Car Rental at El Calafate Airport

You can hire a car in the arrivals hall at El Calafate airport. The airport lists desks for Hertz, Europcar, Sixt, Alamo, Localiza, Always, Budget and Chaltén Travel’s car hire among others (read November 2026). We sell no car hire and print no rates: book with the company you choose. A car pays off if you want the Perito Moreno Glacier on your own timetable or a slow drive north to El Chaltén; for a single glacier day, a guided tour with hotel pickup does the same job without the drive.

The desks

The airport’s car-hire page puts every desk in the arrivals sector of the terminal. Its Spanish and English pages do not list exactly the same companies, so ask the one you booked where its desk is. The airport’s own site is aeropuertoelcalafate.com.

The roads you will drive

• Airport to town: 20.3 km by road on Ruta Provincial 11, about 25 minutes; the municipality says almost 23 km.
• Town to the Perito Moreno Glacier: 80 km by paved road on RP 11, by the municipality’s and the national parks service’s figure.
• Town to El Chaltén: 220 km, all paved (national parks service).

The park’s rules for drivers

Los Glaciares National Park, which holds the glacier and El Chaltén’s trails, sets these (Administración de Parques Nacionales, read November 2026):

• A speed limit of 40 km/h on the park’s roads.
• In winter, studded tyres or approved chains are compulsory; the municipality tells drivers of hired cars to ask the hire company for them.
• The glacier corridor’s hours: entry from 8:00 to 18:00 from 1 September to 30 April, with visitors allowed to stay until 20:00; from 9:00 to 16:00 from 1 May to 31 August.
• The park fee, ARS 50,000 a day on the general rate from 1 June 2026, paid at the glacier gate by card or in pesos, or online. At El Chaltén it is online or by QR code and by card only.
• No drones and no pets.

Do you need a car?

Not for the glacier alone. A guided day collects you at your hotel in El Calafate and drives you to the walkways and back: Info de Ushuaia's day is from US$48 on promotion, usually US$60 a person (checked November 2026) without the boat, park fee extra. A car makes sense if you want several days at your own pace, early or late at the walkways, or stops on the long road to El Chaltén.