Valdés Peninsula is the Argentine peninsula famous for southern right whales and a UNESCO-listed wildlife reserve.
It projects from Argentina’s Patagonian coast into the South Atlantic in Chubut Province. The peninsula contains sheltered gulfs, salt lakes, cliffs, beaches, and steppe habitats that support large colonies of marine mammals and seabirds.
UNESCO designated the Natural Protected Area of Península Valdés a World Heritage Site in 1999. Southern right whales visit the sheltered waters to breed and calve, while elephant seals, sea lions, penguins, and orcas are also associated with the surrounding coast.
The peninsula is not the same as Argentina’s much larger Mitre Peninsula at the southeastern end of Tierra del Fuego. Valdés is especially associated with wildlife tourism because several major species can be observed within one protected coastal region.