Gauchos and Glaciers

Gaucho cowboys, zesty wines and Latin tango World famous National Parks of Peninsula Valdes, Tierra del Fuego and Los Glaciares Close encounters with elephant seal, penguin, guanaco, armadillo and flamingo Exclusive hotels – 8 out of 12 nights in private family estancias (farms) Optional addon to spectacular Iguazu Falls

The variety and romance Argentina offers is amazing. Our easy guided walking tour begins with a night in tango capital Buenos Aires, before 3 nights on the wild Atlantic east coast with sea lions and penguins in the Welsh province of Chubut. The next 3 nights are amid the hanging glaciers and sea lakes of Tierra del Fuego, doing bay walks spotting albatross, before spending the last 5 nights in the snow capped Patagonian Andes, discovering incredible walking trails in Los Glaciares National Park.

From the leafy avenues of elegant Buenos Aires, we fly south to Peninsula Valdes National Park on the east coast. Armadillos scamper over your boots and we picnic on beaches full of elephant seal, and spot lonely weather-beaten gauchos – Argentina’s cowboys – with broad hats and jangling silver spurs on our walks.We drop in for tea in an original C19 Welsh immigrant village before flying south to Tierra del Fuego. Here pine forest paths perfumed with porcelain orchid line the bays of Darwin’s Beagle Channel, and Ushuaia’s scarlet Antarctic icebreakers decorate the quay below its hillside of rainbow roofs.

From here it is a short flight north to El Chalten - a red desert town with vivid azure lakes set below the 3375m high Mount Fitzroy Massif. Easy trails lead beneath needle-sharp granite spires along sparkling streams. Finally we drive south to discover petrified dinosaur bones in El Calafate, and end with an unforgettable visit to UNESCO Perito Moreno Glacier.

Your experience is enhanced by staying (8 out of 12 nights) in classic estancias (colonial farms), run by descendents of original settlers. They are very exclusive and a rare pleasure to experience, each set in exquisite rural locations. Throughout the tour our walks are led by local expert guides and even better – many of them are well off the tourist trail.