Argentina Tours & Travel | Los Glaciares National Park
Los Glaciares National Park was established in 1937 to preserve an extensive glacier and continental ice field as well as southern Patagonian Andean forest and Patagonian steppe in Santa Cruz Province. The 1.5 million-acre park, an essential place to visit when you travel Patagonia on Argentina tours, borders Chile and is contiguous with two of Chile's most popular national parks, Bernardo O'Higgins and Torres del Paine. Besides the feature attraction, the Perito Moreno glacier, the park has pristine lakes, mountain peaks, rare plant and wildlife species and more glaciers. It also contains 3,000-year old rock paintings by the region's earliest inhabitants. In 1981, the park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and remains a very popular stop on Argentina tours.
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All of the Argentina tours that Southern Explorations offers to Argentine Patagonia visit areas of Los Glaciares. These include our three lodge-based Patagonia tours, the seven-day Classic Patagonia trip, the ten-day Patagonia Highlights trip and the eleven-day Patagonia Hiking Adventure. The Patagonia Highlights trip, the Patagonia Hiking Adventure and the Best of Argentina trip visit Argentina's Tierra del Fuego National Park as well. Our two trips that combine Chile and Argentina tours to Patagonia (Luxury Patagonia and Patagonia Hiking Panorama) visit Los Glaciares as well as Chile's Bernardo O'Higgins and Torres del Paine national parks. We also offer a four-day Argentina El Chalten Tour Extension of hiking on Mt. Fitz Roy and Mt. Torre in the northern area of Los Glaciares.
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In selecting one of our Argentina tours, you'll find that the itineraries offer different kinds of outdoor activities (some optional) including hiking, trekking, glacier hiking, bicycling kayaking, fishing and horseback riding.
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Five miles wide and 196 feet tall at its terminus, the park's signature glacier, Perito Moreno, regularly launches skyscraper-size chunks into Lake Argentino with thunderous splashes. The lake's other major glaciers and Lake Viedma are also on the itinerary of most visitors who travel Patagonia on Argentina tours to Glaciares, as is majestic 11,000-ft Mt. Fitz Roy and 10,280-ft Cerro Torre at the northwest tip of the park.
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The park's predominant forests are southern beech. The lenga, nire and coigue (or guindo), put on a stupendous autumn display. The park provides habitat to many wildlife species in danger of extinction. Geoffrey's cat and Andean deer that inhabit the sub-Antarctic forest are rarely seen. More commonly observed on Argentina tours are the red fox, puma and Andean condor.
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The park accommodates the most sedentary to the most energetic traveler on Argentina tours. Though hiking is the major pastime for visitors to the park (including on the glaciers themselves), some of its major attractions are reached by boat or other conveyance. While some areas are inundated with visitors, those seeking a wilderness experience on their Argentina tours will find one.
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Always windy, the weather in summer is warm and wet, and winters are cold. Most visitors stay in El Calafate near the south end of the park to be close to the Perito Moreno glacier, while others prefer El Chalten for its proximity to the northerly mountains. One way to experience the Perito Moreno glacier without the company of day-tourists when you travel to Argentina is to camp in the park.
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For more information about visiting Los Glaciares National Park when you travel Patagonia on Argentina tours, email losglaciares@apn.gov.ar
