Hostería Alta Vista

Once a separate estancia, recently absorbed by the adjacent Estancia Anita, Hostería Alta Vista (RP 15 Km 33, tel./fax 02902/491247, altavista@cotecal.com.ar, US$220 s or d all-inclusive) is an outpost of the Braun dynasty that dominated the wool industry of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia. As such, its seven-room casco, which includes one luxury suite, is the place to be spoiled; surrounded by luxuriant gardens in a sheltered location at the foot of 1,294-meter Cerro Freile, it has a first-rate bar/restaurant open to guests only, a separate quincho for lamb asados, and flawless service from its English-speaking staff. The all-inclusive package does not include incidentals like telephone charges and laundry.

In addition to accommodations, Alta Vista offers excursions that include horseback riding in the hills immediately behind the estancia, offering a small lagoon full of wildfowl, condors soaring above, and distant views of Glaciar Moreno. Nonguest may take tours of the estancia. It is arguably the most upscale estancia in the vicinity of El Calafate—unlike Nibepo Aike, it has been gentrified beyond rusticism.

Near the entrance to Estancia Anita stands a memorial to the “Patagonia Rebelde” strikers of 1921–22; erected by the provincial Chamber of Deputies, it reads “If the winners write history, that means there’s another history: the Santa Cruz strikers, their histories present in our memory.”

Hostería Alta Vista

Once a separate estancia, recently absorbed by the adjacent Estancia Anita, Hostería Alta Vista (RP 15 Km 33, tel./fax 02902/491247, altavista@cotecal.com.ar, US$220 s or d all-inclusive) is an outpost of the Braun dynasty that dominated the wool industry of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia. As such, its seven-room casco, which includes one luxury suite, is the place to be spoiled; surrounded by luxuriant gardens in a sheltered location at the foot of 1,294-meter Cerro Freile, it has a first-rate bar/restaurant open to guests only, a separate quincho for lamb asados, and flawless service from its English-speaking staff. The all-inclusive package does not include incidentals like telephone charges and laundry.

In addition to accommodations, Alta Vista offers excursions that include horseback riding in the hills immediately behind the estancia, offering a small lagoon full of wildfowl, condors soaring above, and distant views of Glaciar Moreno. Nonguest may take tours of the estancia. It is arguably the most upscale estancia in the vicinity of El Calafate—unlike Nibepo Aike, it has been gentrified beyond rusticism.

Near the entrance to Estancia Anita stands a memorial to the “Patagonia Rebelde” strikers of 1921–22; erected by the provincial Chamber of Deputies, it reads “If the winners write history, that means there’s another history: the Santa Cruz strikers, their histories present in our memory.”