Hike to Esmeralda Lagoon

The Esmeralda Lagoon is one of many possible hikes in or around Ushuaia, our first, very beautiful stop on our trip through Patagonia.

• Duration (return): 4-5 hours, (depending on weather conditions and orientation skills 😉
• Difficulty: easy
• Meters in height: ~ 250m

There are basically three options to get from Ushuaia downtown to the main starting point of the hike, which is “Valle de Lobos”:

1. Walking: it is a 18 km distance (one-way) and we could not find a nice path, many parts need to be walked right next to the main road 🙁
2. Take a bus: there is a bus for ~17 EUR per person (incl. return)
3. Hitch-hike (RECO): that’s the low budget option that we ended up doing. We did not have to wait longer than 5 minutes. Hitch-hiking seems to be very common and a cheap option to travel within Patagonia. Besides you get to know new and interesing people and locals 😉

The way up to the lagoon starts through a (very muddy after rainfalls) grassland, followed by a forest and ultimately through grass/muddland again. If you start at the “right” entrance (“Valle de Lobos” with a Huskey school) the hike is labelled with yellow marks and therefore easy to find and follow.

We started at another point (futher down the road at another huskey school with a parking lot and a house / restaurant right next to the street), but still we were able to stay more or less on track. All you need is more orientation (or the map beneath) and time, but you will be rewarded with off track views, less muddy and more beautiful paths, especially at the beginning of the treck when you wander in the middle of the grassland with little “lakes”. You will find the route just at the end of the post and in case you have a compatible smart watch or phone you can download the route in .gpx format here.

Once you made it to the Lagoon you can enjoy the stunning view, relax and simply have a good time. There is also enough space to put up your tent and stay for the night if you want. Enjoy!