9-day Patagonia Tour: El Calafate, El Chalten And Puerto Natales

We had a lovely trip. Everything was well-organized and the hotels we stayed at were all excellent (superior category). The breakfast was included every day and was very good. Our included day excursion to the Perito Moreno Glacier was spectacular and we felt we had sufficient time to really see it. Our full-day tour of Torres del Paine was also fantastic. This is mostly a van tour with stops. There's a little bit of walking, no hiking. Take note that there is a lot packed in this Patagonia tour, which meant for us that there was not as much time at each place as we would have liked. It's all detailed in the description, so we knew that before booking. But sometimes it's hard to really know until you're on the tour, which is why I'm sharing here. Another thing to take into account is that the travel between El Calafate and Puerto Natales is a very long bus ride, with two border controls which just add more time to the trip. It could be that it's the only way to travel between the two places, but be prepared for a lot of sitting.

This is the perfect option for people that just want to hit the highlights of Patagonia and don’t want to be involved in all the extra planning it takes. The hotels were good and the buffet had a lot of options but overall felt like some of the extra stuff we paid for was way too expensive. We paid for the most expensive option for the booking because we wanted to splurge but realistically that only got us a king bed at every hotel, nothing more. No bigger room etc. El Calafate was great and amazing - we ended up doing the mini trekking and definitely recommend it. One of those types of bucket list items you can’t find anywhere else and everything was professional, secure, beautiful and well organized. I know a few other websites had this tour cheaper FYI. Would also recommend taking a boat tour to see the other glaciers - very high quality and worth it especially if you have never seen glaciers. We wished we had a bit more time in El Chalten because there are so many hikes to do and don’t forget your trip is very dependent on the weather! We couldn’t do the Tres Laguna hike during our time because it was raining and completely cloudy. I would recommend you pick your trails ahead of time. Please note the pictures in this posting are not views you will see unless you do the hikes yourselves!! It is a bit misleading in my opinion. Puerto Natales was very different - it is a city and there are tons of places to eat, things to do etc. The tour you do here is great but you are in a car all day and they take you to different points (no real hiking involved). Tour guide was great and everyone was very friendly in Chile. Hotel comments: Hotel Alto Calafate - nice hotel, a little far from downtown but they (as well as many other hotels) have a free transfer service to downtown once an hour in the afternoon-nighttime. The staff is SUPER friendly but one thing I did notice was that the hotel felt humid throughout (from the pool on the ground floor) and a little bit run down in certain places. I did expect a little bit more from this place but it was good overall. The Chalten Suites was next and was very well located and is the biggest hotel in the town. They helped us plan some activities while we were there and had a better brunch than Alto Calafate. Hotel Costaustralis was last and was absolutely gorgeous and our favorite. Located near the water it was beautiful and the hotel was really nice. Best breakfast here and very friendly.

Just returned from this fantastic trip organised by Say Hueque. Patagonia is a spectacular region with fantastic national parks and wildlife. The guides we had for the day trips in Perito Moreno and Torres del Paine were excellent. Great knowledge, very interesting & spoke perfect English. Accommodation in El Chalten & El Calafate was superb although Puerto Natales was a bit below standard although we did book late and so missed out on our preferred choices. All three towns were really pleasant and very safe. Wrap up well though because the wind can be biting! From our initial contact and organising the tour right through to the end Say Hueque were very efficient and made this tour a highlight of our South American trip

Perito Moreno superb, El Chalten great. Hotels not the standard that Viator checked before we booked and promised us. Transfers and tour for the Glaciar v good. Public bus to Chile took over 7 hours with only a 30 min delay at the border. Before you book with Say Heuque- check every component is what you want or expect. Our complaint on day 1 met with the response ‘we pick our hotels for service rather than stars’. That is commendable unless you are missing a swimming pool, decent sized hotel room, king sized bed.

