Two Weeks in Patagonia, Argentina

On arrival in Buenos Aires, you will be welcomed at the airport and transferred across the city to your hotel in the Recoleta district, close to the city centre. The rest of the day is then free to recover from your journey and explore the area around your hotel. Recoleta is one of the most impressive districts of Buenos Aires, with the famous cemetery and boulevards full of boutiques and cafes. The Barrio Norte and Microcentro areas are just a short journey away too. Recoleta is just one of the districts with a wide array of restaurants that we can recommend, with Palermo, Las Canitas and Belgrano amongst many others.

In the morning your Buenos Aires tour takes in the major city sights including Plaza de Mayo with the Pink Palace (Casa Rosada), the cathedral, colonial Cabildo and the old Town Hall. You also visit the coloured houses of La Boca and the old tango district of San Telmo, as well as the Congresso Parliament building and the Recoleta cemetery before returning to your hotel. After the afternoon to yourselves, you will be picked up and taken to one of Buenos Aires traditional Tango Shows. After dinner, the dancers entertain you with some of the classic tango numbers that have made the dance famous worldwide. Transfers are included.

The day is free to enjoy Buenos Aires. Many tours are available in and around the city or you can choose to explore on your own. One option is a trip outside of the city to visit an estancia, where Argentinean Gaucho cowboys maintain their traditional lifestyle. Boat trips around the Tigre Delta an hour outside the city are also popular, as is the trip across the Rio de la Plata to the historic town of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. Tango lessons can also be arranged if you want to learn the basic steps before visiting a milonga, the tango clubs, to practice them with the local dancers.

A morning transfer takes you to the airport for your flight to Puerto Madryn, a quiet Patagonian town overlooking the Golfo Nuevo. After checking in, you can wander to the beach for your first look at the bay. Between June and mid-December, the Southern Right Whales arrive in the waters around Puerto Madryn in their dozens. These 16m creatures frolick in the calm waters of the Golfo Nuevo, often coming very close to shore to keep their calfs safe from orcas. Their displays of flukes and tails continue from early morning through to the afternoon, with a supporting cast of dolphins, seals and penguins in the area too. The evening is free.

The first stop on your day around Peninsula Valdes is the isthmus where southern right whales come closest to the shores of the San Jose Gulf. Here they frolick at leisure, especially in the morning when boat trips from Puerto Piramide take you out for the whales to get a closer look at you. On this apparently bleak Patagonian peninsula, the wildlife list is astounding - elephant seals and sea-lions on the Atlantic shores, with occasional orcas hunting them from Feb to April at the Punta Norte tip; magellanic penguin; guanaco; rhea; fox; hare; and over-friendly but obedient armadillo! Wildlife-viewing doesn\\'t come much better than Peninsula Valdes.

Heading south from Puerto Madryn to Punta Tombo, you find almost a million magellanic penguins, who come to the area to nest, lay eggs, incubate them, and prepare the chicks for migration. This is the largest penguin colony of South America, and they arrive in September, staying until mid-March. Chicks are born in November time, making it the most interesting period to visit. After the penguins, you pay a visit to another colony in Gaiman. Welsh settlers arrived in the still wild Patagonia in the 19th Century, and have maintained language and cultural traditions ever since in some small areas around Puerto Madryn and Trelew.

An early transfer takes you to the airport in Trelew for your flight over the plains of Patagonia, to the very southern tip of South America. Here you will find Ushuaia, the southernmost city on the planet, and capital of the Tierra del Fuego region, also known as The End of the World. On arrival in Ushuaia you transfer to your hotel and have the rest of the day free to explore the city by yourselves.

Your first day at the End of the World takes you on a half-day tour around the city. The city sits on the Beagle Channel, surrounded by the frosty peaks of the Fuegan Andes. The views as you walk around the area are always spectacular. The area was a whaling port, and the Museo del Fin del Mundo has many artifacts from the era, harpoons, skulls and stuffed specimens from the marine animals of the southern oceans. You have the balance of the day to yourselves after the 3 hour walk, so you can relax and enjoy the scenery as you wish.

Today, you visit the Tierra del Fuego National Park, 12km west of the city to spend the day amongst fabulous Patagonian scenery. The morning begins with a trail hike that hugs the Beagle Channel, through beech forests and over rivers, with stunning views across the waters to the Chilean islands. Condor and albatross are occasionally sighted in the area, while marine animals are better seen around the offshore islands. You take to the southern oceans in a sea-kayak in the afternoon, for a close up look at sea-lions and penguins that inhabit the rocky coast. You return to your hotel late afternoon with the bright southern evening free.

You have the balance of the day to yourselves before your afternoon flight north to El Calafate. On arrival in the small Patagonian city, you will be met at the airport and transferred to your hostel. The evening is then free, and with the southern sun still shining, you can enjoy a wander around the town and down to the shores of Lago Argentino to enjoy the Patagonian vistas.

