Perito Moreno Full Day Minitrekking with Transfer and Walkways
Description
The tour starts when passengers are picked up in El Calafate. You will board our comfortable buses, where our tour guides will give you information on the place, the glacier and the tour on our way to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Once you arrive at Bajo de las Sombras port you’ll board a ship to cross Lago Rico and descend on the opposite coast, the south face of Glaciar Perito Moreno. When you disembark, you will be welcomed by our expert mountain guides. Here starts the trekking! We will start by walking along the coast of the lake, keeping our eyes on the glacier The guides will give a talk about glaciology. When we reach the glacier side, with its amazing shades of blue ice framing the landscape, you will be divided into subgroups of up to 20 people each and you will have the crampons and helmets fitted. At the end of the ice trekking, you will return along a path crossing the Bosque Andino Patagónico, completing the THREE-HOUR WALK ON THE LAKE COAST, MORAINE, ICE AND WOODS
Tour Options
Itinerary
The tour begins with the pick-up from the meeting point agreed in El Calafate. In our comfortable buses, we will give information about the place, the glacier and the tour through audio guides available in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Once in the “Bajo las Sombras” port (Ruta 11, km 70.9) you board a ship to cross the Lago Rico to arrive at the opposite shore after a 20-minute trip approximately in front of the southern wall of the Perito Moreno Glacier. When you get ashore, and after passing by the shelter, the mountain guides organize small groups of up to 20 people. Then, a short 20-minute walk begins with a talk about glaciology along the shore of the lake towards the glacier. Once on the ice, the guides put on each participant a pair of crampons and give them instructions on how they should walk on the ice. In the about 1:30 hour walk on the glacier, you will be able to appreciate a wide variety of ice formations as well as cracks, seracs, glacier mills and small ponds.
The duration of this tour is about 10 hours, including the transfer and a one-hour guided visit to the walkways of Glaciar Perito Moreno, 7 km from the port. There, you’ll enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the glacier and walk along some of the self-guided paths. If you don’t use our transfer and go by your own means, the Minitrekking takes about four hours and a half, leaving from the port and returning to the same point.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
All the hotels in Calafate area
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Age allowed to make this tour: From 8 years of age and under 65 years of age.
- Pick up time depending on the availability in high season - the pick up time will be written in the MINITREKKING voucher that we will send to you after the booking
- You need to Print The minitrekking Voucher that you will receive 5 days before the day of the tour
- The tour starts when passengers are picked up in El Calafate. You will board our comfortable buses, where our tour guides will give you information on the place, the glacier and the tour on our way to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Once you arrive at “Bajo de las Sombras” port (located on Route 11, 70 Km from El Calafate), you’ll board a ship to cross Lago Rico and descend on the opposite coast, after a 20-minute navigation in front of the stunning south face of Glaciar Perito Moreno.
- When you disembark, you will be welcomed by our expert mountain guides, who will lead you to a cozy shelter with a privileged view of the glacier. Here starts the trekking! We will start by walking along the coast of the lake, keeping our eyes on the glacier so that we do not miss any ice calvings. Then, the guides will give a talk about glaciology. When we reach the glacier side, with its amazing shades of blue ice framing the landscape, you will be divided into subgroups of up to 20 people each and you will have the crampons and helmets fitted, which are provided by the company. This tour is highly personalized (one guide every up to 10 passengers). Once on the glacier, you will hear the safety instructions and you will walk to enjoy this frozen paradise, which has been declared a Word Heritage Site in 1981.
- The level of difficulty of this walk is moderate. The surface of the ice is irregular, but firm and safe. During the trekking, you will be able to see a variety of typical glacier features, such as deep cracks, blue moulins, huge seracs and turquoise ponds.