Great arrangement and prompt reply from customer service. There is breakfast for every hostel we stayed. Sufficient enough time to visit around el calafate, el chalten and puerto natales. I chose the medium price accommodation and stayed in Koi Aiken (el calafate), pudu lodge (el chalten) and Darwin hotel (purrto natales).

I’m glad we used Viator to plan our trip to Patagonia. It was nice to let someone else make all the hotel and transportation reservations as the thought of doing that ourselves was a bit overwhelming. We chose the superior option for hotels, and the ones that Viator booked were all good. However, I recommend they select a different hotel for El Calafate going forward because we weren’t very impressed with Design Suites. It was too far outside the city (40 min walk into El Calafate) and the complimentary shuttle the hotel provided did not run at convenient times, so we had to take a taxi every time we wanted to go into El Calafate. I also think there were nicer hotels in the center of El Calafate. The tour company provided a helpful agenda outlining our whole trip including pick up and drop off times for activities and transport. We chose to upgrade to the mini trekking activity on the Perito Moreno glacier and the full day hike in Torres del Paine. We were glad we upgraded those activities because it was well worth it. However, I recommend going forward they provide more info on what is included with the full day hike in Torres del Paine. We had no idea it was going to be a very strenuous 14 mile hike up and down a mountain. Fortunately, we were up for the challenge, but we would have appreciated knowing more ahead of time. We had to call the emergency phone number one time when we thought we were going to miss our bus transfer. Nobody answered and there was a message in Spanish so we didn’t know what it said. Fortunately, right after I called, someone from the agency texted me so they must have seen that I called the emergency number. They responded quickly via text. Overall, I would recommend this tour.

This trip was awesome. What you're getting is someone to book everything for you - no need to find bus schedules, research hotels, book tours. I usually love doing these things, but I've not had a lot of free time and was getting frustrated with researching these things on my own. Having this group take care of it all for me was a HUGE relief and they did an AWESOME job. I wanted an epic trip for a milestone birthday, and this delivered! I initially wanted to do as much hiking as possible, but I'm glad we had the pace that we did. For our open day in El Calafate, we independently took a bus out to Lago Roca for the day to do some hiking, which gives you a view of the Perito Moreno Glacier. There is opportunity for a lot of hiking in El Chalten (I recommend buying trekking poles in town for hikes). I hoped for more hiking in Torres del Paine, but honestly there is so much to see there, given the time that I had for my overall vacation, I was grateful to get to see so much of the park by taking the bus tour. Overall, we were the right amount of busy to maintain an active yet relaxing vacation. I felt like I got to see a little bit of everything and can't wait to go back when I have more time to spend in the area!

Brenda helped organize the trip for us. She was very helpful, responsive and easy to touch base with. Overall, this was a good tour. We really liked our time in El Calafate and El Chalten and wish we had more time in El Chalten to hike. Favorite parts of this tour: Trek on Perito Moreno Glacier, horse back tour through Estancia Nibepo Aike and horse back in El Chalten, Laguna de lose tres trail. I'd say, we felt time was wasted traveling back and forth from Puerto Natales-where we only had 1 full day and did a bus tour through Torres del Paine. I would have done Puerto Natales on a separate trip because seeing from a bus didn't do it justice. Also, it would have been nice to know that the bus tour was "family friendly". We had a family of 4 with children as young as 2 and 3 and it was hard to enjoy the tour listening to crying, screaming, etc. I would like to recognize Gabriela (tour guide for Torres del Paine). She was wonderful, extremely knowledgeable and very patient with the tour group. She's really good a her job! Thank you Gabriela.

Great tour. Able to travel independent of a tour group. Comfortable tours buses for longer transports. Nice hotels with the upgrade. Helpful guides available for day trips. Many hikes you can plan on your own without a guide or even take a one way taxi. Guided trips made it possible to go to more exclusive, less crowded areas. Tour company did an overall great job of coordinating itinerary.

