Argentina: Walking in Patagonia​

Upon arrival at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), proceed through immigration where you will need to pay $140 US Reciprocity Fee (cash or credit card are accepted). Please note you will be required to complete a landing card prior to proceeding through the immigration check point.  These landing cards will be provided to you onboard your flight.  You will need to have your El Calafate hotel information to complete these cards.  Please keep it in your carry-on luggage. 

Claim your luggage and clear customs. If your luggage is delayed, fill in a PIR form before leaving the customs area – VBT representatives are not allowed into the customs area. Please make certain that your VBT luggage tags are affixed to your bag so your VBT representative can identify you. Depending on your flight itinerary, you will either check in for your next flight connection staying at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), or transfer to Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) domestic airport for your flight to El Calafate.

If you are transferring to the domestic airport, after exiting customs, enter the arrival hall, where your VBT representative will be holding a VBT sign and will assist you with transferring to the domestic airport for your flight to El Calafate. Transfer time is approximately 60 minutes depending on traffic.

Upon arrival at El Calafate airport, claim your luggage and look in the arrivals hall, where your VBT representative will be holding a VBT sign. (Please note: Make certain that your VBT luggage tags are affixed to your bag so your VBT representative can identify you.) Your representative will make arrangements for the transfer to your hotel in El Calafate. El Calafate, near the Chilean border was an old settlement town which has grown into a magnet for nature lovers, trekkers, and mountaineers; its outpost quality is hard to resist. You may want to browse the shops along Paseo de los Artesanos, brimming with local handicrafts made from leather, silver and alpaca wool.  Be sure to sample an alfajor, a sweet cookie infused with local caramel.  Or stroll from your hotel to the shores of Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve, where flamingos and black-necked swans wade.

VBT Pre-Trip Extension and Air Package guests: Meet your VBT Trip Leaders at your hotel at 8:30 am.  We will have a short orientation during our shuttle ride (approximately 1.5 hours) to the start of our warm-up walk. Please be dressed in your walking attire for your warm-up walk this morning when you meet your Trip Leaders. 

Our warm-up walk will take us on a fascinating trail through petrified forests with heaps of fossilized bones of large pre-historic reptiles that are still in the process of being identified. Following our warm-up walk we will transfer to our hotel in El Chalten, approximately a 2 hour drive.  El Chalten is the northern gateway to Los Glaciares National Park, where the soaring Andes and vast stretches of untouched wilderness form a magnificent backdrop for our walking days ahead.  El Chalten is a young village, just 25 years. Its charms – and dramatic setting amidst mammoth outcroppings – are undeniable. Due to the long travel day, we will have a simple Welcome Reception at 6:30 pm.  Our formal welcome dinner will be tomorrow evening.

We shuttle back to El Calafate this morning, stopping en route at Harbor Tunnel Bay where we board our catamaran for our excursion to Viedma Glacier. Viedma Glacier is the largest glacier in Argentina and second largest in South America with a surface area of almost 1000 square km.  After sailing across the bay we arrive to a rocky promontory where we will disembark for our ice trekking tech training.  Once instructed on the technical and safety procedures, we will begin our exploration of the glacier.  During our ice trek today we will have a break for our included box lunch.  Note:  if you are not interested in the ice trekking excursion you will have the opportunity to continue the Viedma Lake cruise with lectures about the National Park and Southern Ice Field.

Journey today to the Perito Moreno Glacier on the farther shore of Lake Argentino. This is the world's third largest single reserve of fresh water and one of very few advancing glaciers in the world. In fact, this icy behemoth occasionally advances to the opposite shore of the lake. Perito Moreno glacier is protected by the World Biosphere Reserve from UNESCO.

We embark a boat tour of the glacier this morning. Our captain will keep his distance in hopes that we'll witness a glacier calving, in which giant chunks collapse into the water. After our boat tour, there'll be time to further explore by strolling along the numerous boardwalks that face the glacier.

 

Later this afternoon, we will return to El Calafate where you can browse the shops along Paseo de los Artesanos, brimming with local handicrafts made from leather, silver and alpaca wool. Be sure to sample an alfajor, a sweet cookie infused with local caramel. Or stroll from your hotel to the shores of Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve, where flamingos and black-necked swans wade. 

In the evening we share our day's events over a farewell drink before enjoying a sumptuous farewell dinner.

VBT No-Air Package guests: VBT provides an early morning transfer to El Calafate airport. Our tour concludes here.

VBT Air Package guests: Transfer to the airport in El Calafate for our flight to Buenos Aires. There is a $9 US departure tax that must be paid after checking in at El Calafate airport. Upon arrival at Bueno Aires Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) domestic airport, collect your luggage and transfer to Ezeiza International Airport.  For guests that have more than a six hour layover, a day room will be provided at the Panamericano Buenos Aires Hotel (transfer time is approximately 45 minutes depending upon traffic). If you are provided a day room, you will transfer back to the airport in the early evening (exact time will be provided by the transfer representative meeting you on arrival in Buenos Aires) to check in for your flight to the U.S.  NOTE: Some departures will fly from El Calafate to Ezeiza International Airport directly, and there will not be a need to transfer between airports.  Please check your itinerary to confirm this.  Guests with more than a six hour layover will still be provided a day room at the Panamericano Buenos Aires Hotel.

VBT Post-Trip Extension guests: Transfer to the airport in El Calafate for our flight to Buenos Aires. There is a $9 US departure tax that must be paid after checking in at El Calafate airport. Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, make your connection with LAN Airlines for your flight to Mendoza.  After collecting your luggage in Mendoza and exiting the luggage area, a VBT representative meets you and assists you to your accommodations at Finca Adalgisa, located in the Maipu region at the beginning of Argentina's Wine Route.

Please note: VBT transfer times and departure points are finalized in advance and cannot be modified for individual guests. If you extend your stay beyond the scheduled program dates, return transportation to the airport will be at your own expense.