- At the end of the ice trekking, you will walk on the area around the glacier and the side moraine, from where you will be able to enjoy a panoramic view of Glaciar Perito Moreno, the mountains and the lake. Later, you will return along a path crossing the exuberant Bosque Andino Patagónico, completing the THREE-HOUR WALK ON THE LAKE COAST, MORAINE, ICE AND WOODS (about one hour is on the glacier’s ice). When we arrive to the shelter, we will give visitors hot drinks and a souvenir. Shortly after, you will embark to return to “Bajo de las Sombras” port, but before departing you will be able to watch the huge walls of the glacier from the ship.
- The duration of this tour is about 10 hours, including the transfer and a one-hour guided visit to the walkways of Glaciar Perito Moreno, 7 km from the port. There, you’ll enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of the glacier and walk along some of the self-guided paths. If you don’t use our transfer and go by your own means, the Minitrekking takes about five hours and a half, leaving from the port and returning to the same point.
- Group departures: we have several departures at different times. If you are traveling in a group or with a partner, please tell us the details in advance, in order to place them at the same time and guarantee the group departure at the same time
- If there is a participant under the age of 15, please provide a photo of their passport with the date of birth so we can confirm the reservation. This will be requested at the time of confirmation.
- If you choose the without transfer option, please note that this alternative does not include transportation to and from the walkways, and therefore, the total duration of the tour is reduced to approximately 5 hours.
- Passengers who choose the without transfer option: The meeting point will be at Puerto Bajo Las Sombras, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, Z9405, El Calafate. We will inform you of the meeting time when your booking is confirmed and will send it to you along with the itinerary once the reservation is finalized.
Reviews(54)
This is an amazing experience. The guides are fantastic and very knowledgeable. Their English was excellent. I imagined we would climb for 15’ on the glaciar, but it was a lot longer with quite an adventure feel despite the tour dynamic. At the end we had a glass of whisky with ice from the glaciar. It was a lot of fun and a must for anyone wanting to do the perito moreno glaciar
Breathtaking experience. Amazing just to been able to visit such a place. Privilege of a lifetime. The place is very well preserved, infrastructure is very friendly for users, the staff knows very well their job and are really hospitable and friendly.
A very well organised tour. Everything ran on time. The glacier was amazing and all staff gave interesting facts about it. Appreciated the offer coffee/ tea during the lunch break. The views from the walkway were equal to, if not better than views doing the mini trek. However, walking on the glacier was a great experience.
So worth it! Trekking on the glacier was one of the absolute highlights of our trip to Patagonia. Definitely worth including the ice climbing as it was amazing to be right up and on the glacier with all its beauty. Highly recommend.
If you have any doubts - price, crampons, or whatever - put them aside. This is a special and beautiful experience at one of the natural wonders of the world. It’s professionally run and you’re in good hands - Sebastián who led the tour was energising and knowledgeable with a great sense of humour, and Eduardo looked after everyone and inspired confidence. But everyone at Hielo y Aventura was exceptional. Although it’s a well marked tourist destination they managed to give everyone a great personal experience.
Breathtaking views, informative and friendly bi-lingual guides. The trekking was not too difficult and there was an abundance of stops to take great pictures.
This is the most amazing experience of my life! It’s literally breathtaking! The guides are very kind and knowledgeable. It should be in everyone’s bucket list. So worth the money.
We had a great experience. It includes a boat tour near the glacier then you will do the hike up and down the glacier with your crampons which lasted about 1-1 1/2 hr. And at the end of the tour you get a shot of whiskey. Then they will take you to the balcony view at the visitor center for 1 hr.
Everything ran smoothly and on time Great day out on the ice, very knowledgeable tour guides. I would highly recommend this tour.
Every thing is well organized. In the Morning you can see the glacier and walk by yourself . By 1 pm they bring you to the boat which crosses the lake. Here as well you can see the glacier from the boat - takes 15 min. Then they divide the groups in English and Spanish and you walk 25 min to the glacier. After getting helmet etc you start to walk on the glacier for about 1,5 h. This is really very very touristic as many people are doing it. It’s good organized but already very commercial as soo many groups and people. Each group has about 15-20 people. But all in all good tour.
