It's like going to your DVD club to rent "Cinema Paradiso": a very good movie, but specially it has shocking (pleasant) memories. Ok, it's probably not as well conserved as you imagined. Ok, the schedules are not strict (usually gets out with delay) and the final destination (Nahuelpan station) is much more commercially orientated that we would have expected. But the trip is nice, our guide was a cook woman (Erika) and if you're there it's to make a trip to the past, trying to imagine how was life at that time in one of the last frontiers of Patagonia.
La Trochita is a great way to experience travelling through Patagonia the way the early settlers did. It's a short trip now, from Esquel to Nahuel Pan station and back, but the stunning scenery of the Andes foothills and the puffing little steam train itself make wonderful photo subjects!
Muy linda excurcion , pude ver desde que sale la maquina , hasta que va enganchando los vagones , lo malo que salio el sábado 7 de marzo 50 minutos tarde por que no encendía la maquina , tiene sus años , no ir con el tiempo justo para luego salir a la ruta a otros lados.Nahuel pan para para cambiar la maquina de sentido , da tiempo para visitar los negocios y comer desde choripan hasta empanadas caseras , y el regreso con canciones mapuches y guia.Hay que hacerla si o si si vas a Esquel y reservarla antes , siempre va lleno OJO !!
Hay, qué viaje hermoso en ese tren tan antiguo, llegando a Nahauel Pa, comiendo esas roscas fritas, y comprando cosas hermosas, y luego volviendo por entre los peñascos, el terreno que va de árboles a pequeños arbustos de zona ceca. No se puede ir a Esquel sin ir a La Trochita.!
Another example of price gouging for tourists - $120 pesos for Argentine nationals and $210 pesos for everyone else, and if you do not book ahead with a credit card via one of the any agencies in Esquel or the surrounding tourist towns - forget it. The train station itself is open 2 hours before the train leaves at 1000 am, but bizarrely, the ticket office is only open at the same time as the terrible museum - 0900 am. So you only have one hour to get tickets for the same day. The staff are unhelpful and rude, and the train itself did not look that amazing - the novelty wears off once you look at it. You must time the visit to coincide with good weather because the scenery is not that amazing if cloudy. It is better to look out of the window on your way to or from Esquel as the mountains are just as beautiful there without the train. Not as romantic as you would believe...if trains are your thing, by all means do it, but US$70 is just not worth it.
Unique in the world because of the width of the trail this gem of trains was listed by a BBC journalist as a Rembrandt, indicating as a unique and wonderful. Unmissable travel in Winter with firewood inside in a little stove (called salamandra). In his tour visits an Indian reservation patagonica (Nahuel Pan)
Absolutely recommended!! We enjoyed it very much, especially the kids, who liked the ancient train and seats, very different from present.
Fuimos de Esquel a Nahuel -Pan. Locomotora a vapor y vagones de época recorriendo la estepa patagónica.Un viaje en el tiempo. Una linda experiencia tomarse un café con torta en el vagón comedor, chiquito, con las cortinitas a la antigua! Lo curioso, sentirse uno parte de la atracción cuando al pasar por los pasos a nivel, la gente de los autos detenidos, al ver pasar el tren nos salude y tome fotos! Muy recomendable, sobretodo para los niños de 10/12 años.
Una experiencia distinta ,un viaje que no es muy largo,paisajes muy bellos,muy buena información proporcionada por los guias,y bastante económica comparada con otras excursiones de la zona.No dejen de hacerlo, no se arrepentirán.
For train fans around the world, or visitors who simply want to enjoy a ride and experience this original, 1922 narrow-gauge steam train travelling through the immense Patagonian landscape, "La Trochita" is a must!