Peninsula Valdes, a peninsula close to Puerto Madryn in Argentina, is famous for wildlife spotting, especially marine life. Whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea elephants, penguins and orcas can all be found here during part of the year. We were most excited to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes though! The orca population here is famous for their unique hunting technique, which no other orcas around the world use. Only a small group of orcas here has learned how to beach themselves to have better chances of hunting young sea lions and elephant seals.
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Table of Contents - A Practical Guide to Spotting Orcas at Peninsula Valdes
- Where is Peninsula Valdes
- How to get to Peninsula Valdes
- Where to stay at Peninsula Valdes
- Where to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes
- What is the best time of year to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes?
- What are the best circumstances to see the orcas at Valdes Peninsula
- How likely is it to see the orcas/how long do I need to stay for
- Useful resources for your stay
- Other things to do at Peninsula Valdes
Where is Peninsula Valdes
Peninsula Valdes is a peninsula in the Argentine province of Chubut, in Northern Patagonia. It’s at a similar height as El Bolson, but on the other side of the country. The closest city is Puerto Madryn, which is about 100 km south of the peninsula.
How to get to Peninsula Valdes
In order to reach the Valdes Peninsula, you can take a flight or bus from places like Bariloche or El Bolson, Mendoza or Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn. If you want to fly and flights to Puerto Madryn are very expensive, you can look at flights to Trelew as well. Trelew is only an hour by bus from Puerto Madryn. From here, it’s best to rent a car. While there is a bus to Puerto Pirámides, there is no public transport beyond this town.
So I recommend renting a car in Puerto Madryn or Trelew. Since orca sightings are not guaranteed and require some planning, not many agencies offer tours to see them. It’s possible to join a tour of the peninsula, but they won’t visit the orca hotspots at the time of day you’re most likely to see them. And, if you don’t see them the first time, it will get very expensive very quickly if you have to take tours for several days.
If you’re serious about seeing orcas at Peninsula Valdes, you’ll need to rent a car for your entire stay. This way you are free to come and go as many times as you want, at the best time of the day.
Where to stay at Peninsula Valdes
Puerto Pirámides is the closest town and the best place to stay. It’s still a 1.5-hour drive on an unsealed road to Punta Norte or Caleta Valdes from here though.
While you can also choose to stay at Puerto Madryn, this adds another 1-1.5 hours to your daily journey, each way. Plus, you’ll need to pay the entrance fee every time you enter. If you stay at Puerto Pirámides, you only pay the first time you enter the peninsula since the checkpoint is located before the town.
Leaving the peninsula and coming back – If you need to leave the peninsula and are coming back, ask your accommodation for a receipt as proof of accommodation. This way you don’t need to pay the entrance fee again. Make sure to bring your ID + entrance tickets to show together with the receipt from the hotel.
Where to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes
There are two “hot spots” to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes: Punta Norte and Caleta Valdes.
Punta Norte. is the most famous spot and this is where the orcas beach themselves in order to hunt sea lion pups. Note that the typical National Geographic picture is taken from an exclusive site, which is not accessible to the public. Only professional photographers and researchers who are lucky enough to have the funds to pay for a permit and get one granted can be here. For the rest of us, there is a small boardwalk at Punta Norte from where you can watch and photograph the orcas. You can still see them from here, you’ll just not be as close to the action, and you’ll be watching from above, not the beach.
At Caleta Valdes the orcas hunt elephant seal pups using the same technique as at Punta Norte.
What is the best time of year to see the orcas at Peninsula Valdes?
There are two seasons during which it is more likely to see the orcas. The best time of year to see the orcas at Punta Norte is from February to April. The end of March until the beginning of April is the peak of the season with the best chance to see them stranding themselves to hunt sea lion pups. At Caleta Valdes, the best time of year to see orcas is in October and November. This is when they hunt elephant seal pups. The orcas are around throughout the year though. But outside of these months they visit less frequently, and generally just pass by.
What are the best circumstances to see the orcas at the Valdes Peninsula
Besides the time of year, there are a few other things that influence the likelihood of seeing orcas, including the wind and the tide.
It’s more likely to see the orcas at Punta Norte when there is no strong wind from a northern direction. The waves caused by strong northern winds make it more complicated for the orcas to hunt. It is also believed they don’t hear the sea lion cubs cry for their mums because of the noise, and so this won’t attract them. But this is just a theory.
The tide is also important. At Punta Norte, the orcas need to cross corals to reach the beach. At low tide, there is not enough water for them to be able to pass. They can only do this at high tide. Starting from about 3 hours before the high tide until about 3 hours after the high tide provides the best chances of seeing the orcas. Before and after that the water is not deep enough for the orcas to pass the corals.
At Caleta Valdes, the best chances to see orcas are from 2 hours before until 2 hours after the high tide.
These are only chances though. Sometimes the circumstances are perfect, but the orcas are not around. It’s also good to know that if the orcas leave Punta Norte and head north, they don’t go very far and will come back soon. If they head south, they can stay away for days. But nothing is guaranteed. The behavior of the orcas is unpredictable. But this also makes it even more special when you do get to see them.
How likely is it to see the orcas/how long do I need to stay for
Well, there is no real answer to this question. The orcas hunt many different kinds of animals, and they don’t have a fixed “sea lion day”. If you’re serious about seeing orcas, plan at least a few days to have several chances to see them. They might come (almost) every day for a while, stop coming for a week, and reappear. And even if they appear, they could just pass without coming close to the coast. So even if you see them on your first day, you might not see them using their unique hunting technique and will want to come back for that.
I recommend planning at least 4 days up to a week, and staying flexible with your next destination. This way you can extend your stay if you are unlucky and don’t get to see them.
We went to Punta Norte for three days. Of these three days, we only saw orcas once and they didn’t come onto the beach. It was still an amazing experience to see these incredible animals, but I haven’t been able to tick this place off my bucket list quite yet.
Useful resources for your stay
- Punta Norte Orca Research – They provide interesting information about the orcas on their website and post most of the orca sightings on Punta Norte on their Instagram and Facebook pages.
- Administracion Peninsula Valdes FB page – Daily updates regarding road conditions and orca sightings at both Punta Norte and Caleta Valdes
- Peninsula Valdes Website – Here you can download a tide table for the month you will visit.
- Meteored is a good website for weather forecasts and wind direction.
Other things to do at Peninsula Valdes
If the circumstances are not great to see orcas, or you have already seen them and you want to do something else, there are other things you can do at Peninsula Valdes as well. There is a hike you can do starting at the town of Puerto Pirámides to a Loberia, a place where a lot of sea lions (Lobo Mario in Spanish, hence the name) live. It’s about 5k one way. Next to the Puerto Pirámides Loberia, there is a viewpoint called Mirador de Ballenas (whales viewpoint). From here you can often see whales during the season, which is roughly from June to December and sometimes dolphins as well.
You can also snorkel or dive with sea lions, enquire at agencies in town.
Driving around Peninsula Valdes you can also see other animals. You’ll surely see guanaco wherever you go. From September to March, you can see penguins very close to Caleta Valdes. We still saw a few even in April, but the majority had gone already. You will also see many sea birds at the beaches, like seagulls and cormorants. It’s also quite common to see southern mountain cavies (a small rodent) and armadillos at Punta Norte.
This was: A Practical Guide to Spotting Orcas at Peninsula Valdes
Love nature and wildlife watching, and are you looking for more of these kind of destinations? Try El Palmar National Park in Entre Rios, or Los Esteros del Iberá in Corrientes!