The 1stClassArgentina Signature Tour

The 1stClassArgentina Signature Tour

Starting at USD $2995* per person in double occupancy; additional fees apply for single occupancy

Treat yourself to 12-day Comprehensive Tour of Argentina!

A wonderful trip including the traditional points of interest, from Buenos Aires to the Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel. Explore some of the most beautiful regions on earth: Bariloche, Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. A journey to a land of virgin forests and imposing millenary glaciers.

Available to start on Fridays in Buenos Aires, or customize your itinerary.

Tour Features

First Class Accommodations
3 Nights in Buenos Aires
3 Nights in Bariloche
3 Nights in El Calafate
2 Nights in Ushuaia
11 Buffet Breakfasts
1 Lunch and 1 Dinner
All national park entrance fees
All sightseeings and transfers with English-speaking guides
4 Flights with Aerolineas Argentinas

* Price includes all tour features and is subject to change before tour confirmation due to seasonal variations

Day 1 – Arrival in Buenos Aires — Enjoy!

Welcome to Argentina! Your 1stClassArgentina local host will greet you at Ezeiza International Airport, and introduce you to Buenos Aires, dubbed "the Paris of the Southern Hemisphere," as you make your way to your downtown accommodations at the Hotel Intersur.

Later in the afternoon, we invite you to a panoramic Buenos Aires city tour. At first glimpse, we arrive at a typical postcard view of Buenos Aires: the Obelisco on 9 de Julio avenue and the Colon theater. We conintue to Plaza de Mayo, the city’s founding center, with its surrounding sites and buildings of historical relevance. Taking a walk around the square you will observe the Cabildo of Buenos Aires, the old municipal authority and building; the Metropolitan Cathedral; the Casa Rosada (pink house) Presidential headquarters; and the Palacio de Gobierno (City Hall building). Continuing south, we enter San Telmo and La Boca, the oldest neighborhoods of the city, with its centuries-old churches, conventillos (old immigrant houses), markets and museums.

Now heading north, we drive through a more recent borough, Puerto Madero, a newly revitalized city port which has become known for its gastronomic delights, offering numerous options for buffet and a-la-carte dining: typical Argentinean cuisine as well as Asian, Italian, Brazilian, and American comfort food. Lastly we visit elegant the neighborhood of Recoleta and a walking tour of the Cemetery, where you can see, among others, the tombs of Eva Perón, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Facundo Quiroga.

Day 2 – Exploring Buenos Aires’ Pampas and Traditions

A full-day Fiesta Gaucha tour with BBQ lunch and spectacular Gaucho display. Experience life on an Estancia, or farm ranch, featuring traditional folk dances and horseback riding, where Gauchos show us their Creole horse skills, such as sortija races, horseback sprints, lassoing and hog-tying. The tour includes a reception, full lunch and tea time with exquisite local specialties including empanadas, Asado criollo and torta fritas. Guests can explore the estancia on foot or on horseback, accompanied by seasoned gauchos. Horsedrawn carriages are also available.

Tonight, enjoy a gourmet dinner and a 1st Class tango show at La Ventana.

Day 3 – Shopping in Buenos Aires

A day at leisure for shopping time! Or, ride the optional riverside sightseeing train to Tigre Delta.

Day 4 - Buenos Aires / Bariloche

After a hearty breakfast, transfer to the local airport for your morning flight to Bariloche. Arrive on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi, surrounded by Andean peaks, glacial lakes and ancient volcanoes. It is by far the most visited destination in Patagonia, offering year round attractions to all. Transfer to your accommodations at Hotel Sol del Nahuel.

Day 5 - Small Circuit and Panoramic Point

After breakfast, we invite you to the Small Circuit, a scenic route were you will enjoy both the scenery and some unique local flavors. There are beautiful views throughout, where you can stop to admire points of interest and natural lookouts, such as Bahia Lopez (Lopez Bay) and Punto Panorámico (Panoramic Point), and San Eduardo Chapel as well as the traditional Colonia Suiza village. We include tickets to a chairlift which carries you up to the top of Mount Campanario and a wonderful bird's-eye view of the area. Several teahouses and restaurants offer delicious meals and snacks to add flavor to the tour. You can also buy knitted goods, candles and a variety of other area handcrafts along the way.

