Best Season | Shoulder Season | Low Season | Not Available
If you`re looking for a tour to visit the southern areas of Patagonia, our 1008 tour is a great option. It`s a 13-night program that starts in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Gate to visit Tierra del Fuego National Park and to navigate the Beagle Channel and visit the bird`s island, seal lion`s Island and Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. Be ready to take hundred of photos. In the Beagle, you also can visit the Martillo Island Penguin Reserve and Harberton Ranch. Check alternatives available. Then, we will embark in the unique Australis Cruise to visit southern fjords and glaciers of Patagonia, and the mythical Cape Horn. Then, we will disembark in Punta Arenas to continue our visit in Puerto Natales, to enjoy the incredible Torres del Paine National Park, a highlight in Patagonia. Finally, we cross again to Argentina to visit El Calafate, gate to enjoy the incredible Perito Moreno Glacier and other glaciers in Los Glaciares National Park.
The program starts in Ushuaia and ends in El Calafate, but you also can start in El Calafate, to fly back to Ushuaia, take the Australis Cruise and finalize in Torres del Paine and Punta Arenas. So from there, you can continue to other destinations in Chile if you want.
It`s a fantastic option to enjoy the very best of southern Patagonia, including the amazing Australis Cruise!
Welcome to Ushuaia, well known as the southernmost city in the world, and gate to many different cruises visiting Cape Horn and Antarctica. After arrival, our guide will be waiting for your transfer to the hotel. Rest of the day is free, but depending your arrival timming, you can enjoy some of our optional activities. Check information below
After breakfast, we will start our first visit. Tierra del Fuego National Park is located only 12 km from Ushuaia and it`s a very natural environment to be enjoyed. When you arrive you can buy tickets to one of the main attractions in the area: the Train of the End of The World. The train is optional and you can see details below. After that, an
d once in the park, you are going to see different species of trees in a very characteristic forest, something as bushes, beech trees, ñires, Indio’s beard and flowers in an extension of 63.000 hectares. Of course, we will stop many times during our visit to enjoy the panoramic views and take great photos.
From there, we are going to go to Verde Lake and then to Lapataia Bay, places where you could see beaver dams and peatlands. On our way back, we will stop on Lake Roca called also Acigami, to take our last photos of the national park. Return to Ushuaia city will be around 13:30 hs and you have some free time for lunch. Let me suggest the unique King Crab, or taste the incredible Patagonic Lamb!
After lunch and in the afternoon, just walk to the port located few steps from the centre, to embark in a cathamaran to enjoy the Beagle Channel. This navigation towards the Sea Lions Island, Birds Island and the Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. We will see a colony of sea lions and Imperial Cormorants among other birds.
Heading back to the city, you can enjoy the panoramic views of Ushuaia city and the mountains. Return is around 5.30 pm depending the season. Free time and overnight
Today, we keep the day free for you, but there are many options to choose: You can visit Fagnano and Escondido Lakes, enjoy an incredible trekking to Laguna Esmeralda, or enjoy a wonderful 4×4 ride to the heart of the island
After breakfast, free time until tranfser out to airport for your flight to next destination. If you have time in the morning, you can enjoy some of the optionals below. Say goodby to Ushuaia, the city of the end of the world…
Check in at 409 San Martín Ave. in downtown Ushuaia between 10:00 and 17:00 (10 AM-5 PM) on the day of your cruise departure.
Board the Australis Cruise at 18:00 (6 PM). After a welcoming toast and introduction of captain and crew, the ship departs for one of the most remote ports of planet Earth. During the night we traverse the Beagle Channel and cross from Argentina into Chilean territorial waters. The lights of Ushuaia disappear as we turn into the narrow Murray Channel between Navarino and Hoste islands. Passengers say goodbye to the lights of Ushuaia… It´s the beginning of a great experience.
Around the break of dawn, the Australis cruise crosses Nassau Bay and enters the remote archipelago that comprises Cape Horn National Park. Weather and sea conditions permitting, we shall go ashore on the windswept island that harbors legendary Cape Horn (Cabo de Hornos). Discovered in 1616 by a Dutch maritime expedition — and named after the town of Hoorn in West Friesland — Cape Horn is a sheer 425-meter (1,394-foot) high rocky promontory overlooking the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage. For many years it was the only navigation route between the Pacific and Atlantic, and was often referred to as the “End of the Earth.” The park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005. The Chilean navy maintains a permanent lighthouse on the island, staffed by a lightkeeper and his family, as well as the tiny Stella Maris Chapel and modern Cape Horn Monument (currently awaiting repair after being damaged by fierce winds).
