Classic Patagonia

Includes domestic airfare, accommodations, transfers, meals and guided excursions as specified

Day 1: Santiago de Chile
Airport reception and transfer to your hotel. Accommodations at the charming Hotel Orly, buffet breakfast included. This is a small, boutique style hotel which has 28 rooms. A converted mansion, the Hotel Orly is superbly situated in one of the city's more exclusive areas, Providencia. Everything you may want to see is close by - shops, restaurants, downtown, museums, banks, the cable car up the hill.

Day 2: Santiago - Punta Arenas - Torres del Paine
Hotel pickup and transfer to the airport. Fly to Punta Arenas and transfer to Torres del Paine National Park. Along the way, you’ll pass by Figueroa Lagoon and several beautiful lakes, keeping your eyes peeled for guanacos, ostriches, black-necked swans, flamingos and condors. Accommodations at Hosteria Lago Grey for 3 nights.

Upon arrival at Hosteria Grey, you will be assigned to your comfortable accommodations. After settling in you will be orientated to the lodge and the surrounding region. The impressive Andean massifs of Torres del Paine are surrounded by glaciers, waterfalls, lakes, and lagoons, which together make this national park famous throughout the world for the richness of its natural beauty. Accommodations are in standard room with daily breakfast included.

You will have the option to sign up for half and full day excursions while at the hosteria. (B)

Days 3,4: Torres del Paine National Park
The impressive Andean massifs of Torres del Paine are surrounded by glaciers, waterfalls, lakes and lagoons, which together make this national park famous throughout the world. Cruise out on Grey Lake, where you may witness huge chunks of blue ice breaking off from impressive Grey Glacier. (B)

Day 5: Torres del Paine - Punta Arenas
Depart Torres del Paine for Punta Arenas. Overnight accommodations at the elegant, century-old Hotel Jose Noguiera located in the center of Punta Arenas. (B)

Day 6*: Punta Arenas - M/N Mare/Via Australis
Hotel pickup and transfer to board the M/N Mare Australis or M/N Via Australis (AA Cabin). Headed by the Captain, the crew will welcome you aboard for cocktails with your cruise companions. Immediately after, the ship will depart through the mythical Strait of Magellan and sail through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. (B,D)

*M/V Mare Australis departs Punta Arenas on Saturdays; M/V Via Australis departs on Tuesdays.

Day 7: Ainsworth Bay/Marinelli Glacier – Tucker Islet
With the first light of dawn, navigation will continue through Almirantazgo Fjord. The ship will sail among ice floes broken off from this millenary glacier, which slides very slowly down the slopes of the Andes Mountains, which at this point are called the Darwin Range. This mountain range is covered by native forest known as "Magellan Forest," made up of several varieties of southern beech trees (lengas, coihues); winterís bark (canelos) and ferns, among other species.

During the afternoon you will disembark in Ainsworth Bay, from where you can observe the Marinelli Glacier, with its 120 feet (40 meters) high ice wall. Here you will land on the beach to start a 20-minute walk along quiet trails in the native woods toward a beaver dam. There will be a brief talk about the ecosystem and geography before heading towards a colony of elephant seals that live nearby in the company of a great variety of birds.

Later you visit Tucker Islet, where you view colonies of Magellanic Penguins and Cormorants from the Zodiac boats. The islet’s penguins migrate in April; as a replacement you visit Brookes Bay, for a short walk to see a glacier. (B,L,D)

Day 8: Pia Glacier
Disembark in the bay of the Pia Glacier for an excursion to an observation point.
On the north-west arm of the Beagle Channel, Pia Glacier is embedded in the Darwin Range, and it gradually runs down into the waters of Pia Bay. You will head towards an observation point that offers excellent conditions to view the mountain range where the glacier originates, and its progress until it falls into the sea. Here you will listen to the thunderous noises caused by the large masses of ice cracking and dropping into the bay.

Navigate through the Beagle Channel and appreciate the spectacular "Glacier Avenue": Spain, Romanche, Germany, Italy, France and Holland glaciers. (B,L,D)

Day 9: Cape Horn - Wulaia Bay
Navigation through the Beagle Channel and Murray channel to disembark at Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) National Park (weather permitting).

You will visit Horn Island for a panoramic view of the famous and mythical Cape Horn, the place where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans merge and the last promontory of South America.

Cape Horn, an island featuring cliffs almost 425 meters high, was discovered on January 30, 1616 by a Dutch commercial expedition organized by Isaac LeMaire and under the command of Captain Wilhelm Schouten. The Cape owes its name to the Port of Hoorn from where the expedition departed on June 14, 1615.

In the afternoon, you go ashore in historic Wulaia Bay, once the site of one of the region’s largest aboriginal settlements. This area is also renowned for the mesmerizing beauty of its vegetation and geography. You walk through a Magellanic forest of Lengas, Coigües, Canelos, ferns and other native vegetation to reach a lookout point. (B,L,D)

Day 10: Ushuaia
Departure from Puerto Williams. The ship will sail slowly to arrive very early at Ushuaia, the most important Argentinean city on Tierra del Fuego. Here you will say your goodbyes and disembark at 8:00A. You will be met and transferred to your Ushuaia hotel.

Accommodations at the Hosteria Los Fuegos, breakfast included. The hosteria, surrounded by lengua woods, has nine rooms, each equipped with central heating, phone, security box, and hair dryer. Rooms are decorated with craft furniture and have views of the Young Nires, Lengas and Coihues Woods and to the Olivia River. The hotel also has a restaurant, wide-screen video room, internet service, fax and massage services available.

The rest of your day is at leisure to explore Ushuaia on your own. (B)

Day 11: Ushuaia - Buenos Aires
Hotel pickup and transfer to the Ushuaia airport for your flight to Buenos Aires.

Airport reception and transfer to your hotel.

Overnight accommodation at the Hotel LoiSuites in an Studio Junior, breakfast included. The LoiSuites Hotel is located in the Recoleta area of Buenos Aires. Decorated in light colors, the hotel's ambiance is elegantly modern with sleek lines and simplistic contemporary artwork. All rooms are suites with air conditioning and two phone lines. The hotel has an indoor swimming pool, sauna, gym, restaurant, and business center and an atrium dining area where breakfast is served. The location in the heart of La Recoleta allows close access to shopping, restaurants and cafes and outdoor craft markets. (B)

Day 12: Four Balconies of Buenos Aires - Int'l Departure
Set off on a half-day, privately-guided tour of Buenos Aires in which a professor of the University uses four parks and plazas of Buenos Aires (Plaza de Mayo, Parque Lezama and La Boca, Plaza San Martin and Recoleta) to introduce visitors to Argentina, its history, contrasts, contradictions and the peculiar psychology of its inhabitants. This tour is a great way to introduce you to the different, colorful districts of Buenos Aires and determine where you may wish to return.

This evening, you will be met at your hotel and transferred to Ezeiza International Airport for your departing flight. (B)

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