Day 6 - Explore Nahuel Huapi National Park

Bariloche is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the foothills of the Andes. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains and crystal clear lakes, the park features vast and diverse offerings of Patagonian fauna, rapid rivers, waterfalls and colorful flora also. There are several areas in the park accessible by car, bus or hydrofoil catamaran.

Day 7 - Bariloche / El Calafate

Transfer to the airport for your flight to El Calafate, a nice touristy village with a little over ten thousand inhabitants mainly working in the tourism industry, and most importantly next to Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the world's largest active continental glaciers. Enjoy El Calafate's breathtaking beauty and unusual characteristics, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Your local guide will meet you at the airport and transfer you to your hotel inside the national park. Almost at the end of the world, between lakes, woods and mountains, the sky blends with the glacier's bluish white. Accommodations at Hosteria Esplendor Calafate.

Day 8 - Full-day Sightseeing to the Perito Moreno Glacier

The glacier offers an astonishing ice river, two miles wide and 300 feet high along its front wall, with a 5 km glacial tongue descending onto the lake. This creates a unique phenomenon, when after periods of four to eight years the tongue of the glacier advances down enough to block the lake and reach the opposite margin. After resisting the pressure of the lake’s currents, it breaks and falls, which is truly a most spectacular natural phenomena. The tour includes an hour’s navigation and national park fees.

Medium- to high-intensity minitrekking excursions over the glacier are also available for an additional fee. After a delicious breakfast, we head to Bajo de las Sombras pier, and sail through the south wall, then walking through the woods and finally over the glacier itself. Finally, we will have a picnic in the woods, in front of the glacier. In the afternoon, after a snack, we still have time to enjoy the natural beauty. Transportation and equipment will be provided, though we suggest you do not forget water-proof shoes and your sunglasses!

Day 9 – El Calafate & Upsala, Seco & Spegazzini Glaciers

Early in the morning, we depart towards Punta Bandera, the pier at Glaciers National Park about 30 miles away. We board the catamaran and enjoy a full day lake excursion to various glaciers cruising among hundreds of icebergs that have broken off from the glaciers.

We set sail across the Devil's Mouth and the north branch of the lake towards the Spegazzini Glacier. Passing the lake strait, we enter the Upsala canal for the most spectacular view of this glacier. The vessel approaches the glacier front as much as it is permitted by the masses of drifting ice. We continue on the Spegazzinni canal and pass in front of the Seco glacier until reaching the highest ice wall in the national park, the Spegazzini Glacier. We return to Punta Bandera at 4 and arrive in the hotel by 6pm.

Day 10 - El Calafate / Ushuaia

Transfer to El Calafate airport for your flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Located on the shores of the Beagle Channel, the city of Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and islands of the South Atlantic Province. A local guide will meet you at the local airport and transfer you to your hotel accommodations at the Hotel Los Yamanas. In the afternoon, take advantage of the long-lasting daylight and enjoy Ushuaia at your leisure — a land of legends that many audacious spirits have dreamt of visiting. Ushuaia is sparsely inhabited by only those who have accepted the challenge of isolation and the company of nature at its best!

Day 11 - Ushuaia & Beagle Canal, Nature & Wildlife

The hydrofoil departs from the pier towards the southeast, sailing first in the Ushuaia Bay, with our backs facing the city. During the tour we will have the opportunity to observe the majestic Black Eyebrow Albatross, Imperial cormorants, as well as Squads and different kinds of sea gulls and funny steamer ducks, or Alakush. Our navigation continues as we pass Les Eclaireurs Archipelago. Here we visit Sea Lion's Island for observation of the two species (one- and two-hair) of sea lions, typical of the canal. Bearing east we sail directly to the Martillo Island to watch the elegant Magellan penguins (Martillo Island available December through March only).

Day 12 - Ushuaia and International Flight Return

Morning at leisure for shopping time! Hotel checkout and transfer to the airport for your flight to Buenos Aires international airport in Ezeiza, where you connect with your return flight.

Extend Your Tour to Iguazu Falls National Park!

Available year round. Perhaps a 3-day add-on to Rio de Janeiro? Call your Travel Consultant at (800) 240-9189 for a free consultation!