Myself and my 2 sisters (3 women in our 20s) are planning to spend a couple of days in Puerto Madryn in November, flying into Trelew. We would like to do a whale watching tour and also see the wildlife on Peninsula Valdes.

I am interested in getting recommendations on whether we should rely on public transportation/shuttles to get from Trelew to Puerto Madryn and then take an organized tour of Peninsula Valdes or whether we should rent a car at the airport and use the rental car drive around Peninsula Valdes ourselves. We are somewhat budget conscious but also want to ensure we are able to see all the highlights in the area.

We relied on public transport to get around and just booked one of the many whale watching tours on offer in the town. Our guide turned out to be hopeless, but how can you tell in advance. In addition to the boat tour we were taken around the peninsula and saw a lot of penguins and elephant seals as well. Even with the useless guide it was worthwhile.

Driving around the peninsula is mostly on dirt roads with few signposts so you need to be confident, especially if yo break down be a use there are not many drivers on the roads to offer assistance.

One thing I would recommend you do is to get a taxi out to the beach outside town where the whales come right up to the beach! Also, walk down to the town pier about 1.00pm when the whales swim into town!

A few photos and some detail on our blog:

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...3240/tpod.html