Esplendor El Calafate
"El Calafate, a dusty, Patagonian steppe town fronting Lago Argentina, survives entirely on visitors to the three-mile-wide Perito Moreno glacier, 50 miles westward. Observing its huge columns of ice calve and collapse is a compelling day trip; the Esplendor, unveiled in 2006 by Argentina’s Grupo Fën, can also arrange hikes on the ice itself. Sadly, the hotel’s boxy exterior is both prominent and unhandsome, but designer Martín Churba, whose Tramando clothing brand retails in Greenwich Village, has produced a lavish yet uncluttered interior. Flowing canvas drapes, 15-foot leather sofas, and tables of wind-scored quebracho hardwood divide the ground-floor public space. The 57 chocolate-and-burgundy rooms, encircling a soaring atrium, are Scandinavian in their simplicity: in place of a welcoming bowl of fruit, an earlobe-shaped table proffers two pebbles. Diners can savor Patagonian king crab, venison and lamb, fused with fruits, herbs and wines, while gazing over turquoise, glacial waters and the gulley-scythed mountains beyond. When to Go: Avoid the stormy chill of Patagonia’s June-August winter. Which room to book: Picture windows in the three suites form a triptych of Lago Argentina."
