This tour combines exciting big city experiences with a true nature adventure in the Patagonian wilderness with huge glaciers, snow-capped mountains and turquoise lakes.
You can look forward to experiencing the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, with its charming boulevards and colourful neighbourhoods.
From here, the magical nature of Patagonia awaits you, with visits to both the Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park and Torres del Paine National Park, with its iconic rock towers after which the national park is named.
The tour ends in the Chilean capital, Santiago de Chile, which is famous for its skyscrapers, green parks and exciting and charming neighbourhoods with their beautiful historic buildings.
Departure from your chosen airport bound for Argentina with connecting flight(s) on the way.
Welcome to Buenos Aires! The city is referred to as South America’s answer to Paris due to its wide boulevards, cosy neighbourhoods and impressive architecture. A fantastic atmosphere awaits you here with a cosy café scene, vibrant city life and melancholic tango culture. You have three nights in this wonderful city, giving you time to really soak in the atmosphere.
On your arrival at the airport, you will be met by your guide, who will drive you to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please.
You might like to go for a walk down the pedestrian thoroughfare, Florida Street, or relax on a bench on General San Martín Square, named after José de San Martín, Argentina’s national hero who helped lead the revolutions against Spanish rule in Argentina.
In the evening, we recommend purchasing the “Taste of Argentina” excursion, which provides an exciting insight into Argentinian food culture and traditions. If you are going to participate in this excursion, you should consider just having a light lunch, as a feast of delicious Argentinian specialities awaits you.
Today, you will be going on an exciting 4-hour guided tour of the city which takes you to some of its biggest attractions.
Among other places, you will visit the charming old working-class district of La Boca, known for its colourful houses. The area was originally an old shipyard, and the poor workers built their houses from surplus materials and paint from the ships. The houses were therefore very higgledy-piggledy and painted in a multitude of colours, as there was never usually enough paint for an entire house.
Buenos Aires’ oldest district San Telmo is now an exciting artists’ neighbourhood where you will among other things find many of the famous tango bars.
You will also visit the upscale Palermo and Recoleta districts, and you make a stop at the Recoleta Cemetery, where many famous Argentines are buried. Among others, you will visit the tomb of Eva Perón, the Argentines’ much-loved first lady, better known as Evita.
The port area of Puerto Madero is where you will find a lot of hip bars and restaurants. This is also where the beautiful Puente de la mujer footbridge is located.
The guided tour continues down the world’s widest boulevard, Avenida 9 de Julio, to the famous obelisk, one of the city’s historic landmarks. You continue down to Avenida Corrientes, where the city’s theatres and cinemas are gathered, among them Teatro Colón – their beautiful opera house.
You will also see many of the city’s magnificent squares, and you will visit Plaza de Mayo, where the iconic Casa Rosada government building is located, as well as Plaza de las Naciones Unidas with its beautiful flower sculpture, Floralis Genérica.
The excursion is by minibus, with photo stops along the way.
The morning is yours to do as you please. You should also be sure to experience a real Argentinian tango show (optional extra). The show is a mix of music and dance from all over Argentina, but dominated by the beautiful melancholic tango performed by skilled dancers. Look forward to a delicious Argentinian dinner with great steaks and wine and a fantastic show in stunning surroundings.
You have the day to yourself to explore Buenos Aires. Perhaps there’s a neighbourhood you’d like to get to know better, or you’ve opted for a local Parilla (steak house) for lunch.
On the eastern side of Puerto Madero, you will find a beautiful oasis in the heart of the city: the 8 km2 Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur nature reserve. It’s a lovely place to go for a walk and home to an abundance of birds and other wildlife. It is also a popular destination for the city’s residents, who are known as Porteños. Please note that the reserve is closed on Mondays.
You can also purchase an optional excursion to the Tigre Delta, north of Buenos Aires, or how about experiencing the city from the saddle of a bicycle?
You leave the capital and head south to Patagonia to the small town of El Calafate, where amazing nature experiences await. Upon your arrival, you may well get the feeling that you’ve come to a completely different country. The contrast between the vibrant, colourful capital and the quiet little town located on Patagonia’s vast plain on the shores of the scenic Lago Argentino is immense.
You have the rest of the day to yourself to go on a walk along the city’s cosy main street, which is lined by small restaurants and shops. For dinner, we recommend a dish made with guanaco or lamb, which the area is famous for. The guanaco lives in the wild in Patagonia and is related to the llama.
Today you will be going on a full-day guided tour of Los Glaciares National Park. It is the largest national park in Argentina, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for good reason. The park covers an area of more than 6,000 km2 consisting of huge glaciers, snow-capped mountains, the turquoise glacier lake and barren plains.
You will visit the most famous and most accessible glacier of them all, the mighty Perito Moreno. The glacier measures roughly 30 km in length, 5 km in width and, in some places, is more than 70 meters high. What’s special about this glacier is that it’s not getting smaller. Most of the world’s glaciers are melting due to global warming and getting smaller year by year, but Perito Moreno is managing to replace as much ice as is melting away.
After arriving at the national park, you will go on a short boat ride in front of the glacier, where you can take some fantastic pictures, and really get a sense of just how enormous the glacier actually is. You might even be lucky enough to see the glacier calve, as it is called when large pieces of ice break off with a loud crack.
After the boat trip, you will have time on your own to walk along marked footbridges around the park and enjoy the impressive scenery from several different angles.
Before starting your walk by the glacier, you can buy lunch (not included) in the small cafeteria by the car park. We recommend that you take your lunch with you and enjoy it along the way on a bench overlooking the Perito Moreno Glacier.
After spending a few hours at the glacier, you will be driven back to your hotel, and the rest of the evening is yours to do as you please.
