Camping in El Chaltén

There are two kinds of camping in El Chaltén: campgrounds in the village, which the town lists in its lodging guide under “campings y refugios”, and the park’s campsites out on the trails. The park authority names three of those, De Agostini, Capri and Poincenot, says they are run by the Asociación Amigos del Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, and says a reservation is required. Fires are not allowed in the park’s north zone.

The park’s campsites on the trails

Administración de Parques Nacionales: its recommendations page for the reservation and the operator, and its north-zone trail leaflet (2024) for which trail each campsite is on; read November 2026. The leaflet also asks visitors to camp only at the allowed sites.

El Chaltén’s tourism office places the Poincenot campsite an hour beyond Laguna Capri on the path to the Laguna de los Tres, where crossing the river starts the last hour of climbing to the lagoon.

The rules

• Book ahead. The park says a reservation is needed for all three campsites, through the association that runs them.
• No fires. Fires are not allowed in the north zone of the park; El Chaltén’s tourism office repeats it.
• Register for remote areas. To climb or walk remote areas you register at the park’s visitor centre, before the entrance to the village, or online; from May to September registration is required to walk the trails at all.
• The park fee. ARS 50,000 a day on the general rate from 1 June 2026, sold at El Chaltén’s portals online or by QR code, card only (Administración de Parques Nacionales). A three-day pass costs ARS 100,000.

Ask the association about any campsite fee when you book.

Campgrounds in the village

The town’s lodging guide of October 2026 lists campgrounds and refuges as one of its eleven headings, with their addresses in and around the village. The room searches on where to stay cover the other kinds of lodging.

Without a tent

If a night out on the trail is not for you, the guided Laguna de los Tres day from the village, Say Hueque Travel’s full-day trek, walks the same path in 9 hours and ends back in town, from US$198 a person (checked November 2026); all sales are final.