Which Argentine national park is the country's oldest, created in 1934 in northern Patagonia?

Argentina’s oldest national park, created in northern Patagonia, is Nahuel Huapi National Park.

The park surrounds Lake Nahuel Huapi across Argentina’s Río Negro and Neuquén provinces. Its conservation story began in 1903, when explorer and surveyor Francisco Moreno donated land around the lake to the national government for protection. The area became Parque Nacional del Sur in 1922 and was formally renamed Nahuel Huapi National Park in 1934.

That timeline explains a common date mix-up: 1934 marks the modern national-park administration and the park’s present name, while the protected area’s earlier legal history reaches back to 1922 and Moreno’s donation. Argentina’s second national park, Iguazú, was also established in 1934.

Nahuel Huapi covers roughly 7,050 square kilometres and combines Andean peaks, glaciers, lakes, temperate forests and Patagonian steppe. The city of San Carlos de Bariloche lies on its shores, making tourism and conservation especially intertwined.