Cueva de las Manos (Perito Moreno)

A Patagonian town on Route 40, gateway to the World Heritage Cueva de las Manos with its 9,000-year-old hand paintings, the Río Pinturas canyon and Lake Buenos Aires.

Perito Moreno is a small town on Route 40 in northwestern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (not to be confused with the Perito Moreno Glacier, which is near El Calafate, about 600 km away). The World Heritage-listed Cueva de las Manos is about 120 km to the south by road. The town itself is modest and serves mainly as a base for visiting Cueva de las Manos, the Río Pinturas canyon and the Lake Buenos Aires area. The best season is November–March, when days are long, roads are open and guided tours of the cave run daily; April–May brings lovely autumn colors but colder weather; June–September is cold and snowy, and some gravel roads close. It's windy year-round, and temperatures can swing by 20°C between day and night. There are two main routes. Heading south, visit Cueva de las Manos and the Río Pinturas canyon (with the option of hiking down into the canyon from an estancia on the north rim) and stop by the gateway to Patagonia National Park. Heading west, go to Los Antiguos, a lakeside oasis about 57 km away where you can pick cherries in summer, cross the border to Chile Chico in Chile to hike to the Piedra Clavada, or drive up to Monte Zeballos on Route 41. Getting there: the nearest airports are the small Perito Moreno airport (with very few flights) or Comodoro Rivadavia, about 400 km away; long-distance buses along Route 40 connect to El Chaltén and Bariloche. There is no public transport to Cueva de las Manos, so you'll need to drive or book a day tour in town. Plan on 2–3 days. Gas stations are scarce outside town and ATMs sometimes run out of cash, so bring enough cash.

Top sights

• Cueva de las Manos – A World Heritage rock art site with hundreds of red, black and white handprints up to 9,000 years old, along with images of guanacos and hu…
• Cañadón del Río Pinturas – A basalt canyon about 200 meters deep, with green valley floors contrasting sharply with red-brown cliffs. You can hike down into the canyo…
• Patagonia National Park (Argentina) – A national park established in 2014 to protect the basalt plateaus and endemic birds of the Lake Buenos Aires highlands.
• Laguna de los Cisnes – A small lake and green space on the edge of Perito Moreno town, where black-necked swans and Chilean flamingos often come to feed; ideal fo…
• Los Antiguos – An oasis town on the shores of Lake Buenos Aires with a pleasant microclimate, known for cherries, strawberries and other fruit.
• Lago Buenos Aires – The second-largest lake in South America. Known as Lago Buenos Aires on the Argentine side, its glacier-blue waters lie between arid grassl…
• Chile Chico – A lakeside town on the Chilean side of the border, facing Los Antiguos across the frontier and bathed in sunshine; it is the eastern gatewa…
• Piedra Clavada & Valle Lunar – Wind-sculpted scenery in the Jeinimeni reserve south of Chile Chico, featuring a 40-metre rock pillar and a moon-like barren valley.
• Monte Zeballos & Ruta 41 – A high-mountain gravel road running south from Los Antiguos, passing volcanic rock pillars, multicoloured mountainsides and snowy peaks.

Where to eat

• Hotel Americano – The hotel restaurant most appreciated by travellers in a town on Route 40. Known for grilled meats and steaks.
• Salón Iturrioz Café – A nostalgic café in a historic building listed at provincial level, and a rest stop for travellers on Route 40.

Itineraries

• Ruta 40: Bariloche to El Calafate – Drive south along Route 40 for about 1,600 km, crossing from the Lake District through the steppe to the Cave of the Ha…