The Punta Tombo tour with Sussanich Turismo is a must-do penguin tour when cruising through Puerto Madryn—five stars! It was one of the highlights of our cruise ship journey around Cape Horn.
The booking process was quite easy, and even though we needed to reduce the number of people going on the tour from six to four just two days before the excursion, everything went smoothly. (The change required switching from a van to a four-door vehicle.) It was no problem at all.
When we arrived at the port, our driver-guide Marianna was waiting at the boat pier with our name on a poster—punctual and prepared! We immediately departed for Punta Tombo, which is a fairly long ride, approximately 1.5 hours each way. Because we left right away, we were among the first visitors to arrive at the park that day.
Marianna, our driver-guide, was excellent. She was a great driver, and her English was outstanding. As a local, she shared her knowledge and deep understanding of the area’s history and wildlife. We reached Punta Tombo with plenty of time to walk around and see the penguins and guanacos (llama-like animals) before the large tourist and cruise ship buses arrived.
We also wanted to stop at the dinosaur museum in Trelew, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF), so after spending 1 hour and 45 minutes at Punta Tombo, we headed back toward the ship with a 10-mile detour to the museum. Along the way, we enjoyed healthy snacks and juice drinks in the car while listening to Marianna talk about the region.
This museum in Trelew, Argentina, houses a replica of the Patagotitan mayorum. At 100 feet (31 meters) long, it is one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered, a member of the plant-eating Patagotitans from around 100 million years ago. The museum’s numerous other dinosaur exhibits are also very impressive.
I highly recommend this small, intimate excursion with Sussanich Turismo, where you get to meet wonderful locals like driver-guide Marianna. It adds so much to the experience and creates special travel memories.
On cruise ship itineraries, Punta Tombo and the dinosaur museum are two separate excursions, but Sussanich Turismo made our travel dream come true by taking all four of us to both places. Doing it this way makes for a long all-day excursion—about 8 hours door-to-door (or pier-to-pier).
Pictures are included.
Thank you, Sussanich Turismo, and our fantastic driver-guide Marianna, for a wonderful, magical day with guanacos, penguins, and dinosaurs!
Eravamo un gruppo di 6 persone, siamo stati impressionati dalla professionalità e allegria della nostra guida, servono queste persone per fare conoscere questi mosti meravigliosi e poi non ultimo lo spettacolo dei PINGUINI.
Amazing experience. The guide was knowledgeable and helpful.
We saw many penguins up close. Even though you are officially required to keep 3m distance from the penguins, in reality they have their nests and resting places really close to the tourist path, so you’ll be walking may be 0.5-1m from them.
Also there are 2 observation points where you can see penguins swimming and if you are lucky hunting the small fish (the water is crystal clear, so you’ll be able to see them underwater).
And after that we’ve gone to a beach where we were able to watch elephant seals from just meters away. And we were there alone (just our group).