Argentina/Patagonia Brief Trip Report
Dec 19th, 2007, 07:15 PM
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Argentina/Patagonia Brief Trip Report
Just wanted to post a quick trip report before I forget the details of this great trip we just took. Hopefully it will help others planning a similar trip...
Returned Dec 8 from a 3 week trip to Argentina/Patagonia. Before getting into trip details, I will provide one more endorsement for the local travel agent we used, Isabel of buenosaires-tours. She has been recommended before on this forum, and I just wanted to state that for those who might be a little hesitant to use an overseas agent, or are worried about the prepayment that is required with these services - there is no need to worry! Isabel was very helpful and efficent, responded promptly (often within a just a few minutes!) to my VERY frequent emails) had some very useful suggestions, and overall did a great job.
On to the details - we spent 5 days in Buenos Aires, which I thought was a good amount of time. We first thought we might take some day trips, but as soon as we arrived realized there was more than enough in the city to occupy all our time. November was a perfect time to visit - the jacarandas were blooming, weather was sunny with blue skies but not too hot - ideal for all the walking we did around the city, exploring the different barrios. Things we especially enjoyed were the Recoleta cemetery (took the free guided English tour offered Tuesday and Thursday morning, which was great), San Telmo (went to the Sunday market which was fun, but also enjoyed just wandering the barrio), and wandering the parks in Palermo. We did not want to go to too many museums, but enjoyed the MALBA, Evita museum, and the Xul Solar museum. Carlos Gardel tango show was great (would have preferred to skip the dinner, which was average,but if you do, you do not get as good seats unless you pay extra for VIP seating) - the show was excellent though. Booked it in advance through goargentina.com, and got the best prices that way. We stayed at the Bel Air hotel in Barrio Norte. I really loved the location - close to everything in Recoleta, but in a residential area, pretty street, and not too touristy (reminded me of the Upper East side in NYC). Rooms were nothing fancy but had everything you needed. Front desk staff not particularly helpful, but that didn't bother us as we didn't need much from them. Overall a great choice for us, and I'd stay there again for the location unless I wanted a luxury experience.
Next we flew to Trelew to see the whales and penguins. Stayed at the Posada Los Mimbres near Gaiman (a suggestion from Isabel) which was perfect. Beautiful bed and breakfast with a wonderful owner and staff - river runs through the property, there are roses everywhere. Stayed 3 nights, 2 full days. Went to the penguin colony at Punta Tombo one day, which was amazing. Close to half a million penguins - the chicks had just hatched, and were really tiny. The second day trip was to the Valdes Peninsula - took a boat to see the southern right whales and were lucky to see plenty of them. Also went to some other spots to see elephant seals. It was another great day, though tiring. Distances in this area are huge.
We then flew to El Calafate, where we stayed outside the city at estancia Nibepo Aike. Very glad we chose to stay outside the city, which was fun to wander for a couple of hours, but we found it quite touristy. The estancia was a great place - not for everyone as it is quite a long way down a bumpy dirt road, and if you were staying for long and taking day trips every day it might get tedious. But we were only there 2 days and loved the relative isolation. There's some nice hiking and horse back riding you can do on the property. We took a full day trip to the Perito Moreno glacier, which was amazing. We spent a couple hours on the balconies and were lucky to see a lot of calving. Also did the minitrekking, which was really fun. The next day we did a land transfer over the border into Chile to Torres del Paine. This was definitely a hightlight of the trip (there were so many highlights....) The transfer was long, but the scenery along the way interesting. In Torres del Paine, we stayed at the Explora. Debated for a long time before booking whether the price was worth it -once we got there and saw the location of the hotel and view from the window of our room, we knew it was. We really loved the hotel - the staff, guides, food, excusions (which are included in the rate). We were very lucky, as though this was the high season and the hotel is usually fully booked, there was a large group that cancelled the days we were there, so it was only half full. I think this made a difference as all the staff were particulary relaxed, excursion size was small, spa and jacuzzi usually empty, etc. Anyway, I would highly recommend staying here if possible. We stayed 4 nights, then drove to Punta Arenas where we connected to the Mare Australis and cruised 4 nights around Tierra del Fuego to Ushuaia. This was also great. The cruise was very well run, excursions excellent (particularly landing on Cape Horn), and the guides and lectures informative. The only thing we didn't care much for was the food - not bad, but average. We stayed one night in Ushuaia after the cruise. Did not do any of the usual boat excursions there since we had just come from the cruise, but wandered the town, did some shopping, visited some museum (the Yamana Indian and the prison museum were very interesting), and had a fantastic king crab dinner at the restaurant Kaupe, which had a fabulous view in addition to great food and service. We stayed at the Cabanas del Beagle, another great recommendation from Isabel. 3 cabins built on a slope with a great view of the Beagle Channel, very charming, all made of local wood and stone. The owner was very nice, and designed and built the cabins himself. The next morning we hiked to the glacier, before departing in the afternoon back to Buenos Aires where we had another overnight at the Bel Air hotel before returning home.
