Trekking in Tierra del Fuego and Los Glaciares National Park
12 days / 11 nights
From $2,958 per person, double occupancy for 2009

Day 1: Buenos Aires
International airport reception and transfer to hotel. Overnight accommodations at the Hotel Elevage (or similar), breakfast included. Day at leisure. We suggest you take our exclusive 'Four Balconies of Buenos Aires' tour (at additional cost): 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.

Day 2: Buenos Aires - Ushuaia
Hotel pickup and transfer to the National Airport for your flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Airport reception and transfer to hotel. Overnight 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 video room, internet service, fax and massage services available. Tierra del Fuego contains all the different ecosystems which typify Patagonia on a single island: South Atlantic coast, bushy steppe, Andes surrounded by glaciers, snow, lakes and forests. In the afternoon, hike to the Beagle Lookout on the city's outskirts. Enjoy incredible vistas of Ushuaia, the Beagle Channel, and outlying islands. (B)

Day 3: Hiking the Summits of the End of the World
Start hiking on an old trail built by prisoners at the beginning of the 20th-century. Hike through the subantarctic beech forest and peat bogs. Enjoy lunch at a lookout point. Observe a panoramic view of the Beagle Channel from the summit of Cerro del Medio (3,000 ft.) Then, hike to Cerro Roy (2,700 ft) with the Andes spread out to the north. Return to the hotel about 6pm. Overnight at Hosteria Los Fuegos, breakfast included. (B,L)

Day 4: Tierra del Fuego National Park
Full day visit to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. Hiking through this beech forest you will be able to look for the Magellanic woodpecker (largest in South America), Austral parakeets, black-chested buzzard eagles and Andean Condors. In the afternoon, kayak the Ovando River through the Green (Verde) Lagoon to Lapataia. Overnight at Hosteria Los Fuegos, breakfast included. (B,L)

Day 5: Ushuaia - El Calafate - El Chalten
Morning at leisure to explore Ushuaia on your own. This afternoon you will be picked up at your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight to El Calafate. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to the El Calafate bus station. You will be assisted to your departing bus to the small outpost village of El Chalten, located approximately 217 km (135 miles) to the north. You will be met at the El Chalten bus station and transferred to Hosteria El Pilar, 9 miles north of El Chalten, set on the Rio Blanco in the beech foothills of the Fitzroy range. The family-run property offers 10 rooms with private facilities, customized service, and wonderful views. The lodge generates its own electricity and gives easy access to the trails in the Los Glaciares National Park. Dinner included and served at the lodge. (B,D)

Day 6: Trek to the base of Fitzroy
From El Pilar, you'll hike approximately 3 hours through beech forests to the Poincenot base camp of Mt. Fitzroy. Along the way, you will have constantly changing views of Piedras Blancas glacier and the N.E. face of Fitzroy. From base camp, you may attempt the strenuous 1-hour climb to Laguna de los Tres. Here, three glaciers drain into the green lagoon with majestic Mt. Fitzroy towering above. Enjoy breathtaking views of Lago Viedma, the endless Patagonian steppe and Fitzroy itself. You can continue down a steep 1½-mile trail to the lake with a natural balcony overlooking Laguna Sucia, the St. Exupery and Poincenot spires. Return to base camp and the Rio Blanco. From here, you will either descend the Blanco riverbed to El Pilar or continue past the Lagos Madre y Hija to El Chalten, where you will be transferred back to the

Day 7: Trek to Cerro Torre
Depart El Pilar for a full-day hike to the Cerro Torre base camp at Laguna Capri. You will have spectacular views of Cerro Solo and the Fitzroy Massif along the way. The spires of Cerro Torre and Cerro Egger rise directly across the lake. After returning to El Chalten, you will be transferred back to your lodge. Overnight Hosteria El Pilar. (B, L, D)

