Patagonia 101 - where to start? fave resources?
 

Husband and I are just starting to think about our next big trip and we've landed on Patagonia! We'll have two weeks and would love at least part of the time (last few days of the trip perhaps) to be spent RELAXING. That said, I'm looking for advice on where to start!

Any favorite guide books you used on mapping out your trip? Favorite threads or trip reports? Favorite don't-miss lodging? Researching the trip is half the fun for me - just looking for great resources you found to dig in! Favorite cities, hikes, airbnbs as well! Thank you!

Check out my trip report from April (still on the first page of posts) if you haven't already - hope you'll find it useful. We had about two weeks and wanted to focus on southern Patagonia. I started the planing process by looking at itineraries offered by tour companies to get an indication of what they considered to be the highlights and how long they spent at each place. I also looked at numerous blog postings to figure out how to arrange logistics - such as how to see Perito Moreno glacier without signing up for a tour. Plus I did numerous searches on best day hikes in... Torres del Paine, El Chalten, etc. Oftentimes, one article or blog would lead to another.

Once we figured out where we wanted to go for sure - Buenos Aires, El Chalten, Torres del Paine, El Calafate, and Ushuaia - I started searching for information on how to connect the places and came up with some rough itineraries. Then I asked for advice here, finalized the order of places, and started booking lodging and transportation.

Usually I check out multiple guidebooks, but for this trip, I relied exclusively on the internet. There's info out there - it just takes some time to ferret it out and put it together.

Good luck with your planning and let me know if you have any questions. We'd love to have had a bit more time to add Bariloche and Iguazu, but we couldn't really do it. So we're pretty determined to go back!

Thanks so much @althom1122 - I've poured over your trip report! Thank you! Great advice to look over what the tour companies are offering. And isn't that always the hardest part - narrowing down what we can actually see?

We're planning on taking 2 weeks - likely an overnight in either Buenos Aires or Santiago, 8 or so nights somewhere in Patagonia, then a final couple days in either Mendoza or Cartagena to reward ourselves on the way home :)

Sounds great - will be watching as your plans firm up!