Glaciers and Gauchos in Chile and Argentina — A Journey to Patagonia

Fly to Santiago de Chile — be prepared for a long flight, approximately 10 hours.

Santiago is Chile’s lively capital city. The country’s largest airport is here, and it’s also the largest city in the country. We will explore a variety of urban experiences. Check in at your accommodation. Late afternoon/evening leisure sightseeing and dinner.

We will take a walking tour around two to three hours. We will wander through the Plaza de Armas, Metropolitan Cathedral, Central Post Office, Mapuche statue, Casa de Pedro Neruda, Palacio de la Moneda, Cerró San Cristobal, Bellavista, etc., to learn about life in Chile.

Although Valparaiso and Viña del Mar are two different places, I’ve grouped these cities together because they’re neighbors and quite easy to visit on the same trip. This tour includes pick up and drop off from/to your hotel in Santiago.

Punta Arenas is located on the very southern tip of Chile is the town of Punta Arenas. Just look at it on the map! It literally looks like it’s on the end of the world. Check-in at your Punta Arenas. Dinner at the hotel or wander the streets to explore Plaza de Armas and surroundings.

Close to Punta Arenas, the biggest city in the south of Chile, we will go on an excursion to Isla Magdalena, an island which more than 50,000 penguins call home! This is a full-day excursion to see the northern part of the big island of Tierra del Fuego, the little town of Porvenir— and the impressive King penguin colony along Useless Bay.

Check-out from Punta Arenas. Bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, around three to four hours. Buses leave every hour. Check-in at your hotel in Puerto Natales.

This is a full-day excursion involving moderate physical intensity, to visit the major attractions of the Última Esperanza province. These include the Mylodon Cave and the famous Torres del Paine National Park with many stops in between.

A full-day Estancia tour is a perfect way to live and learn about life at a Patagonian ranch combined with navigation through the fjords, adventurous activities such as horseback riding and/or relax at the estancia with a typical lamb BBQ. You will meet intelligent sheepdogs and learn how through holistic livestock management perform responsible shearing of the sheep and how the process and classification of wool work.

Check out from Puerto Natales and we will head by bus to El Calafate – this bus will cross the border into Argentina. The bus ride takes about five hours to reach the border town of El Calafate. Check-in at your hotel and enjoy an Argentinian parrilla dinner.

Full day excursion to Los Glaciares National Park and a closer look to Perito Moreno Glacier, a pristine marvel towering nearly 200 ft above Lake Argentina. We will go over the walkways that complete 4 kilometers in front of the glacier. We will also take one hour boat tour to appreciate the amazing ice wall of the Perito Moreno Glacier and its icebergs at a closer distance.

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city in Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of Río de la Plata. "Buenos Aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs". Check-in at your hotel. Want to start our journey watching some street tango? Let’s go to Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo and enjoy a dinner in one of those street restaurants.

Get ready for a Buenos Aires city tour, walking La Recoletta, Teatro Colón, El Ateneo bookstore, etc. With a lunch break at one of those famous coffee shops, followed by a steakhouse house dinner Argentinian style.

We will cross the Women Bridge which connects Eastern and Western docks (all streets have women names). We can have lunch at their famous Café Tortoni. After a lunch break or siesta we will take a late afternoon bus tour to explore some of the main sites such as The National Congress Building, Palacio Barolo, Evita's Mural, Life & Secrets, Plaza de Mayo, Colonial Town Hall & Revolution, Cathedral & Pope Francis, Mothers of the May Square, 70s Dictatorship and those who went missing, Actual Argentine economy & politics, Casa Rosada (Pink Government House).

We will close our journey saying goodbye to Buenos Aires after a Tango show and dinner on our last night.