Argentina Packages

Route 40, Glaciares and Paine Adventure
16 Days / 15 Nights

The Route 40, Glaciares and Paine Adventure shares the same itinerary of our PAC but avoids the final section from Puerto Natales to Ushuaia. Starts as a road trip along the legendary route 40, which runs all from north to south of Argentina at the foot of the Andes, something like 5000 km of road. We’ll travel the southernmost section of the route 40, gravel road across the Patagonian steppe, to continue visiting Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre, may be the two most emblematic mountains of Patagonia. We then move to the Perito Moreno Glacier (only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process) and Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Ends in El Calafate.

Day 1 - Comodoro Rivadavia / Los Antiguos
Our trip begins 2 pm at the restaurant of Comodoro Rivadavia airport, which will be our meeting point. We travel southbound along the Atlantic coast skirting the Gulf San Jorge for 70 km to enter Caleta Olivia, main oil producing city in Patagonia. From here we turn west to leave the Atlantic behind and start our approach to the Andes. After 350 km (paved road) we reach Los Antiguos, on the shores of Lago Buenos Aires, the second largest lake in America after Titicaca. We are 2 km away from the Chilean border.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Dinner.

Day 2 - Los Antiguos / Cave of the Hands
After a short visit of town we travel south along route 40 to get to the Pinturas River Canyon. We follow the river with our vehicle and then we cross it by foot to reach after a short walk the “Cueva de las Manos” (Cave of the Hands, literally), ancient paintings 10,000 years old. Unlike conventional tours, we will have plenty of time to visit the areas, as we only have to drive 20 km back to our accommodation at the Refugio in the Estancia “Cueva de las Manos” (165 km).
Lodging at Refuge in the Estancia with shared room and bathroom
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 3 - Estancia “Cueva de las Manos” / Lake Pueyrredón
We enjoy the Estancia and by mid morning we continue our trip to the town of Lago Posadas. Lakes Posadas (blue) and Pueyrredón (green), separated by a narrow stripe of land, are probably two of the most beautiful lakes of southern Patagonia. They lay in a large glacier valley, separating the Highlands of Lake Buenos Aires from Cerro San Lorenzo massif. We use this day to visit this beautiful valley and the surroundings of both lakes. We’ll see strange and colourful rock formations, wetlands and birds (186 km)
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 4 - Lago Posadas / El Chalten
Alter breakfast we get on the bus for the final sprint to El Chalten, 550 km south. On our way, different birds and flowers will give life to the desert-type landscape. We have lunch in a Patagonian style stop-over place. The final 100 km westbound features lake and glacier Viedma and the spires of Fitz Roy massif and Cerro Torre group. Arrival to Chalten is scheduled around 7 pm.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast and dinner.

Day 5 - Capri Lagoon
We start our 4 days trek from El Chaltén, by noon, in order to join our fellow travellers arriving from Calafate this morning. We carry in our packs only the necessary items for this 3 nights and 4 days in which we’ll overnight in our Full Camps inside the National Park.
We hike up a gentle slope on Fitz Roy trail to gain height over the River de las Vueltas valley up to the first viewpoints over Fitz Roy massif. Our hike to Laguna Capri will take us no more than 2 hours and a half, in a clear and easy trail. Once on our Laguna Capri Full Camp, we leave our stuff in our tent and we enjoy an afternoon walk to the sightseeing points around the lagoon.
Full Camps are pitched up early in the season, so we find the camp ready upon arrival. It offers comfortable 3 people igloo type tents for each 2 passengers, with mattresses and sleeping bags. An inside cotton sheet is provided as inner clothing for the sleeping bag. The camp also features a spacious dinning tent, a kitchen tent, tables, benches or chairs and a full set of table service and kitchenware. The sanitary services are latrine-type.
Lodging at Laguna Capri Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 6 - Mount Fitz Roy, De los Tres Lagoon
Early in the morning, before the first coffee, we can try to match up the morning Light getting pink in Fitz Roy granite walls. You only need this to feel the trip is worthwhile. But of course the day offers much more.
After breakfast, carrying only day personal items such as our parka, gloves, our camera, water bottle and box lunch, we hike along Fitz Roy trail up to Rio Blanco, climbers basecamp to the east side of the mountain. From here a steep 1 h trail leads us to one of the most spectaculars viewpoints of the National Park: Laguna de los Tres, with its zephyr blue colour, lays at the foot of the massif, offering full close up views of Fitz Roy massif spires and glaciers. Each wall rises something from 600 to 1500 mts above the surrounding glaciers. Fitz Roy, with its 3405 mts above sea level, is considered the “King of Patagonia” and also considered one of the three most beautiful mountains on Earth (together with Alpamayo in Perú and K2 in the Karakoram). We hike back to Laguna Capri in the late afternoon. Walking time is 5 to 6 hs.
Lodging at Laguna Capri Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 7 - Mount Torre
Today we make it around Laguna Capri to get to the Lagoons Madre and Hija Valley and down to Fitz Roy river valley, where we meet Cerro Torre trail and we get to Cerro Torre Full Camp. The trail runs along beech forest, bogs and shrubland. From the camp, a short hike takes us to Laguna Torre, enclosed by morraines and with the Glacier Grande calving in its west side. It is usual to see icebergs pushed by the wind in the coast of the lagoon. The thin and elegant 3128 mts of Cerro Torre group and the Adela range in the background complete this spectacular view. Walking time 3 to 4 hs.
Lodging at Cerro Torre Full Camp in double or single tent (rural area)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 8 - Torre Glacier and Lagoon / El Chalten
In the morning we visit Laguna Torre again to reach the old Maestri basecamp, located in a high site up along the north morraine of the lagoon. For keen hikers, we offer an optional excursion, the so called “Holiday on Ice”: early start, crampons and harnesses, a tyrolean (horizontal fixed rope attached to both sides of a river) to cross Fitz Roy river, and we visit Glacier Grande, where we will visit crevices, ice caves and we’ll practice ice climbing with the proper advice of experienced mountain guides.
Late in the afternoon we walk back to Chaltén along Fitz Roy river valley. Total estimated time of the standard day: 4 to 5 hs. If you go on the “Holiday on Ice”, it is 7 hs plus the trail back to Chalten which is 2 and a half hours more.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch and dinner.
Optional excursion: Holiday On Ice

