Cañadón de los Fósiles Expedition

The Estancia Cristina is a fantastic place, unique location, very comfortable stay, very pleasant staff, competent guides, quality horses, excellent food. only downside, the service to the restaurant is far too slow and the dishes arrived several times barely lukewarm, to be corrected. Recommended. Estancia Cristina is a fantastic place, with a unique location, very comfortable accommodation, very pleasant staff, knowledgeable guides, high-quality horses and excellent food. The only downside is that the restaurant service is far too slow and the dishes were often barely warm when they arrived, point which needs to be addressed. Highly recommended.

A wonderful and unmissable experience in El Calafate. You sail on a very nice and comfortable boat on an arm of Lake Argentino to the Uppsala Glacier where you can appreciate the ice blocks that have come off. Then you arrive at the room where you are waiting in a van to take you to the start of the hike. It is a 4-hour tour of unique, wonderful and unforgettable places. You see the Uppsala Glacier from a privileged spot, walk through the fossil canyon, have lunch on the way to finally reach La Estancia and return on the boat. Wonderful.

The guides essentially provided no value. Very little information shared and some of what they shared was wrong (glaciers are not involved in creating fossils). Multiple people on the tour asked that they provide more information and that on of the guides work with the English speakers. This did not happen. Guides were very worried about the time and pushed the group by being out ahead vs. with their customers. The timing was due to their logistics, not the customers being slow. Beautiful terrain.

A very nice destination with a warm welcome and competent and friendly guides. Beautiful hikes, discovery of the glacier and remarkable food for a moment of high quality.

This was one of our favourite days in Patagonia which is really saying something! The tour transfer picked us up for a 30 minute ish drive to the boat. The boat then takes around 2 hours to cross lake Argentino to get to Estancia Cristina, passing and stopping to get close to icebergs along the way - we had a beautiful day and this part was just stunning. On arriving at the estancia we took a 4x4 to an incredible viewpoint of Upsala Glacier, before hiking 14km back to the Estancia through Canadon de los Fosiles. The hike was at a brisk pace in order to meet the boat at the other end - we hike lots at home and I did feel this was slightly faster than my usual comfortable pace, so just something to be aware of. It's not too challenging though and absolutely gorgeous. We were served a cold beer at the estancia before getting the boat back - a generous lunch was also included as well as snacks and tea/coffee on the boat, our national park access, & hiking poles. I'm gluten free which was also accommodated no problem. Thanks to Maurena our guide who was brilliant 😊

Exceptional place. Once your there you just want to stay. Untuch and wild nature, beeathtaking landskape, premium service . Difficult to think of a better place.

This is truly a full patagonia experience where you take a boat out to the estancia and go past glaciers, and then immediately are in an idealic setting that has nature everywhere. This spot is an incredible getaway and was one of the highlights of our trip especially with the fossil canyon hike and the asada dinner. There are many hikes that you can take right from the cabins. The hotel is very very well run. What a treat.

I cannot recommend doing this activity more. It has been one of my favourite hikes! The staff at Estancia Christina are truly amazing, I had an incredible time here to do the Fossil Canyon Expedition. It was a one of a kind experience and my guide Augostina was very knowledgeable and excellent company during my trek through the canyon. The bus that came to pick me up from El Calafate was very much on time. We went to Puerto Bandera where we were out on a boat to head to the estancia. The boat ride is so incredible, the captain and crew do their best to make you feel comfortable and they take you as close as possible to the icebergs. There’s also a slight detour to see the Upsala glacier whilst on the boat. They give you a band and a very well detailed set of instructions on the boat. When I got off I was welcomed by my tour guide. I seemed to have been the only one for the hike on the day, so it felt very personalized. My guide Augostina did a fantastic job making me feel welcome and took me down the canyon at a very good pace. I was offered hiking poles before we embarked on our 14km hike, which was so thoughtful. The hike in itself was incredible - the canyon is so full of colours and you get to see the upsala glacier from many angles at the beginning of the hike too. The whole canyon is covered in fossils and so stunning. I didn’t want to add too many photos as to ruin the delightful surprise that is the whole canyon. Additionally, hats off to the chef. I got a lovely veggie sandwich (grilled veggies, cream cheese, cheese and some lovely seasoning), a brownie (so fresh), a piece of fruit and a large water bottle that was neatly packed for my lunch in the canyon. The food was absolutely delicious! If you’re thinking about doing this activity, just do it! It’s a one of a kind opportunity. I haven’t been able to experience this anywhere else but here!

When I retouched the photos, when I traveled through this very different landscape, so unconventional, I took dimension of what we have traveled. This is a wound from our territory not yet healed, only 100 years ago, a thousandth of a second for geological times, that an ice blade was cutting and crushing the skin of the Earth and, I feel like we were like the smallest insect, going through it. I FEEL ELATED TO HAVE DECIDED, AT MY NEAR 85TH BIRTHDAY, TO ENCOURAGE MYSELF TO THIS.

Not only a beautiful canyon to hike down but abundant fossil, both negative (imprints) and positive (cavities filled by a material that has survived and thus left a 3D copy). In addition to the hike itself, a highight was the 4x4 ride to the Upsala Glacier overlook that is at the start of the trek - the overlook is fabulous to see and the ride up to it was invigorating and beautiful.