Parque Leoncito | Established Campground

Argentina

Details

Verified:
7 days ago
Altitude:
2317.0 masl
Phone:
None
Contributor:
Get out of Town

Amenities

Electricity:
No
Wifi:
No
Kitchen:
No
Restaurant:
Yes
Showers:
Hot
Water:
Yes
Toilets:
Running Water
Big Rig Friendly:
Yes
Tent Friendly:
Yes
Pet Friendly:
No
Sanitation Dump Station:
No

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Description

One of our favorite campgrounds on the whole trip.
- PN Leoncito is one of the best-maintained parks we have come across since the US
- there is wifi and hot showers by the entrance to the park, camping is within walking distance
- plenty of grills and wood you can use for an asado
- very nice location
- activities: two observatories (preferably one during the night), do a short walk to the waterfall and a longer one to a mountain Leoncito nearby (8 km, 4 hours)

- if you sleep in your vehicle, you can park by the ranger station so that you are within range of the wifi.

Update April 2022: no showers this time of the year, Toilets and water available and still as nice and free as described

Update nov 2023: no WiFi, no Claro signal. Just you and the stars. Hot showers and hot water. Restaurant was closed.

Update Feb 2024: Restaurant is open from 6pm to 9pm. Everything else as mentioned above.

+542646304495 is the Whatsapp number of the ranger station: ask for updates about camping or say hi to receive an automatic reply with the links for reservations to visit the observatories.

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Latest Check-Ins

Friendly people. Don't expect too much of the "hot" showers. At least in off season (end of March) both toilets and showers were open from 8pm to 8am. There was no light in the bathroom. I couldn't perceive any difference between the "hot" and the "cold" water. Small restaurant run by friendly ladies is still open. Good base for astrtourism.

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hermoso camping, gratis, con baños y duchas con agua caliente por la noche. no hay señal con claro. el almacén solo está abierto algunos días. no tiene tomas de luz.el agua es potable.

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The kiosk and restaurant are open from 6pm to 9pm. They have snacks, cold beers, softdrinks and water. To eat you can order omelette or milanesa with salad. Showers open from 8pm to some time in the morning. You can just pull up in your camper or pitch your tent at any time. Benches, tables and firepits everywhere.

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Excellent campground. There was water, showers (from 2000-0800) with hot water, toilets and a small kiosk. We went on a nice 9 km hike and even though it was hot the breeze made it doable. Very quiet and night and you can do the observatory tour (2130-2300) at night and check out the stars and planets. 3G or lte at times.

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Very beutiful camping. we were able to park our rv with our fireplace close to it and a meter away from an small water course.
The only downside was that the first part of the night our neighbors were a little noisy (high season ene-24). Absolutely incredible night skies.

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Great place, friendly rangers, everything free. Hot water even before 8 pm. We were the only guests staying overnight. Amazing place, in this desert/mountain range. Must go, even if you don’t spot puma’s.

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Stayed 2 nights and had 1 of the 2 campervan spots. Camping is free with hot showers from 10pm-8am. There’s even a café and a little store to buy drinks and snacks. The main hike to Cerró Leoncito was beautiful and the short(600M) hike to the waterfall was nice. We had fires each night(plenty of firewood around campsite) and there were many friendly campers. Highly recommend this campsite!

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Pn the leoncito. Small camping area without light, showers at night. Babies and pilestones to wash behind the sanitary. Free admission, without reservation. Small supplied and daytime rest. Access to observatories with reservation and payment. Tables and Stovers . in at 18hs

pn El leoncito. zona de camping pequeña sin luz, duchas a la noche. canillas y piletas para lavar detrás de los sanitarios. entrada gratuita, sin reserva. pequeña proveeduría y resto diurno. acceso a los observatorios con reserva y pago visita nocturna. mesas fogoneros. ingreso hasta las 18hs

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Nice camping in the park with showers from 8pm to 8am. Water access all the time. Good for tents and motorhome, there are also places for barbecue. Free but we were asked to collaborate to use the bathroom. Perfect place to spend the night after the astronomical center visit ! We were advised to be careful with pumas… (Leoncitos!)

