Where is the Glacier Perito Moreno?
The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the highlights of Argentina and definitively one of the world’s most impressive glacier, located in Los Glaciares National Park in the southwest of Santa Cruz Province, in Argentina’s Patagonia. More precisely, around 75 km west from the city of El Calafate (which has an airport with flights to Buenos Aires and other cities). This is one of the largest glaciers in Patagonia: it descends from the Southern Patagonian Icefield (2100 meters elevation in the Andes Mountains) down into the water and warmer altitudes of Lake Argentino at 180 meters above sea level. The visible glacier front is up to 60 meters high, and it has a width of 5 km. And the body of the glacier goes up into the mountains getting lost in the immensity of the Patagonian Ice Field.
Inside the National Park (named by UNESCO “Natural Heritage of Humanity”), besides the Perito Moreno, there are also other glaciers like the Upsala and Onelli ones that calve into the icy waters of the huge Lake Argentino. Of all of those, the one with the best sight is the Perito Moreno Glacier.
What makes it so special?
Unlike most of the glaciers in the world, the Perito Moreno instead of retreating is advancing and constantly growing in size. This huge glacier blocks a narrow channel formed by Lake Argentino raising the water level temporarily, which causes regular ruptures of the glacier into the lake.
This happens because of the slow and constant movement of the 60 meters high glacier that regularly calves bluish icebergs into the waters of Lake Argentino, giving an audiovisual spectacle to the visitors from all over the world.
When is the best time to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier?
The weather in Patagonia is quite unpredictable. The best time to visit is in the warmer months, between October and March. March and April tend to be less crowded so it’s a good time to go get the best views (Automn) of the glacier and enjoy the activities.
How to visit the Glacier
The access to the park can be done from different points of the road that reaches from El Calafate, by bus or by car. Nowadays the Park welcomes a great number of tourists from all around the world, offering multiple choices to visit it and the Perito Moreno Glacier such as:
1). The conventional
The classic tour to see the Perito Moreno Glacier from the footbridges, the best point from which you can see it. It doesn’t require physical demands, since the tour of the balconies can be done at each one’s pace.
The walk along the footbridges (a network of 4 trails), is at different levels and allows you to contemplate the glacier from different perspectives and balconies. The walkways are made up of steps that descend to about 300 meters from the front of the glacier. About 150 meters from the beginning is the main balcony from where you can appreciate the dazzling view of the front of the glacier and the area. If you continue the tour through the rest of the balconies you can contemplate different views of this wonderful river of ice and depending on your physical conditions you can reach the lowest balconies close to the glacier.
2). The Kayak Experience
This unique experience allows you to get to know the glacier from a different perspective, and starts at the Perito Moreno Kayak Experience meeting point where the team will greet and inform you about the experience. In the base of operations you will get dressed and the expert kayak guides will brief you on safety and explain how to paddle through the glacial waters (no prior kayak experience needed). You will kayak from Playa de los témpanos, paddling towards the front of the glacier, so that it impacts us completely, approaching about 600 meters away. There you will stop to take pictures and learn more about the place.
3). The Moreno Spirit Navigation
Navigate through the Canal de los Témpanos to appreciate the beauty of the north face of the Perito Moreno Glacier. You will depart from Puerto Moreno over the Channel of the Icebergs (Canal de los Témpanos) and after a few seconds the boat arrives in front of the north face of Perito Moreno´s beautiful wall of ice.
After a short stop in front of the area where the famous glacier rupture occurs, you´ll do a slow sail in front of the entire width of the north wall to take a closer look at the landscape. During the tour you can appreciate the height of its walls, the length of the river of ice and if we are lucky and the glacier wants it, we can see a thunderous collapse of ice into the lake.
4). The Mayo Spirit Trek
This is the perfect combination of walks in the forest, observation of waterfalls, rivers, hanging glaciers and a visit to the Perito Moreno glacier (navigation and walkaways). This area of the National Park can only be reached by lake.
The adventure begins with the departure from the Port of Punta Bandera to the Canal de los Témpanos, then you will enter the Seno Mayo of Lake Argentino. After the disembark in Bahia Toro, accompanied by the guide, you’ll take a walk through the Patagonian Andean forest until you reach a waterfall.
The navigation continues heading towards the Canal de los Témpanos. A few minutes into navigation you will begin to see the north wall of the Perito Moreno glacier. Then you’ll disembark in Puerto Moreno to go to the walkways, which can be traversed for about 2 hours from the different balconies.
Later you’ll return to Puerto Moreno to re-embark and head to your last stop which is the Port of Punta Bandera.
5). The Minitrekking on top of the ice
This experience begins at the “Bajo de las Sombras” port where you’ll board a ship to cross Lago Rico navigating in front of the south face of Glaciar Perito Moreno and descending on the opposite coast.
After disembarking you’ll be led to a cozy shelter by the expert mountain guides. The trekking starts with a walk along the coast of the lake. When you reach the glacier side you’ll have the crampons and helmets fitted. Once on the glacier, you will hear the safety instructions and walk to enjoy this frozen paradise.
During the trekking you will be able to see deep cracks, blue moulins, huge seracs and turquoise ponds. By the end you will be able to enjoy a panoramic view of the Perito Moreno, the mountains and the lake. Later you will cross the Bosque Andino Patagónico.
When you get back to the shelter, you’ll be given hot drinks and a souvenir. Shortly after you will embark to return to “Bajo de las Sombras” port and watch the huge walls of the glacier from the ship.
6). The Big Ice experience
The tour starts with a comfortable bus picking you up from the meeting point agreed in El Calafate. Once in the “Bajo las Sombras” port, you board a ship to cross the Brazo Rico, getting off on the opposite shore 20 minutes later.
The hike begins from the southern moraine of the Glacier and in an hour you will reach an amazing viewpoint where you will access the ice. The guides fit the crampons, harnesses and helmets and the journey begins.
For 3:30 hours you will explore the corners of the glacier, and have a half hour lunch over the white blanket. Back on the moraine, you’ll start another one-hour walk back to the port, to navigate very close to the southern wall of the Perito Moreno.
The tour includes a guided visit to the walkways of Los Glaciares National Park. The Big Ice is designed for trekking, exploration and challenges fans.
7). The Safari Azul (Blue Safari)
This tour also starts at the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, at the “Bajo de las Sombras” port where you’ll board a ship to cross Lago Rico and descend on the opposite coast after a 20-minute navigation.
After a 30-minute walk with an amazing view, and after reaching the ice you’ll enjoy different and intense shades of blue and white colors, with capricious forms.
After many pictures, you’ll enjoy an hour-and-a-half walk along a natural surface of sand and stones with some slopes and stairs. You’ll walk about 1,5 kilometers by the coast of the lake and through a greenwood with a view to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
Finally, you’ll embark on the ship to enjoy the view from the water, and at only some meters away, every detail of the marbled side of the glacier.
If you only visit one glacier in your life, Perito Moreno would be the best choice to pick. No matter which one of these experiences you choose, from any point of view, this park will show amazing scenarios.
There are also other experiences that have the Glacier Perito Moreno as part of the view or it’s itinerary, such as the Navigations of the company “Mar Patag”, or the views from “Cerro Cristales”.
Custom tours in Patagonia
We offer personalized trips in Argentina and Chile, and we would love to help you to design yours. As a kick off, we invite you to check our Patagonia Tours section, same as getting inspired by some of our tours such as Highlights of Patagonia, Patagonia Trekking Tour, Patagonia Road Trip, or Patagonia Wildlife Tour.
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