Things you need to know before you go to El Chalten

There is a lot of information available on El Chalten online, hence I am not going to replicate that, I am merely trying to give you a 2017 November update.

• There is an ATM in town which hasn’t been working while we were there. I suspect it is out of order most of the cases so make sure you bring lot of cash. It is located opposite the “Welcome to El Chalten” sign in the “Centro de Informes Turisticos”.
• I couldn’t pay with MasterCard at the hotel as their system only took Visa. I had to load my prepaid visa card in order to be able to pay. This MasterCard issue was the same at other places like restaurants too, so make sure you bring all kind of cards, not only one MasterCard that is working happily everywhere else because chances are that it won’t work in El Chalten.
• Bring a LOT of cash. ATMs are available in Gobernador Gregores and in Perito Moreno if you are coming from the north on Ruta 40. If you are coming from El Calafate you can find plenty of ATMs there too.
• The only mobile operator that works in El Chalten is Movistar. I had a Claro sim and it was useless in El Chalten.
• WIFI, where available is very slow. I suspect this is due to the fact that they are getting their internet services using a giant satellite dish run by Telefonica a Spanish company. The reason why I suspected this is because whenever I was connected to Wifi and posted something on Facebook the automatic location was always somewhere in Spain and I have seen the dish next to the tourist information office.
• There is one gas station in town at the very beginning of it. It looks really weird as it has been converted into a gas station from shipping containers… needless to say that they only take cash so not luck here with any kind of debit or credit cards.
• There are a few friendly armadillos around the main tourist office. If you like cute animals go and see them.
• Entry to the National park is still free in El Chalten so are all the hiking trails unless you hire a professional guide.

I think this pretty much sums up all the information that I didn’t find anywhere else. I will keep updating this post if I remember anything else.