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Still free, camping and park. Only two sites really well suitable for RVs. Sanitary in excellent conditions. The ladies from the restaurant/shop look after it. When restaurant open the bathrooms are locked, key at the restaurant. At night open,. shower 8PM to 8AM. Dishwashing facilities with hot water.

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Rosmarie&Peter
Beautiful park with 1 great hike and 2 small walks. Unfortunately no water, no shower, toilets are dirty and not maintained.

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We were going to sleep at the campsite (free), and we had warned the ranger (mandatory for security) however, the weather was very closed with rain and we decided to continue. But before that we took the opportunity to take a shower, which was very hot 😉.
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Iríamos dormir no camping (gratuito), e tínhamos avisado o guarda parque (obrigatório por segurança) porém, o tempo estava muito fechado de chuva e decidimos seguir. Mas antes aproveitamos para tomar banho, que era bem quente 😉.

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Camping GRÁTIS no parque. Excelente local com Chuveiros e banheiros grátis. Único problema é as moscas até as 21hrs(Muitas mesmo), incomoda bastante.

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Nice campsite, Nice national park, you can go on 3 hikes. Showering was only open on Sundays (on Saturday evening there was a press to make the place better known)?!?

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Beautiful campground, perfect for RVs. It has a slight slope that is not ideal for tents. Fireplaces in all the campsites. PETS NOT ALLOWED

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What an amazing park!
Wonderful walks to Cerro Leoncito and Cascade. Unfortunately, showers and kiosko closed. Observatory open. Stayed 5 days, almost alone. Very quiet and relaxing.

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We don't have a lot to add to the detailed descriptions below, but currently no showers (neither cold nor hot). Toilets and sinks are still available.

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Still there still free and as described! No showers in April, sooo disappointed 😭 this time of the year the restaurant is just open during weekend, but anyway a nice place to stay.

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Nice camping, free, hot shower, not too crowdy but not a lot of flat ground spot (2-3) for campervan.
If you want to watch stars in the observatories, book in advance, with the covid time it's full until march...

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Everything in the park is free. And one of the previous comments is wrong, it has a lot of room for at least 10 vehicle. The lady of the Tourist Office of the previous city Uspaallata, has the park phone number to see if you want to book but nobody answered all day. The lady of the tourist office told me that at 17h there was no one in the park is wrong. The showers are hot and free but we do not just take them from 20h. And for the observatory you have to book in advance (in the day SA sufficient) by going directly to see them or calling them (2648441087)! Great place it's a treat

Tout dans le parc est gratuit. Et un des précédents commentaires est faux, il a beaucoup de place pour au moin 10 véhicule. La dame de l'Office du tourisme de la ville précédente Uspallata, a le numéro de téléphone du parc pour apeller si vous voulez réserver mais personne n'a répondu toute la journée. la dame de l'Office du tourisme m'a dit qu'à 17h il n'y avait plus personne dans le parc c'est faux. Les douches sont chaude et gratuite mais on peu les prendre seulement à partir de 20h. Et pour l'observatoire il faut réserver à l'avance (dans la journée sa suffis) en allant directement les voir ou en les appelant (2648441087)! super endroit c'est un régale

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we spent 1 night camping. You have to reserve the place, or notify the park ranger when you arrive because there are only 2 places for motorhomes. It is free, but on weekends they charge for the shower.
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Pasamos 1 noche. Hay que reservar o avisar al guardaparque porque solo hay 2 lugares para motorhomes. El Camping es gratis pero los fines de semana cobran la ducha.

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the best! el mejor. duchas calientes/warm. FREE

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the best! el mejor. duchas calientes/warm. FREE

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Free camping. Beatiful place. Lugar tranquilo para pasear y pasar la noche.

