Exploring Patagonia & Australis Cruise

ITINERARY

DAY 1 – Buenos Aires
Arrival. Reception at Ezeiza International Airport, and private transfer to your hotel.  In the afternoon you will enjoy a tour of this cosmopolitan city of 12 million inhabitants, and capital of the Argentine Republic. You will visit four parks and plazas of Buenos Aires (Plaza de Mayo, Parque Lezama  and La Boca, Plaza San Martin and Recoleta) to learn about the history of the city, its contrasts, its contradictions and the characteristics of the “porteños”, the inhabitants of  Buenos Aires.  Lodging for one night at Hotel Intersur Recoleta or similar. (B)                                  

DAY 2 – Los Glaciares National Park. El Calafate

Breakfast. Flight to El Calafate, a small town located along the shores of Argentino Lake. The landscape of the region is a combination of arid steppes to the east, where eagles, falcons, lesser rheas, guanacos, hares, foxes and pumas live, and woods of lengas and ñires near the West Andes, that are the natural habitat of Condors, eagles, Magellan woodpeckers, and the Huemul (Andean deer). Lodging at Hotel El Galpón del Glaciar, a comfortable guest ranch, for three nights. If you prefer to be in town you would stay at Hotel Mirador del Lago or similar. Dinner included. (B,D)

DAY 3 – Los Glaciares National Park. El Calafate

After breakfast you will depart to visit Los Glaciares National Park. This park of 600.000 hectares (2,300 square miles) has thirteen glaciers that flow into the Argentino and Viedma lakes. Perito Moreno Glacier, is one of the few glaciers in the world that is still progressing. It is only 500 ft above sea level, which makes it very accessible, allowing one to stand in front of a mountain of ice that measures 60 m (180 ft) by 5 km (2.5 miles). The constant fall of huge towers of ice from its walls and into the lake is an unforgettable spectacle. Trekking Expedition: You will board a boat to cross the lake. You will land on an isolated beach and trek for about 1 ½ hour on the glacier while enjoying a magnificent landscape of ice formations in different shades of blue, crevasses, streams and small lagoons. Lunch in the park. Dinner at the hotel. (B, L,D)

DAY 4 – El Calafate

Day at leisure to enjoy optional excursions or relax. Dinner. (B,D

DAY 5– Torres del Paine – Chile
Today you will cross the border towards the Republic of Chile.  It will be a group transfer in a small bus for up to 12 passengers from your hotel to the border with Chile (Cancha Carrera/Cerro Castillo) where your Chilean guide will be waiting for you and drive to Torres del Paine National Park.Your destination is the renowned Torres del Paine National Park. Torres del Paine is a large park (450,000 acres) declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. You will visit Sarmiento, Nordenskjold and Pehoe Lakes. The park is particularly rich in fauna, and we’ll be likely to see guanacos, lesser rheas, black-necked swans, geese, flamingos, Magellanic woodpeckers, and peregrine falcons and condors on the mountain slopes.  Lodging for two nights at Hotel Las Torres or Hotel Lago Grey OR similar in the park. (B,L)

DAY 6- Torres del Paine National Park. Chile
Breakfast. Full day to enjoy the park. We suggest a full day hiking excursion to Mirador Las Torres to get amazing views of the park (about 7 hours). Lodging. (B)

DAY 7 – Torres del Paine National Park. Chile
After breakfast, you will depart in Zodiac boats down Serrano River. We’ll enjoy a short hike to Glaciar Serrano. Then you’ll sail through Ultima Esperanza Fjord to ranch overlooking Seno Ultima Esperanza.  Barbecue lunch.  Later continue to Puerto Natales and lodging at Hotel CostAustralis (overlooking the Ultima Esperanza Sound) or similar.   (B,L)                              

DAY 8 – Puerto Natales/ Punta Arenas
Breakfast. Private transfer to Punta Arenas, a picturesque town overlooking the Strait of Magellan. You will enjoy a private city tour and visit its plaza, cathedral and see the mansions built at the beginning of the century by the big cattle ranchers.  Lodging at Hotel Finis Terrae or similar. (B)

DAY 9 – Punta Arenas/ CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS
Private transfer to the port. Check-in is between 1:00pm and 5:00pm.  Cruise ship boarding starts at 6:00 p.m. The Captain and crew give a welcome cocktail reception on board. Immediately afterward, the ship departs for “the uttermost part of the earth”.  The excursion will take you through the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel to explore one of the most breathtaking wilderness regions in the world:  Southern Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego.  You have just embarked on a Great Adventure! (B,D)

