Honeymoon planning!
 

Hi - my husband to be and I are planning on going to Chile and Argentina for our honeymoon in October. So far, we've booked flights into Santiago, and home from BA, three weeks later, but nothing in the middle. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to see and where? I don't want to spend too much time driving (or camping - it's my honeymoon after all!), but we do want to do activities (horse riding and glacier climbing in particular.) While we had some ideas as to what to do, it seems to be incredibly difficult to get between places easily. Is this right?

Many thanks for any help received.

Congrats on your marriage.

Consider heading south into Chile, then doing the Lakes Crossing into Bariloche. Here's is some information http://livinginpatagonia.com/?p=755

You could spend some time in Bariloche, then head east to see the whales and penguins, or south to the glacier, then back to Buenos Aires.

Congrats

www.latinamericaforless.com

www.kuodatours.com more upscale

www.wowargentina.com

good routes at good prices...

For me BsAs Iguazu El Calafate Bariloche Mendoza Santiago

or reverse in your case

Congratulations!!!
You sould include the NW pof Argentina in your plans... the best sceneries
Flitnstones

Congrats on your forthcoming wedding. Here is a link to our blog entries 65 onwards cover the area you mention

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...tml#ENTRY_LIST

This includes the crossing from Chile into Argentina. I can highly recommend the horseriding around Vina de mar (nr Valparaiso), bike rides around Villarrica volcano in Pucon (itself a lovely town. Other highlights were Salta, Iguazu the drive throught the Seven Lakes from San Martin to Bariloche (although it is a hell of a drive and there are many tour companies doing the trip!!), Peninsula Valdez for the the whales and penguins and of course BA itself.

Hello,

Congratulations on your honeymoon!! October is great for travelling around Argentina as spring will have just started... I dont know much about Chile but for Argentina I would recommend the south - Ushuaia,Puerto Madryn and Trelew where you'll see penguins, whales, glaciers and amazing scenery... if you're looking for outdoorzy activities Bariloche and the surrounding area would be ideal - lakes,mountains and lots of trekking, horse riding, climbing, skiing... and then if you the more want quaint, colonial, cultural side you ought to head north west to Jujuy and Salta - beautiful towns set in fantastic scenery. Its not that travel is difficult in Argentina its more that its such a vast country that the distances make it a bit uncomfortable for going by bus or car. All the places I've mentioned here are far, but dont fret nowadays you can get cheap domestic flights to all these places! Dont forget to save a few days for BA too..! What kind of thing are you into? Let me know and I can point you in the right direction!

You've received some excellent suggestions from previous travelers to those outstanding areas mentioned in the above responses. By all means do the lake crossing from Chile into Argentina.

I have taken four tours which Grand Circle Travel has offered, and amongst these, my travel to Peru and Chile and Argentina with them was (thus far) the most magnificent.
I took their South American adventure in October of 2007; the weather was quite, quite ideal, and when we arrived in Buenos Aires, a city that I've traveled two on previous occasions independently, I got to see another side of the city and the culture.

After the tour ended, I spent an additional two weeks in that city, living in a lovely apartment which I obtained through www.bairesapartments.com. I lived in the upscale barrio (neighborhood) of Recoleta but did venture out to San Telmo, La Boca, Puerto Madera (sp), and Palermo. ...also went to Tigre which I'd suggest, too.

If the newlyweds are in BA on a Sunday, do the brunch at the Alevar Hotel; it's pricey but well worth the experience. I always do something ONCE if its "dear" (pricey) and if I have the money at the time in which to do it!

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy! You'll always remember mentally as well as (I hope) photographically!

Thank you so much for all this information! It's fabulous.
I hadn't even heard of Bariloche before, but it looks gorgeous. I'd love to see penguins and whales. I'll read the blogs etc later (when I'm not at work!)

It seems to be very difficult to get a decent map of Patagonia - all the ones I've seen so far have either the Chilean side, or the Argentinian side. While this is great, it does make working out how to cross between the two more difficult. We were thinking about going to Torres del Paine National Park. Is there a sensible crossing anywhere near there?

Roughly speaking, we're looking for horse riding, treking, glacier climbing, possibly a little bit of beach relaxation (at the start, just to get over a rather long flight), possibly some desert, and lots of lovely wine and food. We'd rather spend most of the time not on a tour (I'd like to have the time to enjoy my new husband on my own), but if the best way to do some of it is on a tour, we can certainly do that.

I'd slightly assumed we were going to be too late for skiing (12-31 Oct) - is that right?

Skiing usually ends mid October, but this year has been light on the snowfall.

When crossing from Chile to Argentina we decided to get the bus from Pucon, a nice, if quiet town at that time of year. Plenty of options for outdoor activity. We chose a bike ride around the Villarrica volcano rather than the horseriding (still too sore from the last ride!) or hiking up tthe volcano. On the advice of the hostel owner we chose to get the bus from Pucon accross the Andes (through the monkey puzzle tree forests) into Argentina and San Martin de Los Andes. This was another delighful town with some of teh best restarants we had encountered on our travels and the most amazing array of chocolate shops - much like being in Switzerland only wit more beef!

We had hoped to cross further south using teh boats and buses on the 5 lakes route but the hostel owner did not seem to rate this trip that highly plus it was a lot more expensive.

Fodors (or maybe Frommers?) does publish a guide covering both Chile and Argentina in one book and which includes maps of both sides of the border.