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one of the best places in Barreal. the camping is so nice. a lot or fire places, and wood to use. nobody there inmtjis time.
there is a small market they sold beer,.and some.food.
the showers are the best in my trip...very hot and strong.
I went to the observatory...$500 per person. 1 hour we saw the stars, the half moon and the explain a lor intresting thing.
there is some trails to hike. I did the water falls..is nice and easy. 2hs
and all this is Free...amazing. enjoy and dont lose this place

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Very nice free camping. Clean facilities. Friendly staff, nice walks.

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This pretty El Leoncito National Park is very untused, which a pleasant pleasant surprises is free, the shaded campsite, shelter of the wind, with toilet, shower and barbecue is free, a hike to Cerro Leoncito 4h, and a visit of the astronomical dayside observatory where even better at night at the night .... What to do more ????

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Very beautiful camping site. Clean toilets and showers. No electricity on the camping/ parking spots.

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Great quiet shady camping spot with very presentable hot showers and loos - loo paper too. Did cerro Leoncito walk, 2 hrs up, start early. Lovely hard core desert views. Waterfall very muddy on our visit. All free

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Great place ! All the facilities are for free and wifi at the ranger office. Not too much flat space to park but that's fine.
Nice hike to cerro leoncito and great night star. Very friendly rangers they have dogs and do not mention pets are not allowed so it should be fine !

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Confirming all other posts. Free, clean bathrooms with hot showers. It is dry, and windy, and cold at night in October. A tree blew down near the campground while we were there. The sunset and night sky were amazing.

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beautiful park, nice ranger and free camping with hot showers, parrilla, clean bathrooms. all you might need 😃

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Agree with all the good comments! Nice place, very kind people, nice walks with incredible view, good Wifi at reception... The campground is well maintained with warm showers all the time. You only need a little patience to wait for the hot water.

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Agree with all good comments. Very friendly staff. Good Personal/Movistar reception in campground. Longer hike to Leoncito is spectacular; wish we had had more Geology knowledge! Stayed three nights.

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Awesome place! Nice rangers! Free!
This site is better maintained than a lot of payed campsites .. 100% recommend.
The place has enough space for parking. Though you cannot drive directly to the nearby benches and fireplaces still good.

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Very nice location indeed, and totally free. Quiet, we were totally alone.
Although: cold showers, no toilet paper, almost no wood for the parillas...
Potable water available at the entrance.
In all still recommended.

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Very nice camping, big trees with shadows. Firewood. Hot showers were really epic, whole day and night. Activities in the park are: 2 observatories, we visited the closer one. Only espaňol. They showed us few stars in telescope, opened in the evening approx. From 20:30. 3 walking trails. We did the “Cerro Leoncito”, whis is 8 km. You climb the very beautiful hill with 360 degrees view. It took us 3,5 hours, take enough water. They will not let you start the trail after 3 p.m!! Other walking trails are shorter.

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Waaaauw! This place is the best. All facilities for FREEEEE!

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Unbelievable Hot Water, showers, washing dishes, washing clothes, washing your face.
There are only two level spots for rigs in the dusty parking lot. The spots for tents are equally as dusty.

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See other descriptions.

Nice, quiet (weekend) and free campground.
Toilet and bath room klean

0 pesos (2 pax + travelcar)

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just one thing : the sites at the camping, are not accessible by car, so only tents can get in (and bikes, of course). In the parking, only one place is flat. And the parking is very dusty by dry weather. So, we left with our rooftop tent....

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Got here on a Sunday. First check in at info office a little further along the road but no fee. Was open and we found a fairly level spot in parking area. Wifi did not work all the time and as mentioned only at info building. There are some flying bugs mostly in the sun but don't seem to bite. Note: you must register to do the mountain hike but not the shorter one. Cesco observatory costs 200ARG and no need to book; just show up about 7:45 but drive carefully as sun will be in your eyes heading up there and we almost drove off the edge!; other observatory does requires advance reservation.

