Patagonia Tours & Hiking Adventures

For the most up-to-date recommendations please check with your doctor or travel clinic, and always go with their recommendations, as these can often change. We strongly recommend that you see a doctor, preferably one with experience in travel medicine, at least 8 weeks before your trip starts to discuss appropriate vaccinations.

The most direct international routes to and from Punta Arenas, Bariloche and El Calafate, are via national capitals Santiago and Buenos Aires. We recommend booking your domestic connections within Argentina and Chile as part of your international fare. It’s more economical that way, and can make life a bit easier if your international flight is delayed. There are a couple of airlines available for getting between Santiago & Punta Arenas, or El Calafate and Bariloche & Buenos Aires. Latam Chile (www.latam.com) departs several times a day and Sky Airline (www.skyairlinechile.com) offer a couple of flights a day.

Our preferred Travel Partner Fuzion Travel can assist with you with flights and other travel arrangements. Let them know your preferred travel plans, including any stopovers or extra nights’ accommodation, and they’ll put everything in place for you. They offer a total travel solution and five star service that you’ll want to tell your friends about!

The Chilean Government has a reciprocal agreement with Australia so for Australian passport holders, you’ll need to pay US$117 on arrival. This must be paid in cash on arrival into Santiago airport, and the one-time fee is good for the
life of a travelers’ passport. You may pay this fee at the airport counter (to the left of Customs) via credit card or US$ cash. There is no fee charged if you’re arriving into Chile by any other means, and holders of other passports aren’t charged anything, in accordance with their agreements. You’re issued with your immigration arrivals receipt on arrival. It’s really important to keep this safe as you’ll need it when you depart Chile. Failure to submit this card upon departure may result in delays until a replacement is obtained.

Accommodation

Down in Patagonia you'll lay your head each night in hotels, lodges and the famous 'refugios' in the National Parks. While these may sound basic they have incredible facilities (including electricity), the views are out of this world, they have restaurants and you'll meet an incredible array of people that have travelled from far and wide to visit the bottom of the world.

Transport

Your transport will be a mixture of bus, plane, boat, bike and your very own two feet on our trips in South America. All your transport is included from the start of your trip and we'll drop you at the airport at the end. The details are all listed in the trip specific itineraries.

Meals

All your meals are included as described in the itinerary except on your free days. We have found that people enjoy checking out what is on offer by themselves sometimes, so you can go and see what's out there! On every other day and especially after any long hikes, we've chosen places to eat that can cater for our hearty appetites, work well with our small groups (they know we are coming) and provide us with an authentic destination specific culinary experience. There are always options for you, so you can either be brave or choose something more familiar. You can be assured that on all our trips we will make sure you are very well fed.

Trip leaders

Our trips are all led by an experienced Trip Leader. Our Trip Leaders are very proud to work with Active Adventures and often lead our trips for many years, for which we are very lucky and very grateful as it means we're able to consistently offer a fantastic level of service. They work closely with our local specialist guides to provide you with a seamless, fun, exciting and memorable trip. They will happily share with you as much or as little as you want to know about the history, culture, social aspects and lifestyle of the country you are visiting.

You will need proper hiking boots - trail shoes are not good enough. We'll be taking you to some awesome places where you'll be hiking over a variety of terrain, therefore your boots should have full ankle support and a stiff sole with a high profile tread. It's also important that whichever footwear you decide to bring that it's well broken-in and waterproofed before you come down. If you have good ankles that will be able to cope pretty well with varied terrain, then good hiking shoes should be fine, but if not then hiking boots will give you better support.

Once you've booked your trip, you'll have access to a gear list in your portal on exactly what to bring along. The gear list is carefully thought out to provide you with everything you need to be warm and happy, or cool and relaxed, whatever the weather! So it is best to bring everything we recommend along, if you don't bring everything you need, we can't guarantee your comfort.

Tap water in Chile & Argentina is not safe to drink, or brush your teeth in, so you’ll need to use filtered water instead, which we’ll provide, and treat ice and salads with caution. You can also use hand sanitiser, iodine or water purification tablets if you prefer. Active Adventures is promoting ‘Travellers Against Plastic’ pledge, so to reduce single use plastic we encourage you to bring a durable water bottle to refill instead of purchasing bottled water.

While Patagonian cuisine isn’t particularly spicy or adventurous, it makes up for any lack through the sheer abundance and variety of produce, seafood, wine and meats - especially beef.

