This is currently our most requested Tour Program. It is an ideal option in order to master two of southern Patagonia’s major sites: first, a visit to the majestic Glaciers with their magical, blue ices (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and finally, Ushuaia’s charm, at Tierra del Fuego, the uttermost End of the World. The Extreme South of the World is waiting for you with its thrilling, amazing and unmatchable landscapes.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is located in Los Glaciares National Park in the southwestern part of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. When it snows high in the Patagonian Andes, the snow and ice does not melt. Rather, it accumulates, forming the massive South Patagonian Icefield, a glacier system that straddles Argentina and Chile.

The enormous pressure of tons and tons of snow and ice compresses the existing ice and gives it a distinctive bluish tint. At such great pressures, the ice actually flows, inching out of the Andes and into the valleys where it melts, forming lakes and rivers. The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of 48 such outlets for the South Patagonian Icefield.

Once every few years, the glacier plugs up Lake Argentino, cutting off the Brazo Rico arm of the lake. The water level on the Brazo Rico side can rise up to 30 meters before the pressure causes the forward edge of the glacier to shatter, sending ice, water and debris in its path. The last time this occurred was in 2004.

Visitors who are not there to see the great wall of ice give way are not disappointed, however. The glacier is advancing into Lake Argentino at an approximate speed of 2 meters (six feet) per day, but it never really goes forward. The reason is that huge chunks of the glacier break off at more or less the same rate as the glacier creeps into the lake.

Great chunks of ice crack off the face of the glacier every few minutes and tumble into the lake with a roar. These hunks of ice can weigh several tons and bob around in the lake as icebergs for a while, slowly melting.

Comodoro Rivadavia, face to the Atlantic Ocean, has become a surge of financial opportunities since the increase in crude oil barrel prices at the beginning of this decade. The effects of this prosperity spread over every layer of Comodoro’s society.

The basin of the San Jorge Gulf has become a surge of financial opportunities since the increase in crude oil barrel prices at the beginning of this decade. Oil has become the Holy Grail of operator companies and the crowds of contractors ready to make a fortune with oil wells. In addition, a wide range of services has been greatly improved by the exploitation of hydrocarbons in Comodoro Rivadavia.

A visit to Peninsula de Valdés, an amazing Patagonian Flora and Fauna reservation in its purest state. It is considered a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Get to know the magnificent Southern Whales and the biggest Magellan Penguins colony!

Reserva Provincial Península Valdés: It’s hard to choose among coastal Patagonia’s countless wildlife reserves, but Península Valdés has everything: guanacos, rheas, penguins, elephant seals, sea lions, orcas, and the great right whales. It doesn’t have everything at the same time, though, which makes every season a different experience

Coastal Patagonia’s top destination, the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve of Península Valdés is the place where the great southern right whale arrives to breed and birth in the winter months. Protected since 1935, the ballena franca occupies an almost unique position as a “natural monument”—a designation normally reserved for territorial ecosystems—within the Argentine national park system.

Península Valdés itself, a provincial reserve rather than a national park, has much more to offer than just the whales. Some species of marine mammals—ranging from sea lions to elephant seals and orcas—cover the beaches or gather in the waters of the Golfo San José, Golfo Nuevo, or the open South Atlantic all year. There are also concentrations of burrowing Magellanic penguins and flocks of other seabirds, plus herds of grazing guanacos and groups of sprinting rheas in the arid interior grasslands.

The peninsula’s main activity center is the hamlet of Puerto Pirámides, which like Puerto Madryn enjoys a longer tourist season because of the whale- and orca-watching periods. Once the export point for salt from the Salina Grande depression, it has grown haphazardly, and water continues to be a problem in this desert environment.

Sometimes called Puerto Pirámide, the village has recently reasserted its plurality. According to local accounts, when the Argentine navy used the area as a firing range, they destroyed two of the three pyramidal promontories that gave the settlement its original moniker.

In Nahuel Huapi National Park the Andean forest flows into the steppe and produces a transition area between the lush green forest environment and the golden undulating grassy plains.

The generous donation of land made by Perito Francisco Pascasio Moreno on November 6, 1903 was the nucleus of the future Nahuel Huapi National Park, created in 1934.

It is located in the south western portion of the Neuquén Province and west of the Río Negro Province, covering an extension of 705000 hectares.

Modeled by different geological processes over a timespan of millions of years, up to 10,000 years ago, it was blanketed by glaciers, rivers of ice that deepened and widened the previously existing valleys.

When the climate changed, producing increases in temperature, the snows began to melt, forming lakes on these valley bottoms, like Nahuel Huapi, a typically glacial lake with deep, abruptly cut off arms.

The highest peaks are in the Andean massif that establishes the borderline with Chile, notably Mt Tronador or "Thunder Hill" (3.554 meters above sea level), so named because of the thundering reports caused by the gigantic snow and ice falls. Other major peaks are Mt Crespo, Cuyín Manzano, Campana, Millaqueo, Capilla, López and Catedral, with heights ranging between 1.800 and 2.400 meters above sea level.

Deep valleys and canyons known as "passes", enable one to cross over to Chile. The best known of these are Puyehue, Pérez Rosales and De los Vuriloches, the latter once used by the natives, and giving its Tehuelche tribal denomination to San Carlos de Bariloche.

Towards the west appear Mt Otto, Ventana, Cordón del Ñirihuau and others, that gradually decrease in height towards the Patagonian plateau. Encantado Valley (Enchanted Valley) displays interesting cases of rocks eroded by rain and wind into fantastic shapes: "El Dedo de Dios" (God's Finger), "El Castillo" (The Castle), "El Penitente" (The Penitent).

The main features of this area are glacial lakes and rushing rivers that flow into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Of the 705,000 hectares in the Park, 55,700 are covered by the waters of Nahuel Huapi, the largest of a series of interconnected lakes that, using the Limay river, empty into the Atlantic. Leaving for Anchorena port on Victoria Island from the ports of San Carlos or Pañuelo, you can enjoy a walk through a native forest of coihues and ñires.

Costs and descriptions: The town of El Calafate, located on the shouthern shore of Lake Argentino, is the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park and Perito Moreno Glacier. El Calafate is reached by air from Buenos Aires: flights can run over $500, so start flight-shopping early. Flights from Puerto Natales, Chile, are also available. You can catch a bus to El Calafate from Buenos Aires: You’ll have to connect through Río Gallegos. There are a variety of places to stay in town: most are high-end, but if you dig around a little, you can find a more economic option.

It is possible to hike on the glacier: it costs about $60-$70 per person for a basic hike and visit. It’s a dangerous adventure: a guide is absolutely essential. The park entrance fee is about $7 in US currency. The boat trip to see the glacier costs approximately $10.