Day 8: El Chalten - El Calafate
Morning at leisure to do another hike or go into town. At the appropriate time you will transfer back to the El Chalten bus station for the bus to El Calafate. You will be met at the El Calafate bus station and transferred to Estancia Alice, El Galpon located 20 km. from El Calafate, on the way to the Perito Moreno glacier. The estancia has 16 simple and nicely decorated rooms all with private facilities. The lobby offers a private restaurant, exclusive for guests, and a living room. After a welcome of hot tea, coffee and homemade snacks, a walking tour of the estancia will introduce you to the estancia and surrounding area: trekking paths to Lago Argentino, sheep herding by trained dogs, birdwatching flamingo, swan and over 40 migrating species. Balance of the day at leisure to enjoy the estancia. The estancia offers lots of activities that are included in your stay (horse rides, guided trails, hiking trails, mountain bikes, etc.). The day ends with a delicious Patagonian lamb barbecue. (B,D)

Day 9: Perito Moreno Glacier
From El Calafate, the journey continues across the last portion of the plateau, a landscape of glaciers and enormous snowfields stretched out across the mountains. Los Glaciares National Park, in the sub-Antarctic Continental Ice-cap, is known as the "Third Pole" and extends over 60,000 sq.km (23,000 sq. miles), giving birth to several major glaciers along the Patagonian Andes. Pay the Los Glaciares National Park entrance fee ($8US paid in pesos). Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the few advancing glaciers in the world, and statistics are mind-boggling. The main wall is over 200 feet tall and almost 3 miles wide. Every now and then enormous pieces of ice break down and fall with thunderous noise into the lake. This area was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. The wildlife of the area includes Andean condors, buff-necked ibis, black-chested buzzard eagles, ashy-headed geese, etc. You'll land on an uninhabited beach and hike onto the glacier. (No additional equipment or previous experience needed.) The wildlife of the area includes Andean condors, buff-necked ibis and black-chested buzzard-eagles. Return to Estancia Alice in the afternoon. A box-lunch may be purchased ahead of time at the Estancia. (B, D)

Day 10: Estancia Alice/Los Glaciares National Park
Day at leisure. The estancia offers lots of activities that are included in your stay (horse rides, guided trails, hiking trails, mountain bikes, etc.). (B,D) The following optional tours can be arranged at additional cost: Full-day horseback ride to Mt. Frias. Following a valley to Mt. Frķas, at 1100 m. up a canyon, through a Nothofagus forest, we reach the ridge with spectacular views to Lakes Roca and Argentino. If the weather is fine we will be able to see as far as the Torres del Paine in Chile. Return to the ranch, for a cup of tea and cakes and having experienced the typical patagonian steppe, with the possibility of wildlife watching (guanacos, pumas, and condors). Box-lunch included. Estancia Cristina & the Upsala Glacier. An early start takes you to the tiny port of Puerto Bandera. You board a comfortable modern catamaran for a cruise on Lago Argentino. The navigation first stops in front of the Upsala Glacier for wonderful views and then enters the channel leading to Estancia Cristina, surrounded by towering ice-capped mountains and glowing ice-blue bergs floating in the lake. Once at the Estancia you can choose between 2 different programs: a lamb barbeque and relaxed afternoon around the Estancia or a beautiful hike to panoramic Cerro Carnero (description below), from where you can admire the Andes and its glaciers. The hike departs the estancia upon arrival and includes a box-lunch. For those staying at the estancia, you will enjoy a delicious and traditional Patagonic lamb barbeque lunch at the restaurant, which has been built on the base of an old wool drying spot and has a fabulous 360 degree view. Afterward, you will visit the main house, the chapel and the museum. You will discover the lifestyle of the first settlers of the Estancia and their relation with legendary explorers of the last century. This afternoon, you will return by catamaran to Puerto Bandera pier and from there to your hotel.

Day 11: El Calafate - Buenos Aires
Transfer to the El Calafate Airport for your flight to Buenos Aires. Airport reception and transfer to your hotel. Overnight at the Hotel Elevage (or similar), breakfast included. This evening, an optional dinner and tango show can be arranged (at additional cost). (B)

Day 12: Int'l departure
Check-out and transfer to the airport for departing flight. (B)

*Trip cost does not include domestic airfare. From $403, per person, subject to change