Charter Flight Information

Spend Less Time Driving and More Time Fishing: Charter Flight Details for Jurassic Lake Lodge

For years, our guests endured a long overland drive across the rugged Southern Patagonia landscape to reach Jurassic Lake Lodge. Many of them called it "The Road from Hell." That drive is no longer necessary. Today, most of our guests fly directly from El Calafate to the lodge on our exclusive charter, and the journey that used to take the better part of a day now takes a little over an hour door to door.

The private airstrip we built a few years back sits just fifteen minutes from the lodge, which is what makes the charter possible. It has been a true game changer for travel comfort, and more importantly, it lets our guests spend less time on the road and more time on the water.

The route

The charter operates between El Calafate International Airport (FTE) and our private airstrip at Lago Strobel. Flight time is about one hour, followed by a fifteen minute drive to the lodge. Our regular partner for this route is Glacier Sky, a Patagonia based charter operator we have worked with for years.

For guests coming from Buenos Aires, El Calafate is a two hour, twenty minute flight on Aerolineas Argentinas or FlyBondi. There are multiple daily connections.

The standard weekly itinerary

The regular round trip charter runs on Saturdays. It brings arriving guests to the lodge in the morning and returns departing guests to El Calafate in the afternoon.

Arriving guests fly into El Calafate on Friday and stay overnight at a hotel in town. Saturday morning they catch the charter to the lodge.

Departing guests arrive back in El Calafate on Saturday afternoon, in time to catch an evening flight to Buenos Aires or overnight in Calafate before flying out.

If the Saturday charter does not fit your itinerary, we can arrange private charter flights on other days, and overland transfers from El Calafate are also always an option. Write to carlos@jurassiclake.com to discuss alternatives.

Charter pricing

Saturday charter, group flight: USD 500 per person, per leg.

Private charter on other days: USD 3.900 per flight, which can be split among the passengers who take it. The larger the group, the lower the cost per person.

You are welcome to mix the two options, for example flying in on the Saturday charter and going out by road on a different day, or vice versa. Many guests choose to fly in so they can be fishing by early Saturday afternoon.

Round trip ground transfers between El Calafate and the lodge, roughly six hours each way, are included in the package price. The charter flight is an optional upgrade.

Baggage

The recommended weight limit per passenger is 33 pounds (15 kg) for checked baggage plus 15 pounds (7 kg) for a carry on. Staying within these limits helps us fly the aircraft safely and efficiently.

If you are carrying more, no problem. We send excess baggage overland with our regular ground transfer, and it arrives at the lodge the same day. Just let us know in advance so we can plan the run.

Weather cancellations

In the rare event that weather conditions are unsafe to fly, the charter operator may cancel or delay the flight. This decision is made as far in advance as possible, but can happen last minute if conditions demand it. When it does, our team makes every effort to arrange alternative travel and accommodation for the affected guests.

Connecting to other Patagonia lodges

Many of our guests combine Jurassic Lake with other lodges in Patagonia, either before or after their stay with us. We can help coordinate charter flights and overland transfers to make those connections smooth, whether you are heading to Chubut, Tierra del Fuego, Chilean Patagonia or elsewhere in Santa Cruz.

We will publish a dedicated post soon with the details of these lodge to lodge itineraries. In the meantime, if you already know where you want to go before or after Jurassic, write to us and we will help you build the route.

Questions?

For anything related to charter flights, itineraries or logistics, write to carlos@jurassiclake.com and we will get you sorted before your trip.