plate.
With longer days and warmer weather come greater visitor numbers in the more well-known places towards the end of December and through into February. As always, it pays to plan ahead carefully.
Crowds are rarely an issue along the ever-changing landscapes of Chile's Carretera Austral. The national parks strung out along this southern highway are wonderful places to be in these months. From the cool rainforests of the north, down through high glacial lagoons, rewilded grasslands, flourishing turquoise rivers and into the great icefields – this is Patagonia at its most wild, varied and remote. Why would we send you anywhere else?
If you're thinking about calling in at some of Patagonia's more famous natural wonders in peak summer, get in early and pick your spots. Some 300,000 people tread their way around the trails of Torres del Paine each year, and the vast majority fetch up here during January and February. Pathways can become clogged, viewpoints crowded. That sense of open space, wilderness and majesty that we love about this great national park? Harder to come by.
Our approach can look quite different to the standard way of navigating Patagonia's iconic sights. By providing you with your own 4x4 on a fully supported self-drive holiday, we aim to get you into the quieter parts of the park and its surrounding areas – where the guanacos still outnumber the visitors.
Summer is the most reliable season for El Chaltén. Trails are clear, services run smoothly, and the full network of day hikes and longer routes is accessible. The town is lively, particularly in January, but the surrounding landscapes remain vast enough to dilute the crowds once you’re on the trail.
This is an excellent period for classic hikes beneath Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, with long, flexible days that allow you to move at your own pace and wait out shifting cloud. The mountains don’t always reveal themselves, but summer offers the highest chances.
In contrast to the mountains, summer in the Valdés Peninsula brings a subtle shift in wildlife focus. Southern right whales largely depart by December, but the season is strong for marine and bird life. Elephant seals, sea lions and large seabird colonies are active, and penguins begin to appear from late summer onwards.
