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We’re looking to hire a car for 4 days in August 2024 whilst we’re in El Calafete .
Has anyone got any tips, tricks, recommendations of car hire here? What is the driving like?
We’re looking to hire a car for 4 days in August 2024 whilst we’re in El Calafete .
Has anyone got any tips, tricks, recommendations of car hire here? What is the driving like?
I’m not sure about tips for car hire in El Calafate specifically, although in Argentina I find contacting the agency directly via WhatsApp works best in terms of price and Hertz is often the cheapest, but that needs to be done in Spanish to avoid tourist prices!
In terms of driving, Argentina is just fine everywhere except pretty chaotic in BsAs and on the motorway to Mar de Plata plus many roads (including parts of Ruta 40) aren’t paved so can be slow. One thing to note is that it’s compulsory to have your sidelights on at all times and you will get stopped if you don’t; they have a lot of roadblocks. You are unlikely to get stopped as long as your lights are on and you respect the speed limits indicating a roadblock.
Driving conditions in El Calafate will be very snowy/icy, so allow plenty of time. I have just spoken to someone near San Martin de los Andes, a fair bit north and there’s a lot of snow currently.
@JDB that is really useful thank you. I’ve been finding a lot of things we’re booking in Argentina to be done via Whatsapp (similar to our experience in Thailand). We’ll definitely be getting an esim out there!
Last November we booked online with Europcar on their Argentinian site. Was important at the time as we wanted to be billed in ARS, vs. USD/EUR/GBP. Pickup was easy and friendly from the airport – there were a few other companies in the town / airport – I’m sure you’ll find them on maps.
No issues driving – although we didn’t have snow / ice to deal with, just wind. One stop at the roadblock coming out of the airport to check vehicle documents – but then after that we just slowed, with hazard lights on and were swiftly waved on. I’m sure they’ll advise you – but make sure to fill up whenever you have the opportunity as fuel shortages were an issue at the time, and the distances between fuel stations are long. (may be different now as the fuel subsidies may be gone or reduced)
@DTraveller – you make a very good point about getting the booking priced in ARS not only because of the managed devaluation effect but also, and even if prices are in USD, the gap between the official rate and the credit card rate has widened again which is a bit of a plus for tourists.
We used Hertz in El Calafate last November – they were very slow to process giving you the car, but otherwise OK. We did get stung at a different Hertz location where they converted our dollar booking into pesos at their own rate, which was no where near the official rate, but the other 2 or 3 including El Calafate were fine.
The driving was very straightforward – long straight roads, not much traffic. It was well into spring, so no issues with snow though. We did take a back road back from the Glacier to town, which was a long gravel road, but in decent condition and not difficult. There was a permanent police road block built between the airport and the town, but we slowed down and were waved through both times, without really knowing what was going on. No evidence of police elsewhere, and you can see a long way most of the time.
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