Day 9 - El Chalten / El Calafate
Morning at your own to visit the picturesque village or to make optional excursions such as Lago del Desierto (in spite of its name, its a beautiful, beech forest surrounded lake, with hanging glaciers in its west side), or to see very interesting information at the National Park Visitor Centre.
By 5 pm we take our bus to our next destination, El Calafate, gateway for the glaciers area of the Park. Arrival time is scheduled for 9 pm. Driving distance: 220 km
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.

Day 10 - El Calafate / Perito Moreno Glacier
We dedicate this day to one of the World’s Natural Wonder: the Moreno glacier. This ice field- type glacier flows down from the Patagonian Icefield, a big sheet of ice that with its 22.000 square kilometres is the third largest glacier area in the world, after Antarctica (14 M sq km) and Greenland (1 M sq km). Because unusual favourable local conditions, this glacier is the only one in the world that shows a closure and rupture process. The road leads to the very front of the glacier, which will be only meters away from your eyes. A beautiful, short trail, will lead us from the shores of the lake to the upper viewpoints. The roar of the chunks of ice falling inside the glacier or from the glacier into the lake, the frequent collapse of the front seracs into the turquoise water, makes out of this day a very special and unique experience. We will drive 80 km (1 and a half hour) to get and come back from the glacier across the steppe, watching a wide variety of birds.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.

Day 11 - El Calafate / Torres del Paine
Early start for a 6 hs drive to our camp in Paine. We drive across the steppe, still following by parts the legendary route 40, to get around Sierra de los Baguales, an impressive range in between Calafate and Paine. We cross the Argentinean Chilean border at Cancha Carrera/ Cerro Castillo. After the border crossing, we start our final sprint to Paine National Park, World Heritage by the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization). Approaching the Park, we start to see the different mountains that feature the area: Paine Grande, the Horns, Admiral Nieto and the Towers. Once we entered the Park, we go for a short 1 to 2 hs walk to get familiar with the landscape, the wind and the rich wildlife: guanacos, lesser rheas, condors and all types of wetland and buzzard birds, will be available for our eyes and cameras. Also lots of flowers. Back in the bus, we reach our camp at the foot of Paine massif.
Lodging at Las Torres Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 12 - Paine Torres / Ascensio River Valley
Early in the morning we start walking towards the bridge over the Ascensio river, headtrail for the world famous Paine towers. We "warm up" hiking a steep one hour slope, to get inside the valley itself, a narrow "V" shape alpine valley coming from inside the Paine massif. A gentle downhill leads us to Refugio Chileno, a cozy and comfortable mountain lodge, which can be a good turnaround point for those not willing to make a full day hike. We then walk in a gentle slope along the river side and inside beech forest. A final climb on moraine take us to the Towers viewpoint: a glacier origin lagoon and the three towers rising vertically 1000 mts from the glacier. The lack of breath will be either because the climb and the sight!!!! We go back to our camp on the same way we came. Walking time: 7 to 8 hs.
Lodging at Las Torres Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 13 - Lake Pehoe crossing – French Valley
Early in the morning a 1 h drive takes us to Port Pudeto to board the catamarán that crosses lake Pehoe twice a day. Once at the far side of the lake, we leave unnecessary items in our tents and we set out to the French Valley trail. The trail skirts Paine Grande south slopes and lake Skottberg, to take us after 2 hs and a half of continuous ups and downs, to the hanging bridge upon the French River. This breathtaking location is at the foot of both the 2700 mts south east face of Paine Grande (to the west) and the Horns, with its characteristic black sedimentary topping, to the east. We continue walking 1 h further by Italian camp to reach breathtaking viewpoints over the area. After lunch and photos we retrace our steps back to Refugio Pehoe Full Camp. Walking time: 5 to 6 hs.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services)
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner.

Day 14 - Lake & Glaciar Grey viewpoints
Lake Grey trail leads from Pehoe valley across ridges to reach Grey valley. This magnificent valley flows down 60 km from the Patagonian Icefield, featuring the huge glacier calving down in the grey colour lake. Our trail skirts the lake, going up and down the westerns slopes of Paine Grande, offering some of the most impressive sights of the Park. From the high sections of the trail, many different viewpoints allow us to see the south end of the lake where the blue icebergs gather, the mountains rising far in the distance above glaciers Grey and Tyndall, and of course lake and glacier Grey. We reach the main viewpoint, a rocky point somewhat 2 hs away from Pehoe, with views over the Lake and Glacier Grey and the surrounding glaciers and mountains. We come back along the same trail, crossing bogs, shrublands and forest. By noon we take the boat to cross lake Pehoe back and then we go to our accommodation in Puerto Natales, a picturesque fishermen town located in the shores of the Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope) fiord.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch.

Day 15 - Puerto Natales / El Calafate
We leave early in the morning Puerto Natales, as our fellow travellers are going south in a long drive today and we are getting back to the border to reenter Argentina and drive back to El Calafate. Upon arrival to El Calafate you will be met by our local representative and transferred to you hostel. The rest of the day is at your own to visit town.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.

Day 16 - El Calafate / El Calafate Airport
Alter breakfast we transfer to El Calafate airport where our services ends.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.

*** End Of Our Services ***

CODE : CAABEX - FMC