My review will cover how we visited Cueva de las Manos from the south and also provide an update on the ticket price situation.  We visited the prehistoric site in March 2025.

El Chalten to Gobernador Gregores: Light rain causes detour

Our visit to southern Patagonia started in El Calafate, where we rented a compact car (automatic drive) for five days at the cost of 416,688 Argentinian pesos, which was $549.86 Canadian (or approximately $383 USD).  We decided to rent a car because bus tickets around Patagonia were very expensive.  For example, a return bus ticket between El Calafate and the town of (not the glacier) Perito Moreno would have cost as much as a whopping $728 Canadian (or approximately $508 USD) for the two of us.

From El Calafate, we then travelled to El Chalten from a few days of hiking.

From El Chalten to Cueva de Las Manos was a 7 to 8 hour drive.  As such, we decided to split up the drive by staying in the town of Gobernador Gregores for a night, which was approximately 4 hours drive from El Chalten.  Reserving lodging in the town proved to be easy as there was a decent amount of options.

On our drive to Gobernador Gregores, we encountered a police roadblock in a small town called Tres Lagos.  Despite the light drizzling of rain, the police told us that Route 40 was closed due to bad road conditions.  We were resting at a local cafe trying to figure out what to do, when travellers who arrived at Tres Lagos from the opposite direction informed us that the Route 40 was actually very passable and that they could not understand why the police were not letting us through. 

We eventually convinced the police to let us proceed past the roadblock by promising to take a different, albeit longer, route to Gobernador Gregores.  This detour, i.e., Route 288, was a gravel road, and the police felt that the road would be more passable than the closed portion of Route 40, which had more clay.  I would never describe Route 288 as a pleasant drive, but it was tolerable.  The detour probably added another hour to our drive.

Gobernador Gregores is not a tourist town, unlike El Calafate and El Chalten, but it does have amenities, including at least one large supermarket/department store and a gas station.

Gobernador Gregores to Cueva de las Manos: Smooth ride until it isn't

We left Gobernador Gregores next morning at 7:20 a.m. for Cueva de las Manos.  Route 40 to Cueva de las Manos was mostly paved, but some stretches had nasty potholes.  The access road to Cueva de las Manos appears very soon after Bajo Caracoles - which is essentially a few buildings and a gas station - so keep your eyes peeled for the sign to the access road.  

This gravel and clay access road is the same road that Els Slots took, except we arrived at it from the south.  Our compact car did not have much issues with the road, but the road did get slippery, so I had my two hands firmly to the steering wheel and slowed down at the curves. 

Cueva de las Manos: Experiencing prehistoric art with slow walkers

We arrived at Cueva de las Manos around 10:15 a.m., which really should have been later had I driven more safely.  We missed the 10 a.m. tour, but I am not sure if there was even an 10 a.m. tour as there were no other cars in the parking lot that could have belonged to a visitor. 

I pause to note that the ticket price was 36,000 Argentinian pesos.  Based on the exchange rate provided my Visa credit card, one ticket cost me $45.66 Canadian or approximately $33 USD.  Meaning, the price of a ticket increased by 175% in one year.

The next tour was 11 a.m., so we checked out the tiny museum in the visitor's centre and then walked down towards Rio Pinturas to kill time.  The canyon and its surroundings (photo) were fantastic to see, and I wish we had more time to hike it.

At the 11 a.m. tour, we were joined by a large tour group composed of excruciatingly slow walkers and a couple (of perfectly acceptable speed) from United Kingdom.  Our guide gave the tour in both Spanish and English.  Although I had seen many photos of the stenciled hands and the rock art, it is quite an experience to be at the exact spots where people stood 9,000 years ago to leave personal imprints of themselves.

The tour lasted an hour and a half, rather than the typical one hour, partially because our guide was thorough and partially because the tour group members moved so slowly.  

After the tour, we drove 8 hours to El Calafate, with a stop at Gobernador Gregores for dinner.  Interestingly, it rained heavily on our way back, but there was no police roadblock on Route 40 going south from Gobernador Gregores to Treg Lagos.  Our compact car managed the drive on the gravel and clay road, but not without teeth-shattering bumps as we hit the road's many rough spots.