Spread out along the beautiful sweep of the Golfo Nuevo bay, the neat town of
PUERTO MADRYN is promoted as a Patagonian
summer resort , centred along a fun beachfront boulevard, though its real pull is as a base for trips to the ecological treasure trove of the Península Valdés - as such, it makes a pleasant place to stay for a couple of nights.
The Town
Puerto Madryn was the site where the Welsh first landed in Patagonia in 1865, but it didn't develop until the arrival of the railway from Trelew in 1889, when it began to act as the port for the agricultural communities in the Chubut valley. Madryn has experienced very rapid growth since the 1970s, and now rates as one of the most important of Chubut's towns, with a population of 60,000. The Golfo Nuevo is best seen at the opposite ends of the day. Early in the morning, it can be as still and glassy smooth as a lake, while at sunset there's a glorious view of the wide arc of the gulf back to the lights of town from the statue of El Indio - placed here to mark the centenary of the arrival of the Welsh, and in homage to the native Tehuelche whose assistance ensured that the settlers survived. Just before it, a signpost points to Punta Cuevas , where lie the three-metre-square foundations of the very first houses built by the Welsh, just above the high-water mark.
Two blocks back from the tourist office is the well-kept and sunny central Plaza San Martín , with its mature eucalyptus trees, while to the north of town at D. Garcia and Menéndez is the Museo Oceanográfico in the elegant, turreted Chalet Pujol (Easter-Sept Tues-Fri 9am-noon & 4.30-8.30pm, Sat & Sun 3-7pm; Oct-Easter Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 4.30-8.30pm; $2). Here you can feel a whale's baleen and view photos of sea lion massacres and relics from Welsh pioneering days, including a Bard's Throne from the 1920 Eisteddfod. Climb the turret for good views over the bay.
Every Sunday in January and February the municipality puts on free concerts of Argentinian rock.
