Patagonia itinerary-help
 

This is a trip that has been delayed a few years but is finally happening. I have gone back and reread many travel posts and am coming up with this as an itinerary:

Dec 14 arrive EZE for one night
Dec 15 we will fly to El Calafate
Then spend the next ten nights divided up between El Chalten, El Calafate, Torres, and Arenas we then fly to Puerto Montt on Dec 25. It's from here that I am having a hard time dividing up my time. We have until Jan 3 where we will leave for SCL for a flight home on the 4th. We are my husband and myself (mid forties) and our ten year old daughter. We are seasoned travelers and I speak enough Spanish to get by easily.

We want to fly fish, we enjoy nature but love culture. We want to stay some place not overly touristy but with good restaurants that we can walk to-no drinking the wine and driving! We will get a car, if need be.

I was considering a flight to Balmaceda to spend a few days fishing and exploring the Baker River area, as well as Puerto Varas, Huilo Huilo, and Fruitillar. With nine nights, I am not sure where to focus on or where we should base and trip out of.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Why don't you take more than ten nights for the first part of your itinerary? That looks rushed to me - how are you dividing it up?

thursdaysd- we do not wish to spend much time in BsAs, but I was leary to book a flight to El Calafate on the same day we arrive in case of any delays, etc leaving JFK in December. We will fly into Calafate and grab the bus to El Chalten where we will spend four nights, then transfer back to Calafate for one night and see Perito Moreno Glacier, then bus to Natales (where we might end up spending a night) and then grab a car to go to TdP for three nights and finally drive back to Natales and then bus to Arenas where we will have to spend one night for an early morning flight out the next day to Montt.

1. Are you sure your flight will connect with the afternoon bus to El Chalten? How are you buying your tickets? My morning bus left completely full and I was traveling at the beginning of November, not in high season.

2. Do you have enough hikes planned for El Chalten for three days? There is nothing to do there except hike.

3. One night in El Calafate is barely enough time to see Perito Moreno by land. I would advocate enough time there for one full day for seeing P.M. by boat and on land and another for the boat trip to see the other glaciers.

4. I was told that in high season it can take three hours for the bus to Puerto Natales to clear the border. I would count on spending the night there AND have a reservation.

5. Have you looked at taking the Navimag ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt?

6. I have absolutely no interest in fishing, fly or otherwise, but I did notice that the Patagonia guidebooks (e.g. Moon, Lonely Planet) had quite a bit of information on it. I did quite like Puerto Varas and Frutillar, and the boat ride up to Peulla from P.V. However, if you're not fishing (and perhaps even if you are) you might find Pucon fits your interests.

Have you read my TR? Click on my name.

It sounds like you may be planning to travel without reservations for accommodation. I don't think that's a good idea in the middle of the holiday season.

thursdaysd- Thanks for your responses-
1.-If we can get a morning flight then yes, if not then the afternoon flight only gives 15 minutes after landing so we will spend the night in Calafate and grab the first bus out in the AM. I have been waiting to make sure we can get hotels and then I will book flights.
2.-I think we will be OK with this time in El Chalten, but I will review it a bit more and can always change it
3-If we grab the 8AM bus to Calafate, we should be there by 11:00. I was only going to do PM as we will see other glaciers in TdP. No ice trekking though.
4.-Pretty sure we will spend the night there, and so we will have a reservation
5.-I have looked but it is four nights, that would eat into too much of our time.
6. The Fodors guide actually has good information as well. I guess my concern was dividing up time between those areas I mentioned. They all have access to great fishing so it was just a matter of managing stays.

I did read your trip report, as well as yestravel's but I will go back and reread.

I assure you, we are not traveling without reservations. I have the list of hotels, and as soon as I receive confirmation they have rooms, we will book them!

"we are not traveling without reservations"

But you are talking about "grabbing" buses. You can not count on doing that in the middle of December. There are only one or two a day on the routes you are taking.

thursdaysd-Just a matter of semantics, I can assure you!