Vegetarians should ask for un plato vegetarian (a vegetarian dish) or try saying ‘soy vegetariano/a’ (I’m a vegetarian) just to be on the safe side. Vegan choices may be limited but we’ll do our best to help find things you may like. Fruit is very limited due to our locations and not always available, and breakfast meals are usually quite basic.

Dinner meals are often very late in the evening too as per the local customs.

Vegan and Gluten-free Dietary supplements – If you’re gluten-free or vegan, please bring some of your own protein bars or protein shakes with you, to get enough protein during the 4-days and nights we spend hiking the W-trek. The only bars we have in South America are cereal and sugar-based, and offer very little protein. Being gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian is not common in South America, so sometimes the veggie option at the 4 Refugio’s could just be grilled vegetables and rice, and it’s hard to hike the next day just with a simple meal like that.

We are accustomed to catering to the following special diets:

• vegan (no meat or animal products)
• vegetarian (no meat products)
• fishatarian (vegetarian, and eat fish)
• no red meat (eat chicken & fish)
• gluten intolerant (no wheat, rye, barley or oats)
• lactose intolerant (no dairy products)

You will get the opportunity to specify your particular requirements when you fill in our pre-trip questionnaire. If you have any other dietary requirements please let us know well in advance, via email or the online questionnaire.

Chile’s currency is the Chilean peso (CLP) and Argentina’s currency is the Argentinean peso (ARS), however both countries use the dollar symbol ($) to show prices in their local currency.

Your trip fare includes all transportation, guiding, meals and activities (except any optional activities). Most people like to bring a little extra to cover a round of drinks at the pub, take home some souvenirs, book a tour and eat out on their free day, and tip our guides if they've had a great time.

ATM’s are available in most towns in Patagonia, although the ones in smaller towns are less reliable – for example it’s hard to get money out of ATM’s in El Chalten and El Calafate, especially in peak season and most ATM’s have a limit of US$200 per withdrawal also.

Visa and MasterCard are most widely used except in Llancahue (Northern Patagonia) where they’ll not take Visa, although AMEX may also be accepted

Altitude isn’t really a factor in Patagonia as we only get up to around 1,100 metres (3,600 feet).

Spanish is the main language of Chile & Argentina. English is spoken in some hotels, airports and tourist areas but not everywhere. A little would be helpful, especially on arrival and for ordering food in restaurants, but it's certainly not required. Our trip leaders are all fluent Spanish speakers so if you don't have time to learn a little Spanish before arrival you don't have to worry... they will take care of everything.

Chile & Argentina are in the Chile/Argentina Standard Time. It is -3 hours behind of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Electricity is available in most places in Patagonia – even in the Refugio’s on the W-Trek. Chile & Argentina both operate on a 220V AC system, and Chile uses Type C while Argentina uses Type I.

WiFi is available almost everywhere in cities and easy enough to find in most towns/villages so you can rely on having regular access during your trip. If you have data roaming switched on, then you'll be able to use the internet on your smartphone, but beware of the fees! WiFi is available at some of the accommodations that you'll be staying at, usually for a small cost so check this out at each location when you arrive, though it may be sporadic. There's no WiFi along the W-Trek Hike and cellphone coverage will be minimal.

Patagonia’s seasons mirror those of the Southern Hemisphere, so the best time to visit is in the summer between November and April. Late December to early March marks the Patagonian summer. Daytime temperature ranges from 70-80°F (21-26°C) in the sun. Night time temperatures in Punta Arenas range in the 40’s F (4-7°C) and on the trek can dip into the 30’s F (-1°C).
Please note tempestuous weather is normal for this region in any season. With Patagonia so near to the southern Patagonian ice cap and two big oceans, you’ll likely see rain, wind, a bit of snow, cold and hot weather

• In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin - one of the most beloved travelogues of all time
• Across Patagonia by Lady Florence Dixie - written by one of Torres del Paine's first tourists, an English society woman, who visited Chile between 1878 and 1879
• Idle Days in Patagonia by W.H. Hudson - written by an Argentinian author of his yearlong adventure in Patagonia
• Enduring Patagonia by Gregory Crouch - a more recent depiction of the authors seven challenging and rewarding expeditions to Patagonia
• My Invented Country: A Memoir by Isabel Allende - written by one of Chile's modern literary stars, great for travelers wanting to know more about Chilean culture and homelife from a true local perspective
• A Line Across The Sky - a great film from the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour following Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold and their attempt to complete the Fitz Roy traverse