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Very nice campground. We were here 2 night, all alone. Super friendly staff (guardaparque). Hot shower, Wi-Fi, parilla's, one short walk, one medium walk(all for free). Visit of 2 observatories(@marginal cost).

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Great free campground with bathrooms and hot showers. Just register at the front office. We spent a quiet night here and had the place all to ourselves. Probably a bit busier during summer. Hiking trails and the observatory were awesome.

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arrived at the park and found it close and no camping because of a wild cat!! Recommendation go to the park office in town, the isite didn't tell us about this.

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Une bonne partie du parc est fermé dont le camping et les seniers. La raison est une présence de puma que les guardia parque n’arrivent pas à éloigner des zones fréquentées par les visiteurs. Seul les 2 observatoires sont ouvert ! Impossible de passer la nuit la même dans un camping car... dommage !

Parc closed because of puma ! Only the observatories are open.

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It is open now! And it is really the best camping places we've been. Very clean bathrooms and even with toilet paper! Free Wi-Fi at the reception. There are two trekking path and you can visit the obervatorio at day or at night. It is an amazing place!

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Still closed. Came here for the second time, first time febr 7th. I figured they would have fixed the road by now, not so. They could at least have put up a sign at the turn off of the main road and save everybody a 20 km useless drive. :-(

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Due to heavy rain the park is closed (they have no water). Check the internet before coming here.

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Great Camping with hot showers, modern restrooms, fireplaces and BBQ Grills and is for free! Also the dish wash stations are with hot water! The place is made for tent campers. If you sleep in your car it is not easy to find a level spot in the parking lot but we could level out our cars. We spent 3 nights here at Christmas. We were the only guests beside an older argentinian couple. WIFI at the Ranger Station did not work.

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We confirm what had been said before. Interesting visits, well managed park, clean and well maintenanced facilities- all for free!
Only downside: currently many nasty, biting small flies.

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They even have warm water for washing the dishes! A really really nice place, just be aware that there are a ton of little flies (at least this time of the year). That can be a little bit of a hassle, but they don't do anything, they just constantly fly around you.
The hiking was nice, but I have to say though that I was disappointed by the night observatory tour. Perhaps we were unlucky because there were several school classes with us that day and the guys from the observatory seemed to be slightly overwhelmed with the situation.

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Very well maintained park. Clean washrooms and hot showers. Free entrance. Free wifi at the ranger station. Nice and friendly park rangers. The hiking trails are very well signed and interesting, so are the observatories. The campground is basic though, with limited flat spots for vehicles/tents. No electricity and no water at sites. Overnight stay allowed ONLY in the campground or at the ranger station.

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We confirm all previous comments. definitely a place where to stay 2-4 days.

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This is definitely worth taking the short 12km detour from RP149 (of which only 5km is unpaved) to the visitor centre and camping area. The Guardaparque were very friendly and helpful, and the hot showers were amazing! We ended up staying for three nights.. we did both hikes together easily within the 4 hours allowed just for Cerro Leoncito. We visited the CASLEO observatory ($20pp) during the day, and were also lucky enough to have a moonless night so our evening visit to the Cesco observatory ($100pp) was really worthwhile! Make sure you wear warm clothes, the Cesco telescopes are outside. As has been mentioned in most previous posts, it's incredible that this Park and camping are free, the facilities are modern and well maintained.. the detour would be worth it even just for the shower!

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This place is in wrong location - it is located at -31.79570, -69.33502

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beautiful place cannot add any information, exept the water! Bring enough water or you carrying a Waterfilter (water taste good, but mixed up with sediments).

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Very recommended area! Website of Parque Nacional El Leoncito is www.elleoncito.gob.ar

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just repeating what everyone has said here. Best camp site we've stayed at in 4 weeks. everything is free, 2 treks you can do, and see the observatory. very clean facilties all modern. easily spent few days here. we also saw a puma!