You depart in the morning for the Los Glaciares National Park, before heading to the Punta Bandera pier where a catamaran takes you to the northern side of Lake Argentino. From here you head towards the Upsala Glacier, one of the largest Patagonian ice caps with walls stretching to over 20m high. You will then sail along its 6km front wall before heading towards Onelli bay, where you will go ashore and take a short walk through a typical Andean-Patagonian forest. After lunch you will return to the bay to continue your boat trip, this time towards Spegazzini, the highest glacier in the park. You return to El Calafate late afternoon.

After breakfast you begin a full-day tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier beginning with a scenic 2hr drive. Your experienced professional guides provide the crampons and instructions before you climb onto the glacier and enjoy the experience of trekking across its icy surface. The glacier is millions of years old and peering down into deep cracks that glow blue and green is a beautiful sight. The moderate 2hr trek is on an irregular, but firm and safe surface. A forest trail brings you back to base from where you return to El Calafate. Sports shoes or trekking boots, sunglasses, sun protection, gloves, hat, and a windproof jacket are all recommended.

Today you set off for the scenic 3hr drive to El Chalten along the famous Route 40 road which skirts Lake Argentino before following the La Leona River. After an hour or so ride you will arrive at the old route hotel \\'La Leona\\', where you can refuel with coffee and cake. The trip continues along Lake Viedma, from where you will have magical views of glaciers, lakes and the presence of the mighty Mount Fitz Roy. After a few more hours you will arrive at the Andean village of El Chalten, the trekking capital of the country. After arriving at your hotel you will have the rest of the day free to relax and enjoy at your leisure.

Today is free for you to enjoy El Chalten and the many beautiful hiking trails that weave around the base of the two giant massifs of the area, Torre and Fitz Roy. There are three main circuits, each with a set of trails. Each trail visits a serious of lakes and stunning viewing points along the way, and there are hikes of varying degrees of difficulty to suit all levels of ability. A little local advice on which would be the most suitable hikes for your ability is necessary.

There are many options for day hikes around El Chalten in the shadows of the 3,441m Cerro Fitz Roy. The peaks may be out of reach for just a day hike, with them only being accessible for skilled and experienced mountaineers.You may feel able to manage some of the hikes to the base camps of the larger mountains though. The weather in the mountains is very changeable so you must come prepared with the right clothing and equipment. Any stay in El Chalten can be extended in order to tackle some of the longer treks in some of the finest trekking scenery on earth.

In the morning you return back along the shores of Lago Viedma and down to El Calafate. Your flight further up the Andes cordillera takes you to Bariloche on the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi. This lake and the smaller Lago Perito Moreno stretch between the forested banks and steep sides with islands and inlets sheltering between the towering Andean peaks. The setting is as pretty in summer as under winter snow. The area around Bariloche has its own microclimates, and after arriving at the airport on the dry, desert area to the east of the lake, you transfer to your hotel by the lush forests which catch the mountain rain, all within a few kms.

A tour of the Circuito Chico around Bariloche and Llao Llao takes you along the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi to Playa Bonita with views of Huemul Island. A chairlift ride to the 1,050m summit of the Campanario hill gives spectacular veiws over lakes and peaks. After leaving San Pedro you arrive at the Llao Llao peninsula, with its famous hotel, before crossing the Rio Angostura which links Lago Nahuel Huapi with Lago Moreno and climbing to a panoramic viewpoint. The magnificent views include Moreno and the Llao Llao Peninsula, and behind to Nahuel Huapi and the Andean peaks beyond. You return by the shore of the El Trebol lagoon.

A day touring the larger Nahuel Huapi area takes you across the Rio Limay and up the Valle Encantado to the Confluencia Traful, a region of transition between the Patagonian steppe and the Andean forest. Heading west towards Villa Traful you reach a natural balcony overlooking Lago Traful. The road circles the lake towards Arrayanes Port. From there you climb through forest to El Portezuelo where you meet the Seven Lakes Route going southwards to lakes Correntoso, Bailey Willis, and Espejo. Finally you head for Villa La Angostura. From here, there is an optional boat ride to the Arrayanes Forest before you return to Bariloche.

In the morning you have one last chance to appreciate this wonderful Andean scenery as you transfer back along the shores of Lago Nahuel Huapi Viedma to the airport in Bariloche. If you can tear yourself away from all this Andean splendour, you fly back to Buenos Aires and transfer across the city to the international airport. This tour of Buenos Aires & Patagonia takes you to enjoy some of the finest wildlife and natural scenery that South America can offer, but there are many more destinations on the continent for when you return. Feel free to pick and choose any combination of these Patagonia destinations with other parts of Argentina too.