South America Hiking Tours

Our Guide Ellioth "Elliot" was amazing! I have been on many tours and expeditions but never had a guide that knew, or found out anything from information on our travel times to knowing more about his home countries history and neighboring country of Ecuador history better than I know American History and I have a degree in it. My day was always full of fun excitement and things I have never seen before and may never again. The detail in the travel and tours were planned out so one never felt really rushed. Remember this is a TOUR not a Vacation. There is a lot of walking and physical activity but after watching one individual in our group I am now convinced everyone who can manage 20 to 30 stairs at a time with breaks will be fine. The guides work at the groups pace and the group if they are good help the others when and if needed. The terrain is not flat or paved lots of place. Wear comfortable shoes. Underwater camera is recommended in my opinion. Binoculars I also highly recommend. For snorkeling they will let you use life rings and more buoyant if you struggle with your face in the water. Snorkeling off the beach is easier than off the side of a zodiac. SUN SCREEN, HAT, SUN GLASSES...DON'T FORGET THESE!! One more fun thing that I learned on the trip is that people in Peru and Ecuador LOVE $2 BILLS. 2 dollar bills are considered lucky and rare, so if you want to make your guide and other locals that assist you on your adventures day better take some with! THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!

I've wanted to do this trip for over 20 years and it exceeded all my expectations. I did this trip with my 16 year old son in the long summer break after his GCSEs and it was the most perfect father-son time we've ever shared. The views are incredible, the air as clean as it comes and the team were just outstanding. Our guide, Wilmer, led the group expertly despite different walking speeds, and the porters were just humbling. This trip ticked every single one of my boxes and we look back on it with both the sense of achievement and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

My Patagonia trip was a lifetime experience, made even better by traveling with a great group. Together, we explored beautiful trails, shared meals, and encouraged each other through windy hikes and long days. Being with the group made every moment more fun from spotting wildlife to reaching incredible viewpoints with mountains, glaciers, and bright-blue lakes all around us. We laughed a lot, learned from our guide, and enjoyed the peaceful feeling of being surrounded by nature. The scenery was stunning, the company was wonderful, and the trip left me with memories I’ll never forget.

This trip was an amazing way to see Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia. There were two full day hikes, one to base Torres and one to base Mt Fitzroy. Both hikes were about 15 miles round trip with 3000 to 4000 feet of elevation gain. Be prepared for these two full days of hiking. However, some of the group was able to hike faster while some could hike slower as there were three guides on each hike. The trip manager and guides were all friendly and helpful making for an enjoyable experience. Other activities included glacier viewing via boat, kayaking, and horseback riding which made for a well rounded trip. The weather is unpredictable so make sure you’re prepared for wind, rain, snow and sun possibly all in one day. This was the most active Contiki I have been apart of, and was a perfect change of pace from the usual city focused Contiki's. I highly recommend this tour if you’re looking to be in nature, experience Chilean and Argentinian culture, and have an active week.

If you are considering a trip to Patagonia then just do it! This is a truly amazing adventure that has it all - stunning scenery, magnificant walks and wonderful wildlife. You need to be prepared for anything, however, as the weather on our trip ranged between beautiful sunshine to torrential rain and gale-force winds. This meant that the guides had to alter our itinery on a couple of days to ensure our safety. Also do not underestimate the physical and mental demands of this trip. The hike to Base Torres is hard, both physically and in terms of the tricky weather and the exposure and condition of the path in the final ascent. We had snow and ice underfoot on the day we did this. Our guide, Iara, was truly amazing. She enthused us all with her love for Patagonia, attempted to teach us Spanish and kept our spririts up when the weather, and the going, got tough. We definitely recommend this trip - just don't undertake it lightly!

Our tour guide Iara Musumeci was amazing, she was customer focused and guided us with local assistance to some amazing places, whilst always ensuring we were safe and able to complete the hikes. The holiday format was very good apart from one night of camping in a tent after a wet hike. Overall it was a great holiday of a lifetime and I would thoroughly recommend Explore as a default holiday company.