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Arcturus Expeditions offers sea voyages and expeditions to The Arctic, Arctic Russia, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and The Antarctic.
Patagonia and Atacama
Chile trek and desert combination | 15 days
This journey highlights the most extreme environmental contrast imaginable: Chile’s mountainous Patagonia and the ‘moonlike’ Atacama desert. Explore Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park on horseback and undertake the demanding 10-day ‘circuit’, camp, stay in refugios and access remote areas by boat or complete a five or seven-day walk. This is a landscape of immense batholithic pinnacles, soaring ‘horns’ and jagged turrets dwarfed by densely glaciated and barren surroundings. Combine this with an exhilarating visit to the geysers, salt flats, volcanoes, flamingos, and the Valley of the Moon in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Day 1: Fly to Santiago
Day 2: Arrive in Santiago
Day 3: Fly to Punta Arenas in Patagonia and drive to Torres Del Paine
Days 4-8: On trek in Torres Del Paine
Day 9: Drive to Punta Arenas and fly to Santiago
Day 10: Fly to the Atacama
Days 11-13: Explore the Atacama’s salt basins (salars), sand and lava flows
Day 14: Fly to Santiago and on to London
Day 15: Arrive in London
guide price £3,655 per person
Trip reports for South America
Fiona’s travel tips
FOR THE LESS ACTIVE: If you don’t want to trek the whole Inca Trail, take the train and hop off early to enjoy a wonderful day’s walk instead.
MY FAVOURITE PLACE: (Once I had got over a slight vertigo moment), sitting atop Wayna Picchu watching the cloud drift over the ruins of Machu Picchu spread out below me.
DON’T MISS: Superb camping at the edge of the Salar de Uyuni. The walk-in tents, though not en-suite, each have a built in stove and the view from the loo is to die for.
TOP TIP: See Lake Titicaca and its floating reedbed islands from the Bolivian side — it’s much less visited than from Peru.
BEST TIME TO GO:
Argentina: October to April
Bolivia: April to September
Chile: October to April
Ecuador: October to June
Galapagos: year-round
Peru: April to October
JOURNEY TIME:
Argentina: 16 hours (indirect)
Bolivia: 18 hours (indirect)
Chile: 18 hours (indirect)
Ecuador: 14½ hours indirect
Galapagos: 14½ hours indirect
Peru: 14½ hours (indirect)
Clients’ comments
“We loved exploring a part of the world that neither of us knew previously. Without your guidance we would not have known where to start and we felt we came away with a very good and broad experience”.
Mr and Mrs Charles Pybus, Argentina, Chile and Brazil“From the moment I contacted Fiona again, I knew that I was going to have a fabulous time. She always seems to make my trips holidays of a lifetime. I loved the dramatic way in which we travelled to the Napo Wildlife Centre and the MV Santa Cruz was great despite being quite a large ship. The guides were tremendous. I cannot thank you enough for all the hard work you put in”.
Charlotte Langley, Ecuador and the Galapagos