The itemised breakdown for a week of trails, with the park fee in its real place — near the bottom.

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The park fee — paid per day, and the smallest line

Los Glaciares charges foreign visitors per entry day: ARS 50,000 (≈ €28) each time you walk into the park from town. For a week of hiking, the 7-entry FlexiPass costs ARS 175,500 (≈ €98) — and the next page shows which pass fits which trip.

Where you sleep — the line you control most

• Hostel dorm: US$25–40 per night (≈ €22–35)
• Private room: US$60–100 per night (≈ €52–87)

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January fills first. Some guesthouses still ask for cash, occasionally in US dollars — check when you book.

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Food

• Restaurant main course: US$15–30 (≈ €13–26)
• A week of supermarket shopping: US$50–80 (≈ €43–69)

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Self-catering roughly halves the food line, and most hostels have kitchens.

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Getting there

• From El Calafate: about 3 hours and 210km by bus, roughly €25–35 each way. El Calafate's airport has domestic flights from Buenos Aires — search Buenos Aires–El Calafate on Kiwi.com.
• From Torres del Paine: buses run from Puerto Natales to El Calafate across the border, from about €30, then on to El Chaltén.

What a week actually costs

A budget week — dorm bed, self-catering, a 7-entry FlexiPass, return bus from El Calafate — comes to roughly €350–480 per person. A private room shared by two, eating out most evenings, lands closer to €600–900 per person. Flights to Argentina come on top.

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This page covers El Chaltén only. The Patagonia guide (€14,99, PDF, 53 pages) prices six destinations side by side, with itemised costs and booking lead times for each, so the whole trip can be planned in one place. It is our own paid guide, not an affiliate link. Get the Patagonia guide →

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Paying in Argentina in 2026

The old "bring dollars and change them on the street" advice is out of date. The gap between Argentina's official and parallel exchange rates has almost closed, and foreign Visa cards now get a rate close to the market one, so paying by card is the simple default. What hasn't gone away is inflation — around 33% a year in August 2026 — so treat every peso price on this page as a snapshot (converted at about ARS 1,785 per euro, late September 2026) and check before you go.