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Estancia Helsingfors October - April yearly Parque Nacional Los Glaciares Argentine Patagonia Activities

ABOUT ESTANCIA HELSINGFORS - in their own words:
Estancia Helsingfors is located 180 km North of El Calafate. The lodge is surrounded by a stunning landscape, sheltered by coniferous woods that make way to a panoramic view of the lake and the Andes Mountains.

It has 9 comfortable rooms each with private bathrooms (some with jacizzi, others with a Scottish showe), a dining room and a cosy living room; all exquisitely decorated with amazing simplicity, combining warm colours and different textures that harmonize and blend in with the natural environment.

A refined cellar with select Argentine and Chilean wines accompany the delicacies of a remarkable gourmet cuisine.

A total of 18 guests will therefore be able to live and enjoy a personalised service that involves only part of the unique “Helsingfors experience”.

Part of what makes Helsingfors a unique experience is found in its cooking, where our Chef delights our guests with a truly remarkable gourmand cuisine. Helsingfors has its own vegetable garden and a refined cellar with a variety of Argentine and Chilean selected vintage wines that accompany the delicacies of our regional cuisine, where some of the typical local dishes such as the Patagonian lamb or the exquisite trout can be enjoyed.

LOCATION:
Helsingfors is located on the South western margin of Lake Viedma, in the Glaciers National Park- Santa Cruz Province.

Distance from El Calafate: 180km             Approx. journey duration: 3.00h
Distance from El Chalten: 180km              Approx. journey duration: 3.00h
Distance from Río Gallegos: 450km          Approx. journey duration: 6.30h

HISTORY:
The story of Helsingfors is closely related to Alfred Ramstrom’s life, its founder, and it takes place in the beautiful glacier area on the Coast of Viedma Lake.

Alfred Ramstrom arrived in Argentina in the year 1907 after flyng away from Finland, his homeland, which was going through a difficult situation under the Russian Regime.

In 1912, he was employed by the French Company for the building of a large shed on the premises of “La Primera” Ranch, in the area of El Chaltén. He was fascinated by the marvelous views and started breeding horses, which were sold for the acquisition of land for his new ranch in 1917. He gave it the name of “Helsingfors”, which means Helsinski (Finland's capital city) in Swedish.

In November 1919, he got married to María Lissau, on 19th of November, their first and only son, Knud, was born in Punta Arenas.

In 1946, Knud and his wife Filomena started building their own house with clay bricks a few meters away from “Moa” Maria’s house. This house would be extended in 1960 and would come to be the house model to be built 34 years later for the purpose of hosting visitors at Helsingfors.

Knud had a passionate interest in trees, and we owe him a lot for the beautiful grove that we have in Helsingfors at present. He had a great love for coniferous trees for he had the possibility of sowing pine seeds and taking care of them till they became grown-up plants. The first species he sowed were sequoias, which still thrive and are several meters high

In 1969, they decided to sell Helsingfors Ranch to the Susacasa family. Since 1996, Helsingfors welcomes visitors from all over the world and allows them to discover its past, its great beauty and enjoy Patagonia in a unique way.

SERVICES

• Restaurant with three-course fixed meals. Non alcoholic beverages included during meals.
• Laundry (additional cost)Credit Cards accepted - Visa, American Express and MasterCard
• Electricty 220 volts 24 hours
• Internet conenction (Wi-Fi), bringing your own laptop (additional cost)

NOTE:

• Mobile phones have no signal
• We do not have television

ACTIVITIES: Click here for complete details
After arriving to the Hostería, the guide will organize the activities during your stay. These activities will have to be reconfirmed the night before. We remind you that all activities may change according to the weather conditions.