PATAGONIA WITH CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS

You will be met at Buenos Aires international airport and taken to your stylish boutique hotel in Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital, in the upmarket neighborhood of Recoleta.

You’ll be ideally placed for touring the area’s top attractions, including the famous cemetery – the final resting place of Eva Peron – and the National Museum of Fine Arts.

A private guide will show you around the city’s diverse districts, from posh Recoleta with its elegant architecture and tree lined promenades, all the way to San Telmo, the old quarter of the city where you’ll find colonial houses, cobbled streets and antique shops.

Stay: Two nights at Hub Porteno – bed & breakfast

Leaving the bustling city behind you’ll fly south to Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego, and be transferred to your cosy hotel overlooking the Beagle Channel.

Tierra del Fuego is home to some of Argentina’s most breath-taking landscapes, featuring stunning glaciers, huge mountain peaks, glistening lakes and untouched forests. From your hotel you have a superb view of the famous Beagle Channel, a passage frequented by penguins, cormorants, sea lions and passing whales.

Stay: One night at Los Cauquenes – bed & breakfast

Now it’s time to board your five-day / four-night cruise through the fjords and glaciers of Tierra del Fuego.

In the evening you will board either the Ventus or Stella Australis, two almost identical expedition ships owned by the company Cruceros Australis and operating four and eight night cruises between Ushuaia in Argentina and Punta Arenas in Chile.

Over the next four days you will travel through some of the the planet’s most remote and pristine scenery. Daily expeditions take place, disembarking at different points along the route and regular presentations are given on board by the guides, explaining the history, wildlife and flora and fauna found in the area.

The first night will see you crossing the legendary Beagle Channel into Chilean waters. You’ll navigate the Murray Channel and the following morning cross through Nassau Bay into Cape Horn National Park – dubbed by past sailors as the ‘End of the Earth’. Here, weather permitting, you will go ashore to discover the 425-meter high rocky cliff that is Cape Horn, before crossing back over Nassau Bay to anchor at Wulaia Bay. You can learn about the region’s human history at the museum in the old radio station, and hike through Magellanic forests to reach stunning viewpoints.

The following days are spent navigating the beautiful scenery of Tierra del Fuego. You will visit the magnificent Pia Fjord, whee a shore excursion will take you to the breath-taking Pia Glacier, before continuing west to the Garibaldi Glacier.

Your glacier tour continues at the Agostini Sound where you will walk around a lagoon to get a stunning view of the Aguila Glacier.

Stay: Four nights on board Cruceros Australis – full board (including activities in small groups)

The final morning of the cruise is spent navigating the Strait of Magellan and before the captain drops anchor at Magdalena Island. Here a land excursions will show you a small museum inside a century-old lighthouse, a variety of bird species and, depending on the time of year, a huge Magellanic penguin colony or South American sea lions.

Afterwards you will arrive into the port of Punta Arenas, where you will be met and transferred to Patagonia Camp, a tented camp on the border of the Torres del Paine National Park.

Torres del Paine is a World Biosphere Reserve rich in glacial lakes, meandering rivers, granite peaks and evergreen forests.

You’ll be camping in a luxurious yurt so you’ll experience the sensation of being close to nature without having to forgo modern comforts like a private bathroom and central heating. Not to mention the stars – your yurt has a roof window perfect for gazing at the unpolluted night sky.

Using the camp as a base you can go kayaking, stroll along wooden walkways through lenga forest, explore the park and hike to the Cordillera Paine mountain range.

Four nights in a yurt at Patagonia Camp – full board (including activities in small groups)

From Patagonia Camp you cross into Argentina where a real contrast awaits. You’ll be staying in the small town of el Calafate, on the shores of Lago Argentina.

A full day tour of the Perito Moreno Glacier, the centrepiece of the Los Glaciares National Park, is likely to be the highlight of your visit. Fed by the mighty Patagonian Ice Cap, the Perito Moreno Glacier is known as the ‘living’ glacier due to the fact that it is advancing rather than retreating. You’ll be able to walk along wooden catwalks to view this mighty monument from various viewpoints, and you should also witness blocks of ice loosening from the glacier and dropping dramatically into the waters of the lake below.

Stay: Two nights at the Esplendor el Calafate – bed & breakfast

This morning you will fly back to Buenos Aires, where you will be met and transferred to your hotel in the lively Palermo Soho neighborhood.

Your final evening in the city can be spent at Faena Hotel’s “Cabaret” room where you will enjoy dinner and watch the incredible Rojo Tango show. With a live orchestra, fantastic dancers, traditional Argentine cuisine and a selection of local wines, there is no finer way to end your adventure.

Stay: One night in a superior room at Legado Mitico – bed & breakfast