You can enjoy our lecture room, to learn more about these amazing areas in that portion of America. Sailing back across Nassau Bay, we anchor at fabled Wulaia Bay, one of the few places in the archipelago where human history is just as compelling as the natural environment. Originally the site of one of the region’s largest Yámana aboriginal settlements, the bay was described by Charles Darwin and sketched by Captain FitzRoy in the 1830s during their voyages on HMS Beagle. This area is also renowned for its mesmerizing beauty and dramatic geography. After a visit to the Australis-sponsored museum in the old radio station — which is especially strong on the Yámana people and European missionaries in the area, passengers have a choice of three hikes (of increasing degrees of difficulty) that ascend the heavily wooded mountain behind the bay. On all of these, you stroll through an enchanted Magellanic forest of lengas, coihues, canelos and ferns to reach panoramic viewpoints overlooking the bay. It´s an amazing great excursion. Return back to the ship and free time to review your amazing day.
Overnight we continue our Patagonia glacier tour around the western end of Tierra del Fuego via the very narrow Gabrial Channel, Magdalena Channel, and Cockburn Channel. After find and rounding the remote Brecknock Peninsula, the Australis ship tacks eastward and enters the Beagle Channel again. By morning we are entering Pia Fjord and boarding the Zodiacs for a shore excursion to Pia Glacier. It´s a great excursion! After disembarking we start a short hike to gain a panoramic view of the spectacular glacier, which extends from the mountaintops down to the sea, or a longer much more difficult walk up a lateral moraine of the old Pia Glacier.
No one knows for certain how the hulking mass of snow and ice got its feminine moniker, but one theory says it was named for Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), daughter of the Italian king.
Making our way further west along the Beagle Channel, we enter another long fjord and drop anchor near Garibaldi Glacier for another shore excursion. Garibaldi is one of only three glaciers in Patagonia gaining mass rather than staying the same or slowly shrinking. This time we hike through virgin Magellanic forest to a glacial waterfall, a towering wall of ferns and moss, and spectacular viewpoints looking down on the glacier and fjord. The walk is demanding — very steep, negligible trail, rough footing — and not for everyone. For those who choose to stay onboard, our captain will point the bow towards the beautiful sky blue Garibaldi Glacier so everyone can enjoy the panoramic view from the upper decks.
Early in the morning, we will sail through the Cockburn Channel and enter Agostini Sound. From there it is possible to see the glaciers that descend from the middle of the Darwin Mountain Range — some of them reaching the water. This morning, we will disembark and go for an easy walk around a lagoon, which was formed by the melting of the Águila Glacier. We will reach a spot right in front of that glacier with stunning views. In the afternoon, we will approach the Condor Glacier via Zodiac — and hopefully see some of the abundant Andean Condors in the area.
After an overnight cruise through Magdalena Channel and back into the Strait of Magellan, we anchor off Magdalena Island, which lies about halfway between Tierra del Fuego and the Chilean mainland. Crowned by a distinctive lighthouse, the island used to be an essential source of supplies for navigators and explorers and is inhabited by an immense colony of Magellanic penguins. At the break of dawn, weather permitting, we go ashore and hike a path that leads through thousands of penguins to a small museum lodged inside the vintage 1902 lighthouse. Many other bird species are also found on the island. In September and April — when the penguins dwell elsewhere — this excursion is replaced by a ride aboard Zodiacs to Marta Island to observe South American sea lions.
After a short cruise south along the strait, disembarkation at Punta Arenas is scheduled for around 11:30 AM.
*Camera extension poles are prohibited on Magdalena Island.
After disembarkation, if you continue with an organized tour, transfer to airport in Punta Arenas, or Puerto Natales hotel or Puerto Natales bus station to continue with your itinerary. If you only booked the cruise, end of our services.
Arrival to Puerto Natales bus station or Punta Arenas Airport and transfer to your hotel in Puerto Natales. The city is located at the opening of Ultima Esperanza Sound, and from here you will visit amazing places sush as Torres del Paine National Park or Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers. After check in, free time to enjoy walking the city, or just rest to be ready for the next day.
After breafkst, we will start one of the best excursions you can do in Patagonia. Yes, it`s the visit to Torres del Paine National Park. So, after picking up all the passengers from
After this, we will go to Cerro Castillo to have a short break and enjoy snack services, coffee shops and souvenir stores.
