El Pedral

El Pedral is a manor built in 1923 on the pebble shore of Punta Ninfas, where cliffs meet the water and the Atlantic narrows into the Golfo Nuevo. The estancia sits 73 km from Puerto Madryn and 100 km from Trelew airport, reached by a gravel road that the lodge asks guests to check before driving. It is a working refuge, not a museum piece. Inside, a library and a lounge face the ocean through a lookout point, and the dining room still carries the character of the original house. Only eight rooms are offered: four matrimonial, three double and one triple, each with an en-suite bathroom and two windows, one facing the courtyard, one facing open country. Full-house booking takes the entire lodge for a single group of four to eight people. Full board runs through every stay, with home-style cooking and house wine included at each meal. There are no fixed itineraries. Guides set the next day's plan each evening, based on weather, tides and what the coast is doing that season, from penguin colonies to elephant seals hauled out on the beach. Trekking routes run through canyons such as Casimiro and Guanaco, and along the cliff path to the penguin colony. The property runs on solar power and holds status as a wildlife refuge, active since 2012.