El Bolsón Travel Guide

El Bolsón is a small Patagonian town famous throughout Argentina and much of South America for its year-round artisan fair and unique local culture. The town (along with El Hoyo and Lago Puelo, two other, smaller towns located within 20 kms) sits in an enormous and spectacular valley. To the West is the Andes mountains or Cordillera, with high alpine peaks, some of which have permanent snowfields and glaciers. On the Eastern side is a tall arid ridge called Piltriquitron. The deep valley traps moisture coming from the Pacific, creating an unusually temperate and humid microclimate ideal
for growing a variety of crops.

El Bolsón is home to a decades-old community of artisans, musicians, and farmers who gather several times a week in the Plaza Pagano at the center of town for the feria, or artisan fair. You'll find the local culture at the feria surprisingly diverse, with crafts, food, art, and music reflecting the indigenous Mapuche mixed with European immigrants who came in the late 19th century as well as urbanites from Buenos Aires who migrated to El Bolsón in the 1970s as part of the Hippy movement.

With national parks located nearby (at Lago Puelo, and further south at Los Alerces) and a large protected reserve in the headwaters of Rio Azul, El Bolsón has ideal wilderness access along with a growing culture of fishing and outdoor adventure, from kayaking and rafting to mountaineering and snowboarding, mountain biking, and paragliding. 

In a kind of cultural phenomenon, thousands of young, mostly high-school age Argentines backpack through El Bolsón during the summer high season (Dec-Feb).

Where to Go in El Bolsón