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Welcome to Puerto Madryn in Chubut Province, Argentina. This coastal city is the gateway to Península Valdés, one of the best places in Argentina for wildlife lovers. And while it's possible to stay on the peninsula, many travelers choose to base themselves right here in this city because there are more hotels, restaurants, tour options, and transport connections than you'll find out on the peninsula itself. Puerto Madryn is also a stop for cruise ships, so depending on the day, you might see a big ship docked at the pier and a few more visitors wandering waterfront. But even though many people come here because of Península Valdés, Puerto Madryn has plenty of attractions of its
own. We're talking beaches, coastal walks, museums, Welsh history, and loads of seafood restaurants. So in this Puerto Madryn travel guide, we're going to show you why the city is more than just a jumping off point and why it's worth spending some time here before or after exploring the peninsula. Getting to Puerto Madryn is fairly straightforward, especially if you're coming from Buenos Aires. The city has its own airport, El Tehuelche, located about 10 km from town with regular flights from Aeroparque in Buenos Aires. Another common option is to fly into Trelew, which is about 45 minutes away, and then take a transfer, taxi, rental car, or bus connection north to Puerto Madryn. If you prefer traveling overland, Puerto Madryn is also connected by
long-distance buses with services arriving from Buenos Aires and other cities across Argentina. We arrived by overnight bus, which is a slower option, but it works well if you're already traveling through Patagonia and want to avoid another flight. Now, let's talk about everything there is to see and do in Puerto Madryn. And first things first, let's talk about the most obvious attraction, Península Valdés. You can visit the peninsula on a day trip, and there are various loops to choose from. My advice is to chat with your tour operator before booking and ask what animals are there at the time of your visit. There are seasons for wildlife viewing. For example, we got lucky seeing penguins, but we missed the whales. So, ask what tours
they'd recommend to maximize seeing wildlife. One of our personal highlights was visiting Punta Norte on the northern tip of the peninsula. We stopped at Estancia San Lorenzo for lunch and then visited a massive Magellanic penguin colony that sits on their land. The distances on the peninsula are bigger than they look on the map, and much of the day is spent driving on gravel roads, but that's part of the experience. Wide-open landscapes, a rugged coastline, and an abundance of wildlife, especially guanacos. One of the nicest things about Puerto Madryn is the beach access. The city stretches along the Golfo Nuevo with a long waterfront promenade and a nice sandy beach. In summer, this is where locals come to sunbathe, swim,
walk, cycle, drink mate, and enjoy the late afternoon light. We made sure to walk along the beach every day during our visit, even if it was gray and overcast. We're enjoying a nice little beach walk. Today, a cruise ship has come into town, so we're not allowed to be on the boardwalk, but hey, we've got a beautiful beach. The tide is low, so the beach is extra wide, extra lengthy, and there's hardly anyone out. Maybe it's just too early in the morning for beach time.
The cruise ship pier is another nice spot at sunset. There are always lots of people out strolling, fishing, and just enjoying that ocean breeze. Just keep in mind that when a cruise ship is docked, the pier closes to the public in order to facilitate passengers disembarking and boarding throughout the day. Look at that object. Next up, we're going to take you guys to visit a museum. It is called the Museum of the Man and the Sea. Sounds like a book. The Old Man and the Sea.
Close. This is a giant calamari. Have you ever seen anything this size? What? This is already a super cool museum. And look up here. Whoa. The Museum of the Man and the Sea was my favorite museum in Puerto Madryn. It is set in the former home of Agustin Pujol, a man who immigrated from Catalonia and built this beautiful house in 1915. The museum is spread out across the home's three floors, focusing on the local wildlife both on the land and in the sea. We enjoyed seeing the exhibits, but also admiring the home itself. The giant squid exhibit grabbed my attention
right away. I had never seen anything that size, and it definitely brought back memories of reading Moby Dick as a kid. We managed to visit the museum before they closed down for lengthy renovations, which have been ongoing. However, they should be opening back up soon. Speaking of coastal walks, we decided to walk out to the EcoCentro one day, and along the way we spotted a detour that led down to a cave-lined shore. These small caves are where the first Welsh settlers who arrived in Argentina in 1865 disembarked and created temporary shelters. This explains why you'll see the Welsh red dragon in Puerto Madryn and across parts of Patagonia. There are also several towns with Welsh roots that you
can still visit. Next to the caves, there's a small museum called Museo del Desembarco or the Disembarkation Museum, where you can learn more about the arrival of the Welsh in Patagonia, but it wasn't open when we visited. The EcoCentro or EcoCentro isn't really a museum, but rather an interpretive space focused on the marine ecosystem and our relationship with it. It's a space where science, photography, poetry, and fine arts come together to raise awareness about the natural world. It's unlike any space I've ever been to, but it was really enjoyable.