You have the day to yourself in El Calafate. If you’re interested in hiking, we recommend an optional excursion to El Chaltén, which is probably the most famous trekking area in Argentina, where you will discover impressive nature with picturesque lagoons and dramatic mountains, including the iconic Mount Fitz Roy.
You can also explore El Calafate, which, among other things, has a fascinating bird sanctuary, Laguna Nimez, located just north of the city. Many different species can be seen here, including the black-necked swan, the black-headed ibis and the colourful flamingo. A walk along the shores of Lake Argentino is also wonderful.
Just outside El Calafate is the fascinating Glaciarium, the ice museum where you can learn more about glaciers and the history of the area. There is a free hourly shuttle bus to/from the museum from the centre of El Calafate. There is an ice bar at the museum with temperatures below 0 degrees, where your drinks are served in glasses made of ice. If you are not interested in the museum but would like to experience an ice bar, there are two other ice bars in the centre of El Calafate.
Early this morning, the tour heads south to Puerto Natales in Chile, where you will be spending the next three nights. It is a long bus ride of around 5-6 hours. On the way, you will cross the border into Chile at Cerro Castillo, where there is border control, before continuing on to Puerto Natales.
Puerto Natales is a small city, scenically located by the Ultima Ezperenza (last hope) Sound, surrounded by snow-capped mountain peaks and the Patagonian plains.
Today, you will be going on a full-day excursion to Torres del Paine National Park, one of the most beautiful and amazing national parks in the world. Covering an area of 2,400 km2, the park is located at the southernmost tip of the Andes. It has a unique landscape with snow-capped mountain peaks, glaciers, turquoise lakes, waterfalls, lush valleys and the impressive and famous Torres del Paine rock towers, which the national park is named after.
The first stop of the day is at the ancient cave, Cueva del Milodón, which is located around 25 km from Puerto Natales. There are actually three caves there, as well as a large rock formation called Silla del Diablo (“Devil’s chair”). The largest of the caves is an impressive 30 metres high, 50 metres wide and 200 metres deep. The cave is named after the extinct giant sloth, mylodon darwinii. Fossils of the animal have been found here, and there is a statue of it at the entrance to the cave.
After that, the tour continues to Torres del Paine National Park. First, you come to Laguna Amarga, which is one of the entrances to the national park, and then you drive to the scenic Nordenskjöld and Pehoé lakes. You pass the impressive Salto Grande waterfall, which connects the two lakes by sending cascades of water from Nordenskjöld through a narrow gorge down into Pehoé.
The tour continues to Camp Pehoé, where you can eat your lunch (included) while enjoying the amazing views of Cuernos del Paine, which is reflected in the water of Lake Pehoé – a stunning sight! Afterwards, you will go on a scenic little hike at Grey Lake, which is at the foot of the spectacular glacier of the same name. The Grey Glacier is 30 metres high and 6 km wide, and you will probably see impressive floating icebergs and ice floes on the lake.
The national park is also home to many animal species, and if you’re lucky, you may see condors circling the mountain peaks, nandus and foxes walking around in the bush as well as guanacos, which, unlike other lamas, are not shy and can therefore be photographed right up close.
After this amazing tour in Torres del Paine, you will be driven back to your hotel in Puerto Natales.
The day is yours to explore Puerto Natales on your own. You might like to go for a stroll along the sound to the fun monument, Monumento de la Mano, which depicts a giant hand sticking up out of the ground. At the city museum, Museo Histórico Municipal, you can learn more about the city’s historical roots.
If you haven’t had your fill of the area’s breathtaking scenery, you can purchase a hike in the national park up to the breathtaking Torres del Paine rock towers.
After breakfast, you will be picked up and driven to the airport in Punta Arenas, a drive of around 3.5 hours. From here, you fly to the Chilean capital, Santiago de Chile. You will be met at the airport by your guide, who will drive you to your hotel.
Of Chile’s 18 million or so inhabitants, 6 million live in Santiago de Chile. The Chilean capital enjoys a beautiful location, backed by the snow-clad Andes mountains to the east and the coastal mountain range to the west. Santiago de Chile is a modern and inviting metropolis, with tall skyscrapers and charming quarters; moreover, some of the finest vineyards in the world are located just outside the city.
Today, you will be going on a 3-hour guided tour, taking you to the main sights of the city.
You will be picked up from the hotel and start out with a visit to Piedras Australes, a craft shop which specialises in making jewellery out of the rare, blue lapis lazuli stone, found only in Chile and Afghanistan.
The tour then proceeds to the heart of Santiago de Chile, where you will be able to see the contrast between the capital’s rich history and its impressive, modern buildings.
Here, you will visit Santa Lucía hill, which is believed to be the place where Santiago de Chile was founded by Pedro de Valdivia and from which there is an incredible view of the city. Afterwards, you will visit the central square, Plaza de Armas, which is framed by beautiful buildings such as the Correo Central post office, the country’s largest cathedral with its impressive Baroque-style interiors and the National History Museum, where you can learn about Chile’s history.
Finally, you will see the magnificent neoclassical presidential palace, Palacio de La Moneda, where President Allende committed suicide during the 1973 military coup. You will have the chance to walk around the traditional streets of La Moneda before being driven back to the hotel.
The rest of the afternoon is yours to explore the city on your own or simply relax at the hotel.
The time has finally come for you to bid farewell to Argentina and Chile. You will be driven to the airport to catch your flight back to Europe. You will fly to your chosen airport with connecting flights along the way.
Arrival at your chosen airport after an eventful tour of Argentina and Chile.
Children under 12 years from £3139
Single room supplement from £1669
Emily loves to travel and is extremely passionate about helping others achieve their travel dreams.