DAY 10 – CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS: Ainsworth Bay – Tuckers Islets
At dawn, you’ll continue navigating through Almirantazgo Sound until finally arriving near Marinelli Glacier in Ainsworth Bay, where you’ll enjoy a walk to discover a beaver dam in the midst of a marvelous Magellanic forest. On the beach you’ll observe a colony of elephant seals. Later you’ll visit Tucker Islet, where you’ll view colonies of Magellanic Penguins and Cormorants from the Zodiac boats. The islet’s penguins migrate in April; as a replacement you may visit Brookes Bay, for a short walk to see a glacier. (B,L,D)

DAY 11 – CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS: Pia Glacier – Glacier Alley
You’ll navigate through the main part of Beagle Channel to reach Pia Bay, where you’ll disembark near Pia Glacier. You’ll take a short hike to a lookout point with a spectacular view of the entire glacier tongue, stretching from high in the mountains all the way to the sea. After this unforgettable experience, you’ll sail again along the northwest arm of Beagle Channel through majestic “Glacier Alley”: Spain, Romanche, Germany, Italy, France and Holland glaciers. (B,L,D)

DAY 12 – CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS: Cape Horn – Wulaia Bay
You’ll sail through Beagle and Murray channels to reach and disembark in Cape Horn National Park (weather permitting). Cape Horn, on Hornos Island, is a sheer, 425-meter (1,394-foot) high rocky promontory at the point where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans merge. This mythical place is known as the “End of the Earth”; a visit is a singular privilege. The park was declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in June 2005. In the afternoon, you’ll 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’ll walk through a Magellanic forest of Lengas, Coigües, Canelos, ferns and other native vegetation to reach a lookout point. (B,L,D)

DAY 13 – Ushuaia/ Tierra del Fuego-Argentina
Arrival in Ushuaia, a charming town on the shores of the Beagle Channel.  You’ll disembark at 8:30 or 9:00am. Transfer to your hotel for check in.  Later, you will go west for a private excursion to Tierra del Fuego National Park. Created in 1960, this National Park protects 63.000 hectares of the southernmost portion of the Sub Antarctic Forest, from the high Andean steppe and peat bogs, down to the maritime coast of the Beagle Channel.  You will visit different areas of the park such as Ensenada Bay and Lapataia Bay, and you’ll be able to see two remarkably different ecosystems: the sea-shore and the sub-Antarctic forest which occur together only in a few places on earth and are unique in Argentina.  Lunch in the park. Lodging in Ushuaia at Hotel Tolkeyen or Hotel Mil810 or similar for three nights.  (B,L)

DAY 14 – Ushuaia/Tierra del Fuego
Full day excursion to Harberton Ranch. (B)

DAY 15 – Ushuaia/Puerto Madryn

Private transfer to the airport and flight to Trelew. Your guide will be meeting you at the airport and drive to Puerto Madryn. Lodging for two nights at Hotel Peninsula Valdes overlooking the ocean.  (B)

DAY 16 – Península Valdés

After breakfast, you will drive to Peninsula Valdes Nature Reserve, a paradise for wildlife lovers. Peninsula Valdes is like an island united to the continent by a 35 km long strip of land called Ameghino Isthmus. From some sections of the road that takes us into the reserve, we will be able to view both gulfs: “San Jose” and “Nuevo”. The distance between them is only 7 km. at the narrowest part. We will spend some time at Puerto Piramide, a village on the south side of the Peninsula, on the NuevoGulf. NOTE: You will be able to see Right Whales from June through the first days of December. Lunch included. In the afternoon, you will likely observe more of the region’s native fauna which includes foxes, maras, peludos and piches (similar to armadillos), lesser rheas (or choiques) and guanacos. The places you’ll be visiting will be: Punta Norte, with the largest sea elephant colony on the Peninsula OR Caleta Valdes, a natural canal with great variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife; a sea lion colony, and the Salinas “Chica” and “Grande” that are the biggest depressions in South America. Late in the evening you will return to your hotel in Puerto Madryn. (B)

DAY 17 – Punta Tombo – Buenos Aires

In the morning, private drive Punta Tombo, the biggest continental breeding ground of Magellan penguins. There, you will have the opportunity to meander along the park trails, which bisect the breeding ground themselves, and see over 200 thousand live nests, and more than 500 thousand penguins. Picnic lunch. In the afternoon, if flight time allows, you will visit Gaiman. This is a picturesque small town that was settled by Welsh immigrants in the 1870s, and still maintains much of its original architecture. You may savor a delicious Welsh tea with pastries at one of the traditional teahouses of Gaiman (optional, not included). Later drive to the airport in Trelew for your flight to Buenos Aires. Arrival and transfer to your hotel.  Lodging at Hotel Intersur Recoleta or similar for one night. (B,L)

DAY 18– Buenos Aires / …………

Breakfast. Morning at leisure.  Private transfer to Ezeiza airport to take your international flight. (B)