El Chaltén is a municipality in the west of the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. It is located in the south of the Andes mountain range, at the foot of Mount Fitz Roy and on the banks of the Río de las Vueltas. It is a small tourist town founded in the Los Glaciares National Park.?In this place the magic of glaciers, hidden lagoons, ranches, Lake Viedma, and the magnetic presence of Fitz Roy are combined. The top of its unmistakable and imposing silhouette is almost always covered by a cloud.
The town has just 3000 inhabitants and is 220 km from El Calafate. It is adjacent to Lake Viedma and its reserve. It is a center of activity for trekkers and mountaineers for which it has been declared the National Capital of Trekking. The granite needles of the Torre and Fitz Roy hills make up an imposing and spectacular panorama together with the Viedma, Upsala and Moyano glaciers that drain into the 106.000 hectare Lake Viedma. El Chaltén is the closest town to the Campo de los Hielos Patagónicos.