4-Days El Calafate Easy Going Experience

Discover El Calafate

Many times we look at a trip, we see a place where we would love to go, but we start to read the small print and find many restrictions about age or physical conditions, and sadly we have to resign our dreams because we can’t accomplish those items. This is not the case with this tour.

Enjoy a panoramic view of the astonishing Perito Moreno Glacier, plus a great navigation and lunch. You will be amazed discovering Upsala and Spegazzini lakes in a relaxed and VIP cabin and a Patagonian Lake Refuge where you will have a hot meal. End your last day with a spectacular photographic safari and lunch.

Day 1:

Arrival at El Calafate – Dinner and Show at Estancia 25 de mayo

On arrival at El Calafate Airport, you will be picked up and will be transferred to your hotel. Late afternoon you will be picked up from your hotel and we will take you to Estancia 25 de Mayo. 25 de Mayo ranch is located steps from the center of El Calafate. It is a natural reserve with 17,000 hectares. It offers dinner and a folkloric show. After Dinner and Show are over you will be transferred back to your hotel.

• Meals included: Dinner
• Accommodation included: Overnight in a 4-star Hotel in El Calafate (Alto Calafate or similar)

Day 2:

Full-Day Experience to Perito Moreno Glaciar with Nautical Safari and Lunch

After breakfast at your hotel, you will be picked up to travel 80 km to Perito Moreno Glacier, the unique advancing glacier in the world. During the trip we will meet beautiful places in the pre-Andean mountain range, travelling along the main course of Lago Argentino. After crossing along Centinela and Mitre Rivers, we arrive in Brazo Rico to enter the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.

Along the shores of Lago Rico floating ice can be appreciated until we are finally astonished by an area of exceptional natural beauty and a UNESCO National Heritage site. We will have time to walk throughout the runways, exploring and sightseeing Perito Moreno’s uniqueness. We will eat in a native restaurant. Finally, we return to Calafate.

Safari Nautico: The tour consists of one-hour navigation on the Lago Rico that allows us to appreciate the walls of the ice Perito Moreno Glacier. The boat gets as close as possible (200 meters) to the point where Glacier touches the Península de Magallanes. Then, it sails 3 kilometers facing the south wall so that passengers can admire the daily ruptures and the magnificent beauty of the crevasses, the vast cracks and its peculiar blue color.

It’s highly recommended to include the visit to the Glacier since the south wall can’t be completely appreciated from the runways. After the experience is over you will be taken back to your hotel.

• Meals included: Breakfast, lunch
• Accommodation included: Overnight in a 4-star Hotel in El Calafate (Alto Calafate or similar)

Day 3:

Full-day Experience ALL GLACIERS in a VIP Cabin and lunch

From the Port of Punta Bandera, 47 km from El Calafate, we begin the navigation through the North Arm of the Argentino Lake. We will take your experience to another level, during our excursions because you will have Captain’s Club service (VIP service). Enjoy the preferential location, the exclusive attention of the hosts and bilingual guides (Spanish/English) who will assist you throughout the tour.

We cross the Boca del Diablo to the Upsala channel to navigate among the large icebergs that come off the front of the Upsala Glacier, then we enter the Spegazzini Channel and moments later we will have the first view of the Seco Glacier. We continue sailing to the front of the Spegazzini Glacier where we will also contemplate the Heim Sur and Peineta glaciers. We prepare to disembark at the Spegazzini base and we begin the visit to the area walking through the forest path to the Spegazzini Refuge.

This 300-meter trail is accessible and we walk around it stopping at stations and viewpoints overlooking the entire Bay of Los Glaciares. In the Refuge, we will have lunch, visit the shop and contemplate the landscape.

For those who like to walk, you can take the mountain path. This tour is a medium difficulty trekking through a wooded path, with natural viewpoints, full of incredible sights that end at the landing point. Because you have Captain’s Club service, lunch is included (aperitif, main and dessert) and drinks bar (with and without alcohol) plus a coffee shop. The lunch will be served at the RefugioSpegazzini.

The tour can be modified depending on weather and safety conditions and by the decision of the boat captain.

• Meals included: Breakfast, lunch
• Accommodation included: Overnight in a 4-star Hotel in El Calafate (Alto Calafate or similar)

Day 4:

Half-day Experience Photographic Safari with Lunch – Transfer out to Airport

Today you will enjoy a combination of a 4×4 expedition, a photographic safari, and the experience to enjoy a relaxing moment in an authentic “puesto” of the Patagonian Estancia. The excursion starts traveling 1 km through route 15 until we arrive at Estancia Huyliche. Then, we enter the Estancia 25 de Mayo Natural Reserve. The safari schedule includes several stops.

The first stop shows the location where the Villalba family, early settlers of the Estancia, used to live. Then the circuit continues until we get to “LA SECCIÓN,” the emblematic 25 de Mayo ranch’s post, still working. Here, we make the second stop to observe the native fauna of Cerro 25 de Mayo. The passengers are the main characters to participate in a geological interpretation of the area and interact with the fauna. After travelling 4 km we arrive at a well-preserved site of fossilized oysters.

The fourth stop will be done to admire the huge oysters that once formed a reef, (23 million years ago). We continue towards the Chilean border to reach El Centinela viewpoint. We return and make a stop in La Sección to have lunch! Finally, passengers are taken back to the hotels in Calafate. At the designated time you will be transfered to the airport to take your flight to your next destination!

• Meals included: Breakfast, lunch
• Accommodation not included

Additional Info:

• Not wheelchair accessible
• Stroller accessible
• Infant seats available
• Most travelers can participate