Hi Patricia, It was a wonderful trip. Henry put together a great itinerary, and after he left, Pia pulled it all together. I liked a lot of the hotels. Many of the hotels were beautiful, but the distance from the city was very big. I like to eat dinner in the city and walk around after dinner, and I could not do that when the hotels were so far. The hotel in Mendoza was lovely.. The hotel in Bariloche and the hotel in El Calafate wre within easy walking distance to town, and I like that. I love the estancia, Estancia La Candelaria del Monte. It was an exceptional experience. The staff and the food were wonderful. I would highly recommend this. We had exceptional guides, particularly Frederico in Bariloche and Vincent in Mendoza. They were absolutely the BEST and made the experience. My favorite excursions were Bariloche when Frederico took us on a hike to "Enchanted Valley" and then for a wonderful lunch at an estancia. Upscale Glacier. That was a wonderful experience. Seeing the icebergs floating in the water is magical. I would recommend this company to my friends. I think you should ask whether people prefer hotels outside town with beautiful grounds or prefer to stay in town. Other than the distance of some of the hotels, I have nothing negative to say. It was a fantastic trip!
We were a little anxious about getting through all of the requirements that Chile had for getting into the country and were worried that we may not make it through the "mini-quarantine" in order to start the trip on time. Fortunately, everything worked out and we couldn't have been happier even with the initial hoops to jump through. Patagonia is simply a beautiful and magnificent place. The W-trek in the Torres del Paine park was incredible, from the climb up to the namesake towers on the first day through the walk up to glacier on the last day in the park. In between we were able to see and hear avalanches in the mountains and listen to young puma cries in the low lands. We were blessed with great weather the entire week, which we were told is very rare, and had clear views of the mountains every day. Many of the nuances would have been missed were it not for our excellent guides Alvaro and Christian. They were a wealth of information on the history of the people and land in southern Patagonia as well as the geology and plant and wildlife in the park. It was great hiking with them and they made sure that everyone got the most out of the trek. Alvaro continued with us to the more northern lake district around Puerto Varas. There the pace was a little more leisurely. The area was so different with volcanos surrounded by beautiful forests, lakes and fjords. We had three nights in the beautiful Petrohue Lodge on the Todos los Santos lake and from there hiked up the base of the Osorno Volcano and kayaked with additional guiding from Richard and Franz. Finally, we were very appreciative of all the help we had from Alvaro and Richard to ensure that the group had all of the required COVID testing on time for departure from Chile and in assisting at the airport as travel requirements were constantly changing.
A perfect trip to explore Patagonia in 9 days Thank you for this amazing trip! It took me to some incredible places and gave me the chance to explore patagonia in some guided tours as well as on my own. The company planned two days new because of a change of my plans and everything was organised very well. I can only recommend this trip!
