6 days ago
Argentina's wild new coastal escape
Argentina's newest park blends marine protection with local-led tourism, offering wild swims, eco-lodges and a thriving new future for a once-overlooked coastline.
From my window seat on the three-hour flight from Buenos Aires to Comodoro Rivadavia, I watched the land shift from green to gold. Lush river delta gave way to straw-coloured steppe, eventually turning a vivid cobalt where high desert meets the sea. I was heading to Patagonia Azul, a newly declared provincial park on Argentina's South Atlantic coast.
This is not the Patagonia of postcards. There are no snow-capped peaks, trout-filled lakes or gleaming glaciers. Instead, this protected territory stretches across more than three million hectares – nearly the size of Yosemite – where arid plains collapse into a rugged, wind-battered coast.
Patagonia Azul is one of South America's most recent marine conservation efforts. More than 60 islands and islets rise from the Atlantic here, forming the most biodiverse stretch of Argentina's coastline. Long gravel roads cut through remote hills where guanacos graze and elusive pumas roam, while the sea harbours kelp forests, sea lion colonies, penguins, dolphins and four whale species.
Just 200 nautical miles offshore lies the edge of Argentina's Exclusive Economic Zone, a boundary closely monitored but frequently breached by foreign industrial fishing fleets, drawn by the region's rich marine life. The designation of Patagonia Azul as a provincial park in April 2025, covering both land and sea, aims to spotlight this undervisited coast as a model for immersive, sustainable tourism and protection.