My 2 friends and I have been dreaming of going to Patagonia. We booked this tour for mid January, and it truly made the trip completely stress free. Brenda was incredible at keeping us updated with the planning of the trip. Since there were 3 of us, she was able to find us "triples" at the hotels (we stayed in comfort hotels). We saved money this way, which we were able to use towards booking excursions (Perito Moreno Glacier and Torres Del Paine). The final itinerary was beautifully organized, and made it easy to follow. This tour is perfect for you if you don't enjoy planning the logistical aspects of a trip (hotels, transportation). Otherwise, it is a very independent trip and you can do as you like on your leisure days! Highly recommend!!

I actually did a 12 day tour, because they were so good at making changes so I could do what I wanted to do. All of the arrangements worked out perfectly. If I was supposed to be picked up at 8am, I was.

We really enjoyed our trip in Patagonia. The tour was well organised and everything worked out well.

<p>Antonella, the agent that helped us originally, was wonderful. Though once we arrived to El Calafate, Martin our agent, did as little as possible. He booked our excursions, but nothing we could not have done on our own, Compared to our Viator tours at Cusco and the Amazon this did not compare. Very little personal attention.</p>

<p>Most importantly, the communication was excellent. Changes and confirmation of pick up times at the hotels was outstanding. Guides were pleasant and helpful.</p>

Had an amazing time in Patagonia and Say Huaque made it so easy for me. Its the perfect combination between organised tour and indepandant holiday. Hotels, transport and few excursions organised but you also have free time to do other things you want like hiking in Chalten. Almost every day they get in contact with your hotel to confirm your next day activity.

We had a great experience in Patagonia on our tour organized by Say Hueque. Our agent Agustin was very responsive to our questions. The hotels were all great, especially the Madre Tierra in El Calafate. The guides on our full day tours (Perito Moreneo and Torres del Paine) were excellent and very knowledgeable. All arrangements worked out perfectly. Be ready for a long bus ride to get to Puerto Natales/Torres del Paine from El Calafate, but it's worth it to see that spectacular park. If you're not a heavy duty hiker, you might ask about other options in El Chalten besides hikes from town.

My husband and I recently did a 11 day (9 touring days) trip to Patagonia in early December. We are very independent travelers, opting to do things on our own rather than with large tour groups. Say Hueque was the perfect partner for us. They took all the guess work out of the transportation between locations, including airport/hotel transportation. They were 100% flexible and the trips were completely customizable. We were able to plan our trip exactly how we wanted it, without dealing with the boring logistics. All Hotels were GREAT, above average compared to the prices we were paying, all transports and excursions were right on time, very professional, and very well organized. We got dossiers for all of our pick up times, and they even printed our boarding pass for one leg of the trip. We still felt like independent travelers, with the freedom to come and go as we pleased, but with the peace of mind/security that we were taken care of. I would HIGHLY recommend choosing this company and we will certainly be using them again for when we come back and visit!

Say Heque did a great job planning and executing our first trip to Argentina. They customized our trip to include the tours we were most interested in which included: A tour of Buenos Aires, a trip to El Chalten and Cerro Torre where we hiked on our own, a boat ride to Perito Moreno Glacier, and a tour of Iguazu Falls. The guides were great and in the case of Iguazu a personal tour. The pick ups were flawless and well orchestrated. The only drawback was it was a bit steep on the price but I still considered it worth the money and saved us a lot of stress from booking everything ourselves.

