The Ultimate Adventure in Patagonia

Touch down in El Calafate, the gateway to Argentina’s southern wilderness. You’ll be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel, where your guide will give you the lowdown on the adventure ahead. Depending on your arrival time, you can explore the town or head to the shores of Lago Argentino for your first glimpse of Patagonia’s vast, windswept landscapes. In the evening, meet your group over a welcome dinner and get excited for the wild days to come.

Time to dive into the adventure proper. After breakfast, hit the legendary Route 40, cruising across wind-whipped plains towards the remote Luz Divina Parador. Here, you'll gear up and get onto the water, paddling down the meandering La Leona River in double kayaks. This peaceful stretch is framed by wild steppe, distant peaks, and condors soaring overhead. Halfway through, beach the kayaks and lace up your boots for a short hike up Cerro Los Hornos, a fossil-strewn hill that feels like a set piece from Jurassic Park. Think petrified trees, ancient bones, and mind-blowingly old rock formations. At the summit, you'll stop for lunch with sweeping views before hopping back into your kayak to paddle the final stretch to the Turbio stream. From there, load up and roll onwards to El Chalten – a tiny village with a big reputation.

Today, head into the Patagonian wilds for a first real taste of the trails. Leaving El Chalten behind, follow a well-marked path that winds gently uphill through a dense lenga beech forest, where woodpeckers drum and condors sometimes wheel silently overhead. As you climb, views open up over the Fitz Roy River canyon, carved deep into the rock and rushing far below. Keep your eyes peeled for flashes of scarlet – the Magellanic woodpecker is a shy local, but if you spot one, it’s a real treat. After a steady few miles, you arrive at the Cerro Torre viewpoint – a sweeping natural balcony overlooking a valley etched by millennia of ice. From here, the iconic Cerro Torre and its jagged siblings loom on the horizon, framed by the outlines of ancient moraines. Stop here for a well-earned break, with time to soak in the silence, snap some photos, or just sit back and let the scale of it all sink in. Then it’s back the way you came, this time with wide-open views across the steppe and the Andean foothills beyond.

In the morning, you’ll leave El Chalten behind and drive alongside the Río de las Vueltas, heading to the trailhead in the glacier-fed wilderness near Río Eléctrico. The hike begins gently, winding through a dense lenga forest that shields you from the ever-present Patagonian wind. As you follow the Río Blanco upstream, the first glaciers begin to appear – Marconi, Eléctrico, and Cagliero – while on a clear day, you might even spot Vespignani in the north. You’ll reach the Piedras Blancas Glacier viewpoint, where a towering wall of ice tumbles down the mountainside in brilliant shades of blue. If you're not up for the full climb to the base of Fitz Roy, this is a great place to pause, take in the views, and return via a shorter loop. For those continuing on, the trail leads through forest to Poincenot Camp, where the skyline opens dramatically to reveal Fitz Roy and its surrounding spires – Saint-Exupéry, Poincenot, and Mermoz. Then comes the final push: a steep, rocky 400m ascent. It’s a tough climb, but cresting the ridge to see Laguna de los Tres – turquoise, windswept, and ringed by glaciers at the foot of Fitz Roy – is pure magic. After lunch by the lake, you’ll begin the descent, passing glacial streams and changing terrain. Before you return to El Chalten, you’ll make one last stop at Laguna Capri – a perfect mirror of mountains and sky, and the kind of view you’ll carry home with you.

This morning, you’ll leave the mountains behind as you travel back to El Calafate – time to rest your legs and soak up the ever-changing views from the window. The drive takes around three hours, tracing a remote stretch of Route 40 across the open Patagonian steppe. It’s a peaceful ride, with big skies, rugged plains, and the occasional guanaco dotting the landscape. You’ll pass the weathered outpost of La Leona Roadhouse, a slice of frontier history where legends say Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once laid low after robbing a bank. By lunchtime, you’ll arrive back in El Calafate. The rest of the day is yours – whether that means exploring the town, sipping something cold with a glacier view, or just kicking back and enjoying the slow pace of the south.

After an early breakfast, you’ll set off for one of the true icons of Argentine Patagonia: the Perito Moreno Glacier, nestled deep within Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a jaw-dropping display of nature at its wildest. It doesn’t take long before you catch your first glimpse – a towering wall of ice, stretching endlessly into the horizon. Your local guide will bring the place to life with stories, insights, and facts that make the scale of it all feel even more surreal. You’ll follow a series of walkways that weave through forests and along the shoreline, offering panoramic views of the glacier from different angles. Get close enough and you might feel the chill coming off the ice. And if you’re lucky? You’ll hear the silence being shattered – a thunderous crack and splash as a chunk of glacier calves off and crashes into Lago Argentino below. After exploring via the boardwalks, you’ll have time to wander at your own pace. For lunch, there’s a snack bar and restaurant in the park (bring pesos and an appetite for empanadas). Then, it’s time for a different angle: if conditions allow, you’ll board a small boat at Puerto Moreno, gliding along the Canal de los Témpanos for a one-hour cruise past the glacier’s north wall. Surrounded by floating icebergs, you’ll witness the sheer scale of this living, moving giant from water level. After your day exploring the glacier, head back to El Calafate for dinner.

Passport at the ready – it’s border crossing day. After breakfast, you’ll leave El Calafate and drive south to the Cerro Castillo checkpoint, where you’ll cross from Argentina into Chile (be sure to fill out the mandatory digital entry form before you arrive, and don’t bring any fresh food, plants or seeds across with you – Chile’s serious about that). Once through, you’ll swap vehicles and start the scenic drive into Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve famed for its jagged granite peaks and dramatic glacial landscapes. From Pudeto Pier, hop on a 30-minute catamaran across Lake Pehoe, a stunning turquoise lake flanked by towering mountains. This remote corner of the park is unreachable by road, giving it a true edge-of-the-world feel. You’ll land just a stone’s throw from Paine Grande Refuge, your base for the next two nights. Settle in, take in the views, and get ready to explore one of the wildest places in South America.

Wake up to mountain air and lace up your boots – today you’re heading into the heart of Torres del Paine. Setting off straight from Paine Grande Refuge, follow the trail along the north shore of Lake Pehoe, climbing gently as the towering Cuernos del Paine come into view. Soon you’ll reach the shores of Skottsberg Lake, where powerful winds often whip up swirling mini-whirlpools on the surface. The path winds beneath the immense face of Paine Grande, with glacial streams cutting across the trail as you approach the Italian Camp. From there, it's a final push to the French Valley viewpoint, a spectacular open plateau with panoramic views of the valley, hanging glaciers, and soaring peaks on all sides. After soaking it all in, retrace your steps back to the refuge, where a warm dinner and a well-earned rest await. This is Torres del Paine at its finest.

Set off from Paine Grande on your final trek through Torres del Paine, following the trail along a quiet lagoon with views back over Lake Pehoe. You'll reach the aptly named Quebrada de los Vientos (Windy Ravine), then scramble over a stretch of rounded rock with your first glimpse of Grey Lake, often scattered with floating ice. The highlight of the day is the dramatic Grey Glacier viewpoint, where you’ll stop for lunch and take in the scale of this enormous wall of ancient ice – one of the many glaciers that spill from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest on Earth. After lunch, retrace your steps to Paine Grande, grab your backpacks, and hop aboard the catamaran for the scenic ride across Lake Pehoe. Once ashore, a transfer will take you back to Puerto Natales for your final night in Patagonia.

After breakfast, it’s time to say goodbye to the southern wilds. A group transfer to Puerto Natales airport is included, or if you’re staying on to explore more of Chilean Patagonia, your host can help you arrange extra accommodation.