Perito Moreno Full Day Minitrekking with Transfer and Walkways

based on 48 reviews

Duration:10 hours (approx.)
Location: El Calafate, Patagonia

From $410

Book in 2 easy steps:

1. Select A Date

2. Enter Total No Of Travellers

ADULT (Age : 8 to 65)

Mobile or paper ticket accepted

Top Selling Tours & Activities

Extreme Sports

Full-day Tours

Private and Luxury

Bus Tours

Water Tours

Good for avoiding crowds

Nature and Wildlife Tours

Day Trips

Adventure Tours

PRODUCT DETAILS
TRAVELER REVIEWS
TRAVELER PHOTOS

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

WHAT'S INCLUDED

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. Perito Moreno Glacier
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.
2. Lago Argentino
Its part of the tour: Lake Argentino is the largest in the Argentine Republic and the third in South America
3. Calafate Mountain Park
El Calafate Mountain Park is a center for recreational activities that offers summer and winter programs.
4. Perito Moreno Glacier
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.
5. Rios de Hielo
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.

ADDITIONAL INFO

• 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.
• Please let us know the day of your arrival in order to program the transfer in from Calafate Airport to your hotel
• What to bring? Comfortable and warm clothes, waterproof or windbreaker, laced sports shoes or trekking boots. No rubber boots, apres ski or high heel are allowed. Sunglasses, sunscreen, gloves, hat for sun or shelter for cold weather.
• It does not include: entrance to the Los Glaciares National Park, nor lunch, nor extras of any kind. Tickets to the Park are paid upon entry, only in cash.
• Take a lunch box to have a meal in the woods at the side of the lake, before embarking.
• IMPORTANT: Normally this tour has pick up from 7 to 7.30 AM BUT in high season as availability is very low you may have a pick up time at 1.00 PM coming back from the tour at 11 PM
• Pick up time could be at 8 AM or at 1 PM 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 bookin
• 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

CANCELLATION POLICY

Posted By : maganda72
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.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2024-01-15 09:12:54

Posted By : 636mirandah
Everything ran smoothly and on time Great day out on the ice, very knowledgeable tour guides. I would highly recommend this tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-10-06 12:45:08

Posted By : Daydream16007656997
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.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2023-08-25 13:31:29

Posted By : Jaime_L
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.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-12-12 13:08:56

Posted By : 577toddc
The mini-trekking is an experience you will not forget. The tour is extremely well run and given in either Spanish or English with 2 guides per group of approx. 15 people. You will see amazing blue glacial ice as you hike while the guide explains the formation and history of the glacier. My spouse in her mid-50s was a little tentative about walking on the glacier. However, the guide who stayed at the back of the group held her hand when she needed extra support on a few sections of the ice. The guides are super knowledgeable, helpful and friendly and took many pictures of us. Even though they’ve done this countless times, they made it feel special. We would highly recommend the mini ice trekking trip.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-11-12 19:58:52

Posted By : Marlis G
We loved it.My friends and I are not very fit 55year olds and it was perfect. Take your lunch there is nothing to eat on the glaciar though you drink your best whiskey ever.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-11-10 21:18:49

Posted By : Alyssa_Z
This excursion was ok. If you are going to travel to Calafate then you do need to do this trip as there are amazing views and scenery. The trip was a little dull overall and I don’t feel it was worth the money which is why I gave it 4 stars. I do recommend people do it for the experience but don’t expect too much trekking or actual time on the ice. My husband and I are glad we did it but were not like, “oh my gosh, how amazing” afterwards. Side note: we booked a tour in English. This means we were the only 2 people out of 40+ people on the bus who spoke English. It seemed like people were annoyed by this and it made us a bit self conscious. I wish they would have been more open w the communication that it was a bilingual tour.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-10-25 20:18:59

Posted By : Boris_L
Amazing tour, well coordinated. Absolutely beautiful sights and an amazing experience on the glacier with people who truly love nature. I don't have anything negative to say - it was an incredible experience that we are thrilled to have experienced.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-05-14 16:53:12

Posted By : Rebecca_C
Seeing the glacier from above on the viewing platforms and walking through the blue crevasses of the glacier was unforgettable, lots of great photo ops!
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-04-22 22:28:10

Posted By : Tricia_S
This was a great and unique experience. I would highly recommend it. My 17 and 14 year old loves it.
Rating : full ratings
Posted On : 2022-04-11 20:10:18