I have visited Peninsula Valdés beginning of December 2022. I was staying in La Tosca Hostel in Puerto Madryn with my girlfriend and we decided to rent an (expensive) car for two days to visit the Península for two days. The car cost 56.000 ARS which was at this time about 80€ per day with the beneficial Westerm Union Blue Dollar rate to obtain Pesos. Petrol for 2 days would cost around 10.000 ARS for about 500-600 km that we drove. In the hostel we were able to take two other travellers with us for the first day so we could share the experience and cost with them which made it for this day slighly less expensive for us than a guided tour in addition to the fact that we do not like guided tours that much as we prefer to take our own speed. 

The drive onto the peninsula is already almost an hour from Puerto Madryn. You will pass by an entry point on which you need to pay the entry fee for the park. After another half an our of driving you will reach the info center which will give you information on flora and fauna of the peninsula. However the information e.g. on Orcas in the water is even within the info center contradictory. So we found it a bit tricky. There is also a viewpoint from which you can see over the landscape which looks pretty much like the rest of the region (many bushes, almost no trees, quite dry).

From the visitor center there is a 5 km drive to Isla de los pajaros which you can see from the shoreline. It´s nice because the legend says that the form of the island inspired Antione de Saint Exupery for his picture with the hat that looks like a Boa swallowing an elephant. Also you can see some of the bids from distance like penguins. 

The rest of the peninsula is very huge. There are only a few points worth the visit like Punta Norte, Punta Delgada and Caleta Valdés. In two days we drove almost 500 km on gravel roads to reach the points (Caleta Valdés twice as we were hoping to see Orcas coming to the beach, but we were unlucky probably because it was too windy.). As a driver I must say I´m not sure if I might have preferred in this case the tour instead of the own car as not that much individualization of the trip was possible by having an own car and it´s obviously more exhausting to drive with a normal car on the gravel roads all the time plus you also have to drive a lot to reach the different spots. The advantage was that we could make a stop here and there to see some of the land animals like rabbits and mainly guanacos aside the road. At the shore points we were not that lucky. We´ve seen the penguin colony which is great as the penguins come really close. The sea elephant and sea lion colony can be seen from the top of the reef at Punta Norte and Caleta Valdés. The fascinating part of an orca trying to grab one of the mammals did not happen when we were there. Additionally Punta Delgada is closed since a long time. I would say it´s not worth getting close to it therefore as the road looks similar to the rest of the peninsula. The only interesting part this ride has is the view on the salinas that mark the lowest points of south america with -42 meters. But again not really worth the ride.

We have stayed the night in the hostel in the supply hub of the peninsula in Puerto Piramides and were able to pick up another traveller to share for the next day. However all in all on the second day we have seen nothing really new. The whale watching tour was closed due to end of season plus stormy weather. The only other highlight we will go for is snorkling with the sea lions at another sea lion colony in Puntoa Lomo near Puerto Madryn which is outside the WHS. 

All in all it´s a great visit with many animals  however also way bigger territiory than a lot think before they go for it and not easy to see all of the fascinating animals.