Well, this is a lovely surprise. We've reached the top of this lookout point. Looks a bit like a lighthouse. They have couches, and now we can sit down and look out to sea. The EcoCentro also has a tower that looks a bit like a lighthouse, where you have beautiful views of the gulf. plus there are lots of couches and books to read. So, it's a nice place to go and linger on a rainy afternoon. Whales can be spotted from here depending on the time of year, but sadly it wasn't the right season for us. And if you get hungry, there's a small cafe on site where you can enjoy grilled sandwiches, pies, scones, coffees, and little
snacks. It's about a 50-minute walk from the center of Puerto Madryn to the EcoCentro following the waterfront the whole way. And now let's talk about food. We really well in Puerto Madryn and especially enjoyed the seafood dishes. One restaurant that was recommended over and over again is El Náutico. This restaurant has an old-fashioned bodega on style with lots of photos of celebrities who have enjoyed a meal here. We were happy to see they had a lunch special with an appetizer, main, dessert, and wine, and they filled the goblets to the top. We've been told it fills up like crazy, so we came as soon as they open and a few people are already having their meals.
I opted for the pickled calamari as my starter which came with shredded carrots, cabbage, and a wedge of lemon. This was my first time trying calamari prepared this way and it was sour, tangy, and surprisingly tasty. Sam ordered a stuffed tomato with a potato and tuna salad for his appetizer. And then for my main, I got the seafood paella with shrimp, scallops, mussels, and squid. The presentation was beautiful with scallop shells on either side of the dish and again, very tasty. Meanwhile, Sam got the salmon in a Roquefort cheese sauce with potatoes. It's better than I expected.
It's creamy, it's tender, the cheese gives it so much like potency and character. This is amazing. This is the kind of dish that you could order again and again. By the time dessert rolled around, we were stuffed, but we still finished it. I had the pear compote in syrup, and Sam got the classic flan, which is a caramelized custard. All in all, a great meal. Chona is a restaurant we ate at several times. Sam loved their seafood pizza, so we kept coming back. When we were there, they had a pizza special where the pizzas were half off between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m.
This is far too early for Argentines to eat dinner, but it worked really well for us. Who needs happy hour when you can have pizza hour? All right, guys, our pizza has arrived. We did half and half. Yes, so the theme is pizza from the sea. We're right by the ocean, so check this out. Just tons of shrimp on this one. Yeah, we've got some prawns, and on the other side, it's anchovies with green olives. Yeah, and ham as well. Ooh. And both of these come with lots of mozzarella and tomato sauce. Wow, I'm excited for mine. Like, mine is just loaded. Ooh. We really like the prawn pizza so much that we ended up coming back again to order the very same dish.
It's a really good pizza. We also ate plenty of ice cream in Puerto Madryn. We discovered Bomke at the beginning of our stay. Their artisanal ice creams were so good that we kept coming back for more, even on a chilly evening. All their ice creams use natural ingredients, and the two flavors we'd recommend trying are coconut and dulce de leche. They were amazing. So, we're having a giant ice cream. This is supposed to be for me, but Audrey's eating it all. It's melting. I'm saving it. Like a good wife. I'm just kidding. And that brings our Puerto Madryn travel guide to an end. Even though a lot of people come here as a gateway to Península Valdés, we think Puerto Madryn is worth a bit of time in its own right.
We really enjoyed the seafood, coastal walks, and museums. Plus, it has a really nice relaxed seaside vibe, which made it a nice place to slow down for a few days. So, whether you're here before a wildlife trip, after exploring Peninsula Valdes, or just passing through on a cruise stop, we hope this video gave you a better idea of what to see, where to go, and how to plan your visit. As always, thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you soon with more adventures.
