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If you’re curious about what it’s like to walk on the ice of the Perito Moreno Glacier and want tips on making the most of your visit, you’re in luck! In this post, our colleague Javier shares his experience with the Minitrekking on the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is a must-read if you’re planning a Perito Moreno Glacier Tour.
Also, if you’re wondering when is a good time to visit Patagonia, Javier’s insights will help you plan the perfect trip!
Transfer from El Calafate to Perito Moreno
My adventure begins waiting at the door of my accommodation.
In my backpack, I carry something to eat, water, and warm clothes to ensure I won’t get cold during the day.
A few minutes before the appointed time a bus picks me that was already carrying ten people and my adventure minitrekking on the Perito Moreno Glacier begins.
However, before reaching our final destination, we made a stop to change to a larger bus.
After a little less than an hour’s ride, we can see through the bus windows that we are approaching the glacier, and for the first time in my life, I see a glacier from up close.
It’s an incredible feeling!
The first stop we made was to buy tickets to enter the Glacier National Park.
Although, our guide is actually in charge of picking them all up and handing them out to everyone.
A couple of minutes later we arrive at Puerto Bajo Las Sombras, get off the bus, meet up with other travelers who have arrived in their own car, and board the ship to cross to the other side of the lake.
There, the young guides are waiting for us and they remind me a bit of ski instructors (friendly and eager to teach everything they know about the glacier).
Next, we are divided into two groups of about ten people, some of us will do the tour in Spanish while the others in English.
Minitrekking: Perito Moreno Glacier Tour
After another couple of minutes of walking, we can see the glacier from the beach, just a few meters away.
We continue walking to “the crampons station” where we sit down and park associates show us how to wear the crampons between jokes.
If you’re unfamiliar with them, crampons are small iron structures in the shape of a spike that is attached to the boots to grip the ice and prevent slips.
For this excursion, it is very important to wear boots that are hard and resistant!
When we put them on, we are told that we must walk with our legs slightly apart and always step exactly where the guide has stepped. We start walking up to the glacier where we begin the “climb.”
This is where we truly start the Perito Moreno Glacier tour. It is striking to see how the glacier changes color between a vivid dark blue and radiant white and creates unique shapes.
During the tour, two guides accompanied us at all times, one in front and the other behind, this made me very safe.
The glacier is immense and gives an incredible feeling of freedom, but it is something that not all travelers can do, be it limitations of age or physical conditions, or simply because some prefer to see the glacier in another way, so there are a plethora of options to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier.
I personally recommend combining a mini trekking or similar with a boat tour.
We followed the path and… if you have seen Game of Thrones you can imagine all the jokes being told when we entered an ice crevasse… The glacier looks like something out of a movie!
Details of the Perito Moreno Glacier Tour
We walk for an hour and a half, approximately 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) on the Perito Moreno Glacier, with the guides showing us different features of the glacier: small streams, sinkholes, and large crevasses … the glacier is alive and changes every day, so there is no set itinerary, it is the guide who decides where to go.
We return to the starting point where we meet the other group.
There, the guides have a pleasant surprise for us! I’ll keep it a secret so that you can be appropriately excited.
So if you want to know, you’ll have to go on the tour!
Finally, we leave the glacier, take off our crampons, and say goodbye to the nice guides. Next, we return the gloves, another essential for walking on the glacier.
But our excursion is not over yet! We start walking through a small forest until reaching a wonderful place with unique views.
After resting and overlooking the glacier with a hot coffee in hand, we took the boat again to return to the port from which we set sail.
Upon arrival, we say goodbye to part of the group that has come in their own vehicle.
Lunch with a view of the glacier
Transfer from Perito Moreno to El Calafate
Upon disembarkation, we were picked up by a guide and went to the Perito Moreno Glacier footbridges (little piers that create a pathway to view the glacier). Upon arrival, we stayed in the main area since we had just over an hour to visit it.
While there, visitors can walk along the footbridges, get close to the glacier, and reach a viewpoint from where I took some pictures.
Believe me, photos don’t capture the imposing nature of the Perito Moreno Glacier the way it does in person. Note: the mini trekking has different starting times, so depending on your reservations, the visit to the walkways is done before or after walking on the ice.
The itinerary is the same, only the order of the visits changes.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is constantly advancing and during the thaw the area that acts as a “closure” between the two waters decreases.
But in the area of the footbridges (little piers) the distance to the glacier is practically the same because it is forming in the ice fields at the same time that it melts in front.
This phenomenon always makes the Perito Moreno Glacier Walkways a perfect place to appreciate the glacier, regardless of the time of year.
Although now it seems to be starting to recede slightly…we cross our fingers that we can continue to enjoy this wonder of nature because there really is nothing like trekking in Argentina.
A Perfect Evening and Reflection After a Full Day
One of my favorite photos in which you can appreciate the majesty of the glacier.
We get back on the bus to start our way back to El Calafate.
I arrive at my lodging, rest a bit, and get ready to go out to dinner with some friends I’ve made on this adventure during the minitrek.
We decided to eat dinner at “Parrilla Don Pichón”, a restaurant that our guide recommended. And the truth is that it was a great recommendation, the food was delicious and the views were incredible.
I 100% recommend this place if you’ll be in El Calafate.
A good dinner and a bottle of wine to end a full day, are undoubtedly one of my favorite ways to close out an experience!
I returned to the hotel to rest because the next day I had another intense day planned.
I will get up early and take a bus: El Calafate to Puerto Natales; where I will start another of my great experiences, the W Trek in Torres del Paine. For anyone who is looking to travel to see a glacier, El Calafate, Argentina, or all the above, I hope my experience of the Perito Moreno Glacier Tour encourages you to take the leap. I also hope my recommendations have been helpful for your trip! Would you dare walk on the Perito Moreno?