From that point, we will go to Torres del Paine Park where the first natural sceneries we will see are: Sarmiento Lake Lookout, Paine’s towers, Paine’s horns and Almirante Nieto Hill. Regarding fauna, the most predominant animals you will see are guanacos, lesser rhea and condors, considering that in the park also live foxes, hares, rufous-collared sparrow and the lion of America: the mountain cat.
Inside the park we will know the turquoise lakes such as Pehoé and Nordenskjold, waterfalls and mountains covered in ice. A walk of 15 minutes is necessary to get close to Salto Grande waterfall.
After lunch, the visit continues with a walk along the shore of the Grey Lake from where you can see small icebergs and at the back the great Grey glacier. Depending on the needs, the return can be on the same route or else using the new road and leave you at you accommodation place. Free time and overnight
After breakfast, we keep the day free, so you can choose any of the optional activities you can find in the list below.
After breakfast, fee time to enjoy Puerto Natales until your transfer to the bus station or Punta Arenas Airport to continue with your itinerary.
Arrive at El Calafate, one of the most important destinations in Patagonia because it`s the gate to visit Perito Moreno and many other glaciers in the area. After check-in, you have free time, but if you`re an active person, you can choose any of the available options that can be added to your arrival day. Check options below
After breakfast, we will start our visit to one of the highlights of Patagonia: the incredible Perito Moreno Glacier.
El Calafate is located 80 km from Perito Moreno Glacier, along a 50 km paved road. The last 30 are within Los Glaciares National Park.
During the first 40 km you travel through the Patagonian steppe which is very typical in the area, but once you enter the National Park there is a real change in the vegetation, now formed by ñires (nothofagus antartica), guindos (nothofagus betuloides) and lengas (nothofagus pumilio); also some isolated canelos (drimys winteri) and many-colored flowers, among them the intense red-colored notro (embothrium coccineum), the typical flower of the Andean Patagonian forest.
Once at the Glacier, the visitor is overwhelmed by the impressive spectacle and can appreciate the many unforgettable vistas of the glacier from the walk paths. You will have free time to enjoy this show. You can see enormous blocks of ice falling into the lake with a thunderous crash. It`s an amazing show of nature. There is a restaurant, a snack bar, restrooms and a pay campsite within the Moreno Glacier area.
You can choose some good options that can be added to the visit, like the mini trekking to walk over the ice of the glacier or the Nautical Safari which is navigation to see the glacier from the lake. Take a look at this option below
This is a full-day excursion. Return to the hotel is late in the afternoon.
After breakfast, we keep this day free, so you can choose one of the full day boat navigations available, to visit different glaciers in Los Glaciares National Park. Take a look at the different options available below.
After breakfast, you have some free time until transfer to airport or bus station to continue your trip. If you leaves in the afternoon, you can choose an interesting optional activity from our list below.
Good bye El Calafate!
BUENOS AIRES EXTENSION!
Welcome to Buenos Aires! The Argentina capital city and one of the most important cities in South America and the world. Add this package to enjoy a 3-night stay and visit La Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta, the Obelisk… taste a typical “asado criollo”, enjoy the unique Tango Dance, and taste the famous malbec wine:
DAY 1 – Arrival to Buenos Aires!
DAY 2 – City Tour visiting the best of Buenos Aires & Dinner Tango Show
DAY 3 – Choose from visit to a typical estancia or farm in the Pampas, visit the Tigre Delta, enjoy a walking tour, or take a polo lesson.
DAY 4 – Transfer out. Good bye Buenos Aires!
BARILOCHE EXTENSION PROGRAM
San Carlos de Bariloche is the gate to enjoy the lakes district in Argentina. The area, full of beautiful lakes and forests, offers many excursions and adventure activities to do. It`s also the gate to cross to Chile by lake, throught the Andes. Bariloche is also a wonderful place to taste delicious chocolate, and excellent local dishes.
DAY 1 – Arrival to Bariloche
DAY 2 – City Tour visiting Bariloche neighborhood + Boat Navigation to Victoria Island and Arrayanes Nat Park in Hahuel Huapi Lake
DAY 3 – Choose from visiting 7-lakes circuit and San Martin de los Andes, the incredible Tronador Mount, or Villa La Angostura
DAY 4 – Transfer out. Good bye Bariloche
