Estancia La Ernestina

simple, intimate and superbly guided

Set on the remote southeast tip of the Península Valdés, 275 km (165 miles) from the airport at Trelew, Estancia La Ernestina is a very simple wildlife-focused coastal property.

The farm was established by the Copello family from Italy in 1907 and has mainly been used to raise hardy Merino sheep. The present owner, Juan Copello, started receiving guests in 1999 and still personally guides many of the activities.

The lodge is contained within a very modest farmstead at the back of the beach. It’s bleak and windswept up here and the place definitely has the atmosphere of a remote research station rather than a posh hospitality venture.

Nevertheless the lodge still attracts the great and the good, especially during the Mar-Apr season, when the orcas hunt seal pups on the beaches close by, one of the truly great wildlife spectacles of South America.

Rooms

Guest accommodation is in just 6 simple rooms, each with heating, a private bathroom and a distant view of the ocean.

Estancia La Ernestina is usually visited for 5-7 nights, which is the period recommended to ensure good orca sightings.
It is most commonly in combination with the Los Glaciares area of Patagonia, which shares a similar seasonality.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Península Valdés is generally considered to be during the Oct-Mar southern spring-summer-autumn period.

Península Valdés officially has a ‘semi-arid climate’, with two reasonably clearly defined seasons …

During the Oct-Mar summer season the weather is relatively warm and dry. Daytime temperatures usually reach around 21C/70F, with nighttime lows holding up around 12C/54F. Rainfall during this period is down around 12mm (0.5”) per month. Sunshine averages out around 9 hours per day (around 75% of daylight hours). But it can be quite windy.

During the Apr-Sep winter season the conditions are significantly cooler, and very slightly wetter. Daytime temperatures usually struggle up to around 12C/54F, with nighttime lows falling to around 4C/39F. The rainfall during this period is only around 25mm (1”) per month. Sunshine drops to around 4 hours per day in Jun-Jul (about 50% of daylight hours).

In terms of wildlife, fortunately most of the migratory animals also visit the Península Valdés area during the warm summer months. The only slight exception are the Southern right whales, which arrive in June and are gone by mid-December, so you might miss them.

The main orca hunting seasons are Oct-Dec for elephant seals and Mar-Apr for sea lions.

Estancia La Ernestina is considered to be the prime place to be during Mar-Apr, when it usually needs booking years in advance.

Getting there

Península Valdés is usually accessed via Trelew International Airport (REL), with regular direct connections with Buenos Aires and more occasionally with El Calafate (for Los Glaciares National Park) and Ushuaia (for cruises around Cape Horn and to Antarctica).

From Trelew it’s a road transfer of 230 km (145 miles) to Estancia Ernestina, which usually takes around three hours.

needs to book years in advance