What is the best time of year to see penguins in Patagonia?

Orangetravelcat
If you refer to Peninsula de Valdez, the best place is Punta Tombo near Trelew and the Magellanic penguin rookery is open from September till March.

180 km to the south, in a village called Bustamante Province of Chubut.you can also see a big colony of about 60.000 penguins. Scientists from all over the world visit this rookery.


milla

So, milla, what is the best time of the year to go? Our summer?

I would suggest going in October, November and first days in December as people can enjoy penguins and whales together in the Peninsula

milla

Yes, Punta Tombo is what I'm referring to. If we go, as you suggest, between Oct and Dec, that would give us time to accumulate enough miles for frequent flyer tickets, as the airfares between Phoenix, AZ and Buenos Aires, are astronomical. Thanks.

I'm referring to Oct-Dec of 2010, not this year.

We were in Peninsula Valdes in October last year. Amazing to see the whales so close up! Link to our blog covering our time in the area:

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

Orangetravelcat:
Never went to Península Valdes but everybody says it's amazing. All the people I know went during Oct-November to see the whales.
Here is the link I've found to the official page of Península Valdés where you can find the fauna calendar
http://www.puertopiramides.gov.ar/tu...o-calendar.htm
Milla already told you when you can see the penguins but in this site you have the info of all the animals.

Crellston, I enjoyed your blog.
Sofi - thanks for the link.

My wife and I visited Punto Tombo on our first trip to Argentina many years ago. We were very fortunate to see penguin and whales. It was a great experience.

At that time our penguin tour took in a lot of other travel so we only got to visit the rookery for a short time.

I would suggest that you look into getting a private guide or renting a car and driving there yourself.

I think on a whole day trip we were about a half hour with the penguin and certainly would have liked more.

Our whale watch was from a small fishing style boat and the guide was very proffesional. When the whales were close [close enough to reach out and touch!] he shut off and lifted his motor so that the propellers would not injure the whales.

It was a great visit.

You are sure to enjoy.

That trip we left home early November and came home after Christmas.

Woodie

It definitely sounds like Oct-Dec is the time to go. Thanks for your suggestions, Woodie. A private guide sounds like the way to go as would like more time among the penguins.

We saw whales and calves in Baja,Mexico several years ago, and would love the experience again, in Argentina.

We were just in Puerto Madryn and although there were no penguins, the amount of wildlife was really impressive. I did a post on it on our blog, http://livinginpatagonia.com/?p=2726