From Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina
My motorcycle trip this time was from Puerto Natales, Chile, to El Calafate, Argentina.
It was a cross-border journey of approximately 350 km.
I’m leaving Puerto Natales
When I went to Torres del Paine, I turned left here, but this time I’ll go right.
I arrived at the fork in the road after just over 10 minutes.
I’m heading to the Dorotea border, so I turn left here.
I arrived at the Chilean border about 10 minutes from the fork.
I enter the building on the right.
The process is the same as usual: I leave the country through immigration and then go to customs.
At immigration, I present my passport, the PDI receipt, and the motorcycle documents I received upon arrival, and my departure procedures are complete.
At customs, I show them the customs screen where I electronically declared my passport, and they say, “You don’t need that.”
Huh? Why?
There was no one in line here, so I finished the procedure in about five minutes.
I headed to the border with Argentina.
I entered Argentina in about three minutes.
The road conditions get a little worse from here.
I arrived at Argentine immigration in 1 minute.
Here, too, I enter the building on the right.
I proceed through immigration and customs, just like before.
I was only asked, “Where are you staying?” and was able to pass through.
The procedures in Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego are simple.
Now, I’m heading to El Calafate.
I soon arrived at the first town, Rio Turbio.
I’ll stop here to fill up on gas.
Here, Infinia (high-octane) gasoline was AR$1.728/L, or about USD1.19.
Even in Rio Grande on Tierra del Fuego, it was AR$1.465/L, or about USD1.01, so even with transportation costs added, this was still quite expensive.
Now, I’m ready to get going.
The wind from the west was very strong that day, and I was quite blown around.
When I’m heading east, there’s a tailwind, so I usually go +20km/h.
This is easy for me.
I arrived in Esperanza about an hour and a half after leaving Rio Turbio.
I stopped here to refuel.
Here, premium gasoline was even more expensive at AR$1.844/L, or about USD1.27.
From here, there were only 160km left to El Calafate.
I was about to depart.
The scenery here remains unchanged
and a strong headwind
When I was feeling bored and sleepy, I saw a beautiful view.
There’s an observation deck here, so I decided to take a detour.
This seems to be a popular spot
Well, there are 60km left until El Calafate.
I’m making a final push.
After about 40 minutes of descending the mountain, I finally arrived in El Calafate.
I continued on my way to the center.
El Calafate doesn’t have a Plaza de Armas, so I arrived at the tourist information center in the centro.
My trip went smoothly, as I was able to cross the border quickly.
It took about 30 minutes from Puerto Natales to cross the Argentine border.
It took 1 hour and 40 minutes from there to Esperanza.
It took 2 hours from Esperanza to El Calafate.
In such good conditions, the wind had a significant effect.
Date of travel: December 20, 2025