Sounds doable to me if all bus connections go well. .. you're crammed in a lot, but it's doable. If you get decent weather for your hours at Perito Moreno, you won't be disappointed. Taking the bus from town and spending several hours at the park just walking the walkways provides a spectacular view of the glacier - from many angles. How much more do you really need? We spent 3 whole days in El Chalten in Feb. (my trip report is up too, Patagonia nearer the end. ..) . . lots of great hiking to do . . .even for day hikers. We did the same Capri hike twice (different weather conditions) and another wonderful Laguna hike the third day.

glover- I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that I read your very detailed report and that I took copious notes on car rentals, inns, hikes, etc. Your report was very much like what we are hoping to do. We too were originally going to San Martin dlA from there but the flights etc were so expensive that we decided to go to the Chilean side. Only problem now, is I am reading it is the season of their horrible horseflies when we will be there! I don't care much for enormous buzzing insects. Did you encounter any on your trip?

Tábanos are to be found on both sides of the border from late December to mid-January. Whenever we found a nice picnic spot by a lake near San Martin, my husband would tell me to wave my arms around as if there were lots of tábanos if another car pulled up so we would have the place to ourselves! Some years are worse than others. I don't remember seeing many posts by visitors about them so I don't think they are as big a problem as you imagine.

Huentetu-LOL! Too funny. I saw a video on line of some fisherman on the Rio Puelo and they were literally covered with the things. We have them here where we live, most of the summer but not like I saw in this video-it was unreal! I had contacted a guide in the Varas region and he said that the tabanos would be bad so we should focus on the Rio Maullin where they wouldn't be as bad. So, SMdA has them as well? So maybe we just pray for the best.

Odie,

Have you thought of visiting Chiloé. There are tons of islands and very few turists (especially on the smaller islands), there is a lot of marine life and tons of different birds. There is also history, tradition and culture and the best shellfish around. I would recommend sailing of course as it is the best way to have a glimpse of the smaller inhabited islands. There are barely any tabanos or colihuachos in Chiloé, especially compared to the mainland and there are even less of them in the smaller islands which can only be visited by boat. The fishing isnt that great (unless you want to go to the mainland fjords where you can flyfish), but still catching something isnt that hard. Nowadays there are all kinds of hotels to please any kind of taste (and pocket), but if you like sailing I would definitely search for a small manned yacht to charter, you can do this from Puerto Montt or Dalcahue/Castro.

Hi Oldie! I remember you planning your trip when we were writing our TR. Glad you are finally going to get to see this beautiful area. You probably read about Chiloe in my TR -- it might be nice for a couple days...not a fisherman so can't help you there. While I didn't love Santiago, it is worth a day or sightseeing. Did love Valparaiso and it's an easy bus trip from Santiago.
Not sure how you will visit PM and then get a bus to PN that same day. Even without trekking on the glacier I think it takes a good half day to go out there and get back. So unless there is a late afternoon or evening bus to PN you will not be able to do it. Maybe think about 2 nights in El Calafate? Fruitllar and the lake district is interesting and they have lots of outdoor activities in the area - also the Pucon area might be worth looking into.

alessandro- I have given thought to Chiloe but it was not too high on my list of places I wanted to see.

yestravel-you are correct. I had asked you many questions about your trip and we ended up canceling ours when the volcano blew because we were scheduled to spend 10 days in and around San Martin de los Andes. I have revised my itinerary to this:
Dec 14-BsAs
Dec 15-2:20 PM flight to El Calafate (either spend the night here or we may rent a car and drive to Chalten)
16-Chalten
17-Chalten
18-Chalten
19-Chalten (if we rent a car then Calafate)
20-Calafate
21-8:00 AM bus to Natales (rent a car)
22-TdP
23-TdP
24-TdP
25-TdP
26-Hosteria Rio Pentente (http://www.hosteriariopenitente.com)
27-Hosteria Rio Penitente
28- back to Natales to drop car and then Bus to Arenas
29- 6:30 AM flight to Montt (rent a car)
30-Montt
31-Montt
1-Montt
2-9:05 AM flight to SCL
3-Fly Home

I am considering skipping Montt area altogether and going to Valpo and down to the colchagua valley but have not definitely made up my mind. Need to soon though!

I would stay in Puerto Varas, not Puerto Montt. Or Frutillar if you want total peace and quiet.

Thursdaysd-Yes that was the plan-Varas.

I think your plan looks good.
If you are staying 4 nights in the Puerto Montt area I would definitely go up to Fruttilar. You can visit PV from it. Much prettier and nicer up towards Fruttilar. But if you want a "bigger" town PV does have more to offer though not much.

As I said I really liked Valparaiso a lot and it would be very different from where you have been.