Returned Dec 8 from a 3 week trip to Argentina/Patagonia. Before getting into trip details, I will provide one more endorsement for the local travel agent we used, Isabel of buenosaires-tours. She has been recommended before on this forum, and I just wanted to state that for those who might be a little hesitant to use an overseas agent, or are worried about the prepayment that is required with these services - there is no need to worry! Isabel was very helpful and efficent, responded promptly (often within a just a few minutes!) to my VERY frequent emails) had some very useful suggestions, and overall did a great job.
On to the details - we spent 5 days in Buenos Aires, which I thought was a good amount of time. We first thought we might take some day trips, but as soon as we arrived realized there was more than enough in the city to occupy all our time. November was a perfect time to visit - the jacarandas were blooming, weather was sunny with blue skies but not too hot - ideal for all the walking we did around the city, exploring the different barrios. Things we especially enjoyed were the Recoleta cemetery (took the free guided English tour offered Tuesday and Thursday morning, which was great), San Telmo (went to the Sunday market which was fun, but also enjoyed just wandering the barrio), and wandering the parks in Palermo. We did not want to go to too many museums, but enjoyed the MALBA, Evita museum, and the Xul Solar museum. Carlos Gardel tango show was great (would have preferred to skip the dinner, which was average,but if you do, you do not get as good seats unless you pay extra for VIP seating) - the show was excellent though. Booked it in advance through goargentina.com, and got the best prices that way. We stayed at the Bel Air hotel in Barrio Norte. I really loved the location - close to everything in Recoleta, but in a residential area, pretty street, and not too touristy (reminded me of the Upper East side in NYC). Rooms were nothing fancy but had everything you needed. Front desk staff not particularly helpful, but that didn't bother us as we didn't need much from them. Overall a great choice for us, and I'd stay there again for the location unless I wanted a luxury experience.
Next we flew to Trelew to see the whales and penguins. Stayed at the Posada Los Mimbres near Gaiman (a suggestion from Isabel) which was perfect. Beautiful bed and breakfast with a wonderful owner and staff - river runs through the property, there are roses everywhere. Stayed 3 nights, 2 full days. Went to the penguin colony at Punta Tombo one day, which was amazing. Close to half a million penguins - the chicks had just hatched, and were really tiny. The second day trip was to the Valdes Peninsula - took a boat to see the southern right whales and were lucky to see plenty of them. Also went to some other spots to see elephant seals. It was another great day, though tiring. Distances in this area are huge.
We then flew to El Calafate, where we stayed outside the city at estancia Nibepo Aike. Very glad we chose to stay outside the city, which was fun to wander for a couple of hours, but we found it quite touristy. The estancia was a great place - not for everyone as it is quite a long way down a bumpy dirt road, and if you were staying for long and taking day trips every day it might get tedious. But we were only there 2 days and loved the relative isolation. There's some nice hiking and horse back riding you can do on the property. We took a full day trip to the Perito Moreno glacier, which was amazing. We spent a couple hours on the balconies and were lucky to see a lot of calving. Also did the minitrekking, which was really fun. The next day we did a land transfer over the border into Chile to Torres del Paine. This was definitely a hightlight of the trip (there were so many highlights....) The transfer was long, but the scenery along the way interesting. In Torres del Paine, we stayed at the Explora. Debated for a long time before booking whether the price was worth it -once we got there and saw the location of the hotel and view from the window of our room, we knew it was. We really loved the hotel - the staff, guides, food, excusions (which are included in the rate). We were very lucky, as though this was the high season and the hotel is usually fully booked, there was a large group that cancelled the days we were there, so it was only half full. I think this made a difference as all the staff were particulary relaxed, excursion size was small, spa and jacuzzi usually empty, etc. Anyway, I would highly recommend staying here if possible. We stayed 4 nights, then drove to Punta Arenas where we connected to the Mare Australis and cruised 4 nights around Tierra del Fuego to Ushuaia. This was also great. The cruise was very well run, excursions excellent (particularly landing on Cape Horn), and the guides and lectures informative. The only thing we didn't care much for was the food - not bad, but average. We stayed one night in Ushuaia after the cruise. Did not do any of the usual boat excursions there since we had just come from the cruise, but wandered the town, did some shopping, visited some museum (the Yamana Indian and the prison museum were very interesting), and had a fantastic king crab dinner at the restaurant Kaupe, which had a fabulous view in addition to great food and service. We stayed at the Cabanas del Beagle, another great recommendation from Isabel. 3 cabins built on a slope with a great view of the Beagle Channel, very charming, all made of local wood and stone. The owner was very nice, and designed and built the cabins himself. The next morning we hiked to the glacier, before departing in the afternoon back to Buenos Aires where we had another overnight at the Bel Air hotel before returning home.
