Locat­ed in north­ern Patag­o­nia, Puer­to Madryn is not your typ­i­cal trop­i­cal beach des­ti­na­tion – and that’s per­haps the main rea­son to vis­it. Arrive between June and Decem­ber, and you’ll see plen­ty of south­ern right whales and their calves play­ing near the peb­ble beach and cliffy shore­line.

Since sum­mer­time runs from Decem­ber to Feb­ru­ary in the South­ern Hemi­sphere, the best time to vis­it might be late Novem­ber and Decem­ber to get both beach weath­er and a chance to see whales up close. This is also a good time to snorkel or scu­ba dive with the seals, take a kitesurf­ing or wind­surf­ing les­son, or head to UNESCO World Her­itage Site Penin­su­la Valdés to see ele­phant seals or climb the his­tor­i­cal light­house.

Puer­to Madryn is also one of the few places to vis­it in the world where you can see pen­guins walk­ing on the beach. Between Sep­tem­ber and April, Mag­el­lan­ic pen­guins make their way to the shores here to give birth.