Puerto Madryn

Understand

250px|thumb|right|Partial view of Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is on the shores of Gulfo Nuevo, a large deep water bay of the Atlantic Ocean.

Its population is about 100,000. The city has been grown rapidly in the early 21st century mainly because of the expanding tourism industry, fishing, and Aluar-the aluminum refinery. Its unusual name comes from its history as part of Welsh Patagonia, an area that was colonized in the mid-1800s by settlers from Wales (see Trelew for more information).

Puerto Madryn is the gateway to nearby Peninsula Valdes.

Get around

Puerto Madryn has a city bus system. Taxis are numerous. Rental cars are available.

See

For regular prices of tours, see below. Often combined with a visit to Punta Tombo is a boat trip to spot the small black-and-white Commerson's dolphins. During the months of June through March. Many tour agents run trips to visit . Here one can see penguins and a great number of sea lions and elephant seals, depending on the season. In January, all three can be seen (though no whales), including sea lions giving birth. Puerto Piramides is the only major town of Peninsula Valdes. Many tours will have a stopover here: there is a nice beach and some bars and restaurants. There are boat tours and kitesurfers, among other things. The EcoCentro is a great and modern marine interpretation center offering interactive information on marine life in the region. Located overlooking the gulf to the south of the city on Julio Verne 784.

Do

Whalewatching: This is probably the easiest place in the world to see the Southern Right Whale, which uses the waters of the Gulfo Nuevo for breeding and giving birth from roughly June through October. They can often be spotted far in the distance from the town beach and tourist pier, but the really special thing is how close they come to some beaches outside of town, where you can reliably watch them cruise by at 100 meters or less from shore - more than close enough for good views of such a big animal, even without binoculars. Everyone will tell you that the site for this is Playa Doradillo, but that's actually incorrect: Though within the nature reserve of El Doradillo, the actual beach they come very close to is called Playa Las Canteras, with the observatory on the bluff of Punta Flechas offering great overhead views. Both are just past El Doradillo beach, north of town, and entry is 100% free. You can easily see the whales from these sites on any day within season, but to see them close up you should go within an hour or two of high tide. The area is a ways out of town, accessible by car or a moderate-difficulty bike ride (as of June 2025, shops in town rent mountain bikes for about US$15-20, and e-bikes at a higher price, there are some modest hills, and the last couple kilometers of the road are gravel). If you have some money to spend, you can potentially see the animals even closer with a whalewatching boat tour departing from Puerto Pyramides on Peninsula Valdes. S…

Buy

The three-story downtown shopping center has some nice upscale shops. There are many specialty stores in the city center.

Eat

There are many good seafood restaurants along the seafront where you might have lunch or dinner with a wonderful sea view. Almost all of them include a variety of menus. These include:

Drink

There are a good number of bars and clubs in Puerto Madryn. As in the rest of Argentina the weekend partying goes throughout the night.

If you want to try local beer, Fika Cerveceria offers many different kind of beers.

Go next

Trelew is very close by. When visiting Punto Tombo you pass Trelew so you can ask them to drop you off in the center of Trelew. This British town is more to the south on the Peninsula. You can travel down north further through Rio Gallegos (pass through is enough) going to Ushuaia or El Calafate (Glaciar Perito Moreno). Another option is to go west and go to the Andes Mountains and Chile (or Bariloche). Islote Lobos National Park is a protected seashore with colonies of sea lions and penguins, about an hour north of Puerto Madryn