Restos del Fuerte San José, Colonial fort ruins in Valdes Peninsula, Argentina

Restos del Fuerte San José is a colonial fort ruin located on the northern coast of Valdes Peninsula with preserved foundations of barracks, a chapel, and storage buildings. The remains reveal how the different structures were arranged within the fortification and what the daily layout of this Spanish settlement looked like.

Spanish colonists established the fort in 1779 as a strategic military post to protect shipping routes and counter British expansion into Patagonia. The settlement was part of Spain's effort to secure control over this remote region of South America.

The fort's full name, Fuerte y Puerto de San José de la Candelaria, links the settlement to the Virgin of Candelaria. Its inhabitants were destroyed on 7 August 1810 by a malón of the northern Tehuelche, called gününa kena in the sources, who lived in the area. The site now lies near Fracasso beach, named after the owner of the estancia on whose land the ruins stand.

The ruins lie on the shore of San Andrés cove, about 200 metres from the south-eastern bank of San José Gulf, on the Carlos Ameghino isthmus of Valdes Peninsula. Access is by road from Puerto Madryn, roughly 150 km to the south-east. The site is open ground with no shelter, so bring windproof clothing and sturdy footwear.

A subsidiary settlement called "Puesto de la Fuente" or "Los Manantiales" stood on the south-western shore of the Salina Grande de Valdés, about 30 km south of the fort, on land now belonging to the Los Manantiales estancia. Its approximate coordinates are 42°40′S 64°00′O.