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like the others said, its really a great place to spend some days/nights in this very well mantained park with really nice and helpful staff and camping is free (bbq/hot showers/wifi by the reception)

we did the night-tour by the smaller telescope (100 p.p.), visited both telescope during the day (30/20 p.p.) very recommended!!!!

we also did both walking-tours (2,5 km and 7,5 km), we loved the the scenery and the tranquill landscape.

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It's hard to believe that this place is free! Baños are new, hot water is available 24/7, wifi works perfectly at the reception and around. Hikes are available and they have an observatory with the largest telescope of South America!
Staff is very helpful and friendly. The only thing that is missing here is the lighting of the camping area. But everything else is just great. And it's free!!!

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un parc absolument magnifique qui mérite le détour. Le camping est gratuit avec des sanitaires tout neufs, eau chaude et froide à volonté, barbecues et bois disponible, tables et bancs ombragés, wifi devant le bureau d'accueil des gardes du parc. Les gardes sont très sympas, ils connaissent parfaitement le parc et nous ont expliqué plein de choses intéressantes. Nous sommes allés à l'observatoire le soir et là encore c'est très intéressant. La balade jusqu'à la cascade est splendide.
Nous avons passé 2 nuits là-bas. C'était très tranquille et nous le recommandons vivement ! il manquait juste un peu d'ombre pour les camping car.
Ne manquez pas le parque Leoncito !

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Cannot believe this place is free - and with actual hot showers and clean bathrooms !! One of our favourite campgrounds in Argentina. No there's not a lot to see or do in this national park, but the campground and the drive on RN149 are definitely worth the slight detour from the RN40. We spent a couple of days here - asado, laundry, hammock time... And the staff are super friendly and helpful - they can provide information about many other parks in Argentina.

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Perfect place! All for free, and very nice staff.

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Wow! Hot water. Slow but serviceable Internet. Free. We are the only ones here. Very beautiful spot.

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yes it's a nice,well maintained park. The campground facilitys are in good shape, showers are hot and the rest is clean. Good an free wifi in front of the near by ranger station. Best of all everything is free and the staff is very nice.

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Wow! Great place, one of my favorite: new toilets and hot shower, clean campsite with BBQ spot (like always in Argentina), and WiFi at the reception! Apparently the waterfall is more impressive in october/november. Nice staff! You can easily spent 2 nights here.

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Agree with everyone else and adding that pets are welcome. They just ask that you leash them.

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Brand new baños/showers work. Good internet, quiet, planetarium tour informative. Nice staff, nice walks.

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nice place for one night

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Great campsite and park, totally free! Wifi, hot showers & bathrooms at ranger station. Very quiet. Fire pits, firewood, trails, a really cute cat. Take a visit to the smaller planetarium at night for a view into space while sipping on complimentary sugared up nescafe! Don't remember the price, but it was pretty cheap!

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Great. Free! New baños built next to campsite but not working. Short walk to old baños at ranger station. Fire places and bbqs. Water, but not potable according to ranger. Did nighttime viewing tour of smaller telescope site, and daytime tour of larger telescope site. Well recommended.

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Free, which is crazy. Nice park with free entrance and free camping. Camp area has BBQs, tables, water. Bathrooms and showers at the visitor center are warm but otherwise average. Free wifi at visitor center also. The observatory opens for night sky viewing around 9:30 in the evening - the night we were there we had some cloud cover so we didn't get to check anything out, but even back at the campsite, more stars than I've ever seen. The park seems huge, apparently due part to the fact that they wanted to protect the area from light pollution. Job well done.

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- free
- one of our favourite campgrounds on the whole trip
- PN Leoncito is one of the best maintained parks we have come across since the US
- there is wifi and hot showers by the entrance to the park, the camping is in walking distance
- plenty of grills and wood you can use for an asado
- very nice location
- there is not much to do in the park except to visit the two observatories (preferably one during the night), do a short walk to the waterfall and a longer one to a mountain nearby (4 hours)
- if you sleep in your vehicle, you can park by the ranger station so that you are within range of the wifi

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