Booking fee
The booking fee includes the costs of booking your tickets such as charges for payment processing. It also covers the provision of our customer care center for processing your order, and all charges imposed by our suppliers.
* This tour requires at least one of the following per booking: Adult, Senior
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
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Guide for all the tour
Pick up time could be at 8 AM or at 1 PM depending on the availability in high season
Crampons to the participants
One hour guided visit to the walkways of Glaciar Perito Moreno
Hotel pickup and drop-off hotels located at Calafate downtown areas
Gratuities
National Park fees - $30 dolars
Take a lunch box to have a meal in the woods at the side of the lake, before embarking.
Transfers Calafate airport to Calafate Hotel are not included
Food or Drinks
Departure Point
Traveler pickup is offered
All the hotels in Calafate area
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina 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.
120 minutes
Lago Argentino, El Calafate, Argentina Its part of the tour: Lake Argentino is the largest in the Argentine Republic and the third in South America 120 minutes
Calafate Mountain Park, El Calafate, Argentina El Calafate Mountain Park is a center for recreational activities that offers summer and winter programs. 120 minutes
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina Los Glaciares National Park is located in the southern Andes of southwestern Argentina, near the Chilean border. Its numerous glaciers include Perito Moreno, famous for the spectacular ice cascades on its front wall, which end at Lake Argentino. In the north, the irregular peak of Mount Fitz Roy rises above the mountain village of El Chaltén and Viedma Lake. The park hosts many species of birds, such as condors and black eagles. 120 minutes
Rios de Hielo, El Calafate, Argentina The most impressive attractions of the national park. on the way we can observe the Heim, Peineta and Seco glaciers. In each attraction our guides in Spanish and English will make interventions and will be at your disposal.
120 minutes
Wheelchair accessible
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 four 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.
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
Juan francisco B
16 Apr 2023
La mejor excursión de El Calafate. La sensación de caminar sobre hielo más todo lo que aprendes sobre el glaciar y el parque nacional donde se encuentra, es lo mejor.Te dan poco tiempo para sacarte fotos. Es medio tedioso que hay que esperar mucho para llegar al lugar pero en ese tiempo podes dormir. El guía que me toco muy buena onda. Te apuran bastante y por mi deberían sacar tiempo de almuerzo y agregar mas de pasarelas. Las pasarelas te dan una vista panorámica muy linda de el glaciar. ¡¡Muy buena experiencia!! Recomendado.
TestT128
17 Feb 2023
Alles in allem war das Mini-Trekking gut und ein schöner Tag auf unserer Reise. Die Abholung erfolgte viel später als angegeben, wir dachten schon, die Reiseleiter haben auf uns vergessen. Der Eintritt in den Nationalpark (5.500) kostet extra. Das Trekking auf dem Gletscher war super, hätte aber meiner Meinung nach noch länger sein können. Es lebte vor allem vom sympathischen Gletscher-Guide Germano. Würde diese Tour empfehlen.
Jaime_L
12 Dec 2022
One-star because I booked the longer Big Ice tour via Viator about 2 months before the trip, but Viator only told me 1 day prior to the trip that it was not available. I flew down to El Calafate to do that trip. The day prior to the reservation, Viator informs me the tour was unavailable and blamed the local tour provider. I speak to the local provider (as I am now there in person), who informs me that they told Viator the tour was unavailable weeks prior. I spoke to Viator on multiple occasions, which refused to accept responsibility. I was forced to rearrange my whole set of Patagonia tours on the fly. The Minitrekking was quite nice and the local operator was great, but I flew down for the Big Ice tour.
To save you all substantial time and headache, Viator is not the company to use for the Big Ice Tour. The Big Ice tour is very popular, and Viator apparently lacks the competence and/or local connections to ensure that you actually get a spot, or even to let you know more than 1 day prior that the tour has already been fully booked. You are much better off using one of the local providers to make your Patagonia arrangements, even though Viator and other international providers show up at the top of the internet search results. This review would have been a smidge more forgiving of Viator had they actually accepted responsibility or determined how they dropped the ball, rather than simply blaming others.
I had the aggravating experience of uncovering how Viator apparently does business while trying to fix the issue, which helps show why they messed up. Their apparent method of handling my Big Ice tour booking is that I booked with Viator, which then contracted with a national Argentinian operator, which then subcontracted with a local operator, which then tried to make the arrangement with the provider of the glacier tours. If you want to take this risk of this game of telephone, you can, but my experience was that Viator washed it hands of my problems by placing the blame elsewhere, giving me a lesser alternative, and then leaving me with no recourse.
This tour in
Argentina
is organized by
Expetravel / Azul Latina
We always double-check the availability with our local partners for each booking. Even though this is usually a swift process, it can take up to 24 hours. Once this process is completed you will receive your voucher or ticket by email. If our local partner is not able to confirm your booking we will offer you the best possible alternative. If the new date and/or time doesn’t fit your itinerary, we will reimburse the full amount paid.
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