“With an estimated population of 600,000 penguins per season, San Lorenzo is the largest and most spectacular Continental Penguin Colony known.”
Dr. Pablo García Borboroglu
Researcher CESIMAR/CCT Cenpat CONICET
President of the Global Penguin Society
San Lorenzo
The Estancia San Lorenzo Nature Reserve is located within the Peninsula Valdés Protected Natural Area, 160 kilometers from the city of Puerto Madryn, in the province of Chubut, in the Argentine Patagonia.
On its coasts a colony of more than 600,000 Magellan penguins is located and can be visited between September 7th and March 31th each year.
The estancia
This traditional Patagonian sheep ranch raises Australian merino sheep for wool production. As from September, visitors can witness the different activities related to sheep farming: marking, shearing, and sheep enclosure with the help of the herding dogs.
The shearing barn was reconditioned to serve as a country restaurant, visitor centre and mini shop for local products and ranch souvenirs.
An additional interest for tourism are the marine fossils that crop out in the cliffs and gullies that run down to the sea. Many of these fossils can be observed in the Gulley of Fossils.
Visitors can also see the ruins of the old sea lion factory as between 1917 and 1953 commercial killings of sea lions took place at San Lorenzo for their blubber and skin.
Hours
Estancia San Lorenzo with its impressive colony of Magellanic Penguins, opens its doors every year from mid-September to the end of March.
. The opening hours for visitors are from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Guided visits to the penguin colony for passengers arriving by their own means are:
11:00 am
2:00 pm
4:00 pm
5:30 pm (last visit)
The visit lasts approximately 1:15 hours.
These schedules are subject to possible changes for logistics reasons.
Due to the eventual assistance of large groups or cruise, certain schedules may not be available on certain dates.
Covid-19
At San Lorenzo we take every precaution to receive our visitors safely and responsibly.
The use of face masks is mandatory in all closed public spaces, as is the minimum distance of 1.5 meters between visitors.