We opted to use Say Hueque to help arrange our visit to Patagonia after reading online reviews. We liked the idea of having a lot of independence-- not following a tour-- but getting help with our itinerary. The short of it is that they did a good job but we did have to put in work in communicating with them and often had to repeat what we wanted to get things straight. In the end all was great but we had to stay on top of things; requests were sometimes not acknowledged or acted on the first time but eventually (mostly) gotten straight. The strengths of Say Hueque were that they made good recommendations on what to see, and arranged terrific places for us to stay. The weakest part was that sometimes the questions we asked were addressed by just providing a link to a canned description of their tours; or a request (multiple times) to please allay our nervousness over an itinerary that had days and dates listed incorrectly were never addressed; or that a voucher for our grown daughter to catch a bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate did not arrive until we had separated from her while she was hiking the W, so we had to slip it into a bag she had left at the hotel and hope she found her way to the right bus. In fairness we were difficult customers, as we asked for a customized tour in which my wife and I visited El Calafate/Perito Moreno, Puerto Natales/Torres del Paine, and El Chalten (all recommended) while our grown kids hiked the W, which was complicated, and they worked it all out. We would have liked to know that there was a place we could have stayed in Torres del Paine, rather than Puerto Natales, which we learned from friends afterwards. But they got us a great hotel in Puerto Natales (Noi Indigo) and in El Calafate (Esplendor Hotel). We switched from their choice in El Chalten to Chalten Suites, and although we found no availabillity on the web they got us a room there, so that was really helpful. And they did get back to us by email within 1-2 days on all occasions. Buses that they booked on were fine. Overall a great experience; just be proactive and be prepared to work a bit with them.

I've just returned from a great trip to Argentina. I had a week and a half in the Patagonia region and needed a company to help me with the arrangements, but to ensure that I still had a high level of independence. I didn't want a week and a half with a tour group! Say Hueque absolutely fitted the bill. They made the basic travel and hotel arrangements, and a couple of excursions, but I had the freedom on many of the days to do my thing, and to explore whatever restaurants I wanted. The arrangements all went like clockwork and the quality of the hotels was great. I got extremely good service from the Say Hueque staff. They always responded very quickly and cared about me having a great experience. Really do recommend them.

<p>In all instances, the guides were prompt, and knowledgeable. The walks around Perito Moreno Glacier were wonderful. Although the trip started out cold and rainy, the optional day trip to Christina Estancia was amazing - the boat trip thru the icefields - never seen icebergs that blue and the views of the Upshala glacier and surrounding mountains and lakes after the 4x4 ride up were jaw-dropping gorgeous. My only minor complaints would be that you have to be prepared for long bus rides to all of the parks, and El Chalten is really for travelers desiring long challenging hiking.</p>

<p>This tour was definitely for an independent traveler we loved that some of it was left up to our schedule. Most of the rooms were great...beds and water pressure were great. WiFi connections were good. Would recommend it we had a great time.</p>

<p>If you are an independent traveller, not wanting to deal with logistics this is perfect for you. Very few group activities/tours planned outside of the logistics of transport and hotels. If you are looking for a packaged deal, where you are carried from one thing to the next, this is not for you. The tour is basically taking care of all the planes, trains, automobiles of it all. Tour will have you sorted for accomodation and buses and transport which to me is the worst part. That said, you will need to be open with where they book you. Friend and I opted for the comfort option and the places were great. If you go for the lowest cost option, be prepared for more quaint/potentially not-as-central options....as they say, you get what you pay for. We loved this tour because we didn't have the headaches of logistics, and were given the freedom to do what we wanted, when we wanted, when got to a location. Perfect option if you don't want to be on a shared tour bus for 9 straight days :.</p>

<p>I had a wonderful experience on my trip to the Patagonia region. Booking this trip made everything fantastically easy and smooth. Even when we had made mistakes on the itinerary, and our flights got rescheduled, it was taken care of perfectly. I would highly recommend this trip.</p>

<p>Hotels were outside the town (Calafate and Puerto Natales), which wasn't great. I had some problems contacting the local tour operator as it was a different one than stated on the confirmation.<br/> Otherwise it was ok</p>

Fue una experiencia inolvidable. Los glaciares son impresionantes, la vista al lago Argentina en el Hotel Design Suites y la caminata al Lago de los tres en el Chalten nos encantó. El Calafate es un pueblo hermoso. Agregaría a la experiencia 1 día adicional en Puerto Natales para hacer la caminata a la base de Torres del Paine . También Agregamos al paquete contratado la visita a Glaciares Spegazzuni y Upsala el el Maria Turquesa de la empresa Marpatag. 100% recomendado