Dec 20th, 2007, 05:03 AM
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Nice trip report, thank you, brought back many fond memories.
Glad to hear Kaupe is still around in Ushuaia, agree with you about the food/service /view we had the Centrolla there too, it was one of the best meals we had on the trip.
On our next trip we're thinking of splurging in El Calafate for Los Notros. We had done a day trip to Torres del Paine and in retrospect, should have splurged for Explora.....don't want to make the same mistake twice!
Are you ready to go back?
Glad to hear Kaupe is still around in Ushuaia, agree with you about the food/service /view we had the Centrolla there too, it was one of the best meals we had on the trip.
On our next trip we're thinking of splurging in El Calafate for Los Notros. We had done a day trip to Torres del Paine and in retrospect, should have splurged for Explora.....don't want to make the same mistake twice!
Are you ready to go back?
Dec 20th, 2007, 05:39 PM
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Thanks, Owlwoman, I did read a lot of your posts while browsing Fodor's when I was planning the trip. Yes, I'm ready to go back already - looking at some of my photographs of Torres del Paine on a spectacularly sunny day, and can't believe how beautiful it was - and that we were just there!
Don't know too much about Los Notros - didn't consider staying there since we were already splurging for the Explora. We did pass it on the way to Perito Moreno, off the main road to the glacier. Looked nice, but if you were choosing between a splurge there or the Explora, I'd definitely pick Explora! I think there are other good choices in the glacier/Calafate region, which doesn't seem to be as much the case in Torres del Paine. We really liked staying at the estancia we picked - it felt like staying at someone's home (there were only 2 other couples staying there while we were there), and had a spectacular setting (though no glacier views like Los Notros).
Don't know too much about Los Notros - didn't consider staying there since we were already splurging for the Explora. We did pass it on the way to Perito Moreno, off the main road to the glacier. Looked nice, but if you were choosing between a splurge there or the Explora, I'd definitely pick Explora! I think there are other good choices in the glacier/Calafate region, which doesn't seem to be as much the case in Torres del Paine. We really liked staying at the estancia we picked - it felt like staying at someone's home (there were only 2 other couples staying there while we were there), and had a spectacular setting (though no glacier views like Los Notros).
Dec 21st, 2007, 08:57 AM
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Oh, Liz, it had to come off the table for 2008. My companion decided she couldn't afford it, so I booked a trip to London with a little girl who is named for me, and THEN my friend decided she could go after all. Maybe 2009! Where are you headed next year?
Best wishes for the coming year.
Best wishes for the coming year.
Dec 21st, 2007, 09:14 AM
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Rats! So sorry your plans changed.
We're off January 13th for 3 weeks in Egypt and Jordan and then 2 months in an apartment in Barcelona.
It's funny - this really marks the return to our original "winter away" strategy - i.e. rent an apartment for an extended time, likely in a European city. The last two years, however, have been a whirlwind of travel and experiences in new locales so we're curious as to whether staying in one place for 2 months will still hold as much appeal. I'm willing to try though
Here's a link to the blog - still under construction!
Happy New Year
http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...ards_2008_adv/
We're off January 13th for 3 weeks in Egypt and Jordan and then 2 months in an apartment in Barcelona.
It's funny - this really marks the return to our original "winter away" strategy - i.e. rent an apartment for an extended time, likely in a European city. The last two years, however, have been a whirlwind of travel and experiences in new locales so we're curious as to whether staying in one place for 2 months will still hold as much appeal. I'm willing to try though
Here's a link to the blog - still under construction!
Happy New Year
http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...ards_2008_adv/
Dec 27th, 2007, 03:49 PM
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http://www.buenosaires-tours.com.ar/
Though I really didn't use the site when planning for the trip - just emailed Isabel directly with what I wanted and worked with her individually.
Though I really didn't use the site when planning for the trip - just emailed Isabel directly with what I wanted and worked with her individually.
Dec 28th, 2007, 01:37 AM
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And her e-mail is: [email protected]
May 16th, 2008, 06:44 AM
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