If you are into a luxurious experience while exploring untamed nature, this is the perfect adventure for you. This option not only offers you Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine, but also a world-class expedition cruise that will follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin himself to the end of the world. On board you will explore from the Strait of Magellan, through the most pristine fjords of Tierra del Fuego, to the mythical Cape Horn.
Your journey Across Patagonia will start at the airport of Puerto Natales, where we will be waiting for you to bring you to a four-star hotel, where you will stay for four nights. You will enjoy a delicious welcome dinner, and have a buffet breakfast every morning thereafter.
Your guide will pick you up at your hotel to take you by bus to the impressive Milodon Cave, and then continue to Cerro Castillo and Torres del Paine National Park. The tour will consist of stops at viewpoints and hikes at different points of the stunning Paine Massif, where you can enjoy the rugged mountains from different perspectives. You will enjoy a delicious lunch with a great view of the Cuernos, and the last hike will be at Lago Grey. Then the bus will return to Puerto Natales and you will be dropped off at the doors of your hotel. Entrance fees to the Milodon Cave and Torres del Paine, as well as lunch are included.
This day will be a genuine Patagonian countryside experience. You will be transported to an estancia to learn about the life and work of the Patagonian gauchos, and their work as the guardians and breeders of the sheep in the vast pampas of the region. This excursion includes a Patagonian lunch at the estancia and you will be transferred back to the hotel.
Today you will enjoy a day off in order to choose how you will fill your day. It could be a hiking excursion to the base of the Towers, it could be a kayaking day, a horseback excursion, a navigation to the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers, or even a leisure day to catch up with your book or walk around Natales. Let us know!
You will be transferred from your hotel to the bus station, where you will take a bus to Punta Arenas. From here you will be taken to the dock of Punta Arenas for the check-in on an expedition cruise through the fjords of Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn and Ushuaia. In the cruise, all meals are included, you will enjoy the service of an open bar at set times, daily cleaning of your cabin, two guided excursions per day in your preferred language (English, Spanish, German, French) and lectures on board.
The cruise sails through the Strait of Magellan into the fjords of Tierra del Fuego, from where you can venture into a sub-Antarctic forest at Ainsworth Bay. After lunch you will head to the Tuckers Islets to see the Magellanic penguin and other bird species such as the rock cormorant and the blue-eyed cormorant (this may vary to an excursion to Brooks Glacier depending on the month).
By dawn the ship will be sailing the Beagle Channel, and will enter its most immersive fjord: The Pia fjord. Here you will have an excursion in front of the spectacular Pia Glacier. During the afternoon, the cruise will conduct a panoramic navigation along the Glacier Alley, where you will witness five of the most impressive glaciers of Tierra del Fuego.
At dawn, and depending on wind and shore conditions, the expedition team will help you disembark at the mythical Cape Horn, where you will visit the island's lighthouse, the wandering albatross monument that honors the fallen sailors attempting to cross the cape, and the imposing Drake Passage. After lunch, the cruise will arrive at Navarino Island for an excursion at the incredible Wulaia Bay, where you will follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin himself.
Here, your journey Across Patagonia comes to an end. You will disembark in Ushuaia and a private transfer with a guide will bring you to the airport.