Los Glaciares National Park

If you don’t plan to go to Antarctica or Greenland any time soon, then the Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina should be the best stop if you want to see big pieces of ice. Bonus: there is movement as well. Slow, but movement…
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Los Glaciares National Park in Patagonia is one of the most spectacular sites in the world and also a UNESCO World Heritage since 1981. Just so that you see the magnitude from the very beginning: when we are talking the glaciers here in Patagonia, we are talking the largest chunks of ice outside Greenland and Antarctica, and we are adding to that the largest lake in Argentina (Lake Argentino) and several other glacier lakes.

Your hub point should be the town of El Calafate and getting here depends on the distance you are traveling. If you have flown south to Ushuaia, you can risk it and take a bus over the 800 km distance to El Calafate. It might be stressfully long (around 20 hours), but it’s cheap and you get to enjoy the scenery and some of the people you meet. If you are not on a budget, the plane is always an option: El Calafate International Airport has daily flights to Buenos Aires, as well as to several other Argentinean cities, including Ushuaia, Trelew and S.C. de Bariloche.

Now back to the wonders of those glaciers. Your first trip should be to the Todo Glaciares, priced at 263,00 ARS (around 70 USD). Reserve it through either Solopatagonia (http://www.solopatagonia.com.ar/home.html) or through Interhabit (http://www.interhabit.com ).

Your second day should be dedicated to the mini trekking tour on the Perito Moreno glacier. The trip is quite expensive (overall around 100 USD), but worth it. This approach, first with Todo Glaciares and then with Perito Moreno will introduce you gradually in the notion of glaciers and get you to walk on one at the end. The experience is unique.