5-Day Premium Patagonia Discovery: El Calafate & Ushuaia

Truly breathtaking

A truly unique experience! Everything went smoothly and naturally, transfers, tours, visits. The hotels were comfortable and well located. Standing in front of the glacier takes your breath away. It's absolutely stunning. Highly recommended.

via Tripadvisor

Mismanaged and unguided

This is not a guided tour. It is a sequence of activities linked together by Viator who provide inappropriately located hotels and pick up and drop off by non-English speaking guides. On the National parks trip, they failed to book the tour, responded only by text to deny my entitlement when I rang the emergency number, and admitted they had not made the booking when my hotel manager got them to respond at 9.30 pm the night before. They then neglected to pay my park entry fee and have not reimbursed me. The first hotel was in a new suburb with no shops or food outlets around. They dropped me off there at 11.30 am and the hotel did not serve lunch. I nearly missed the unguided boat tour that afternoon due to the slow pick up operator, and was stranded at the harbour at the end of the trip when the non-english speaking pick up was 30 minutes late. The boat trip had no English speaking guide, and provided information in Spanish over an intercom, followed by information in English, most of which I could not hear because the 85% of the passengers who spoke Spanish talked over the commentary. On day 4, my 'native experience' tour was not booked until after 5 pm the night before and I was notified at 8.30 am on day 4 that my 4 hour tour would start at 6 pm! Fortunately the local tour provider stepped in and took me at 11 am. The trip to the glacier provided an english speaking guide only on the pick up and drop off service. There was no guide on the boat or at the view point. Having to chase Viator to get bookings confirmed was stresful. This 'tour' was not guided, and was mismanaged, and I have not been refunded for expenses that were included in the package and not paid for by Viator.

Response from the operator: Hello Ralph, First of all, we truly regret that the experience did not meet your expectations and that it caused you stress during your trip. That is certainly never our intention. After reviewing your comments, we believe that perhaps this specific product was not the most suitable option for the type of experience you were expecting. This program is operated as a regular shared tour, where the services and excursions are provided by different local operators, and it does not include a private guide accompanying passengers throughout the entire journey. Considering your preferences and expectations, perhaps a fully private and personalized tour with a dedicated English-speaking guide during the whole itinerary would have been a more comfortable and enjoyable option for you. Regarding the inconveniences mentioned, we sincerely apologize for the operational issues you experienced. We understand how frustrating this situation must have been, especially with the uncertainty regarding some of the bookings and services. I will personally request the reimbursement for the expenses you mentioned as soon as possible and follow up on the matter accordingly. Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, as it helps us continue improving our services. Kind regards, Ricardo Arroyo Project Manager

via Viator

An unforgettable experience

Everything was great and the local tour operator was very professional. Opportunity for improvement: they hardly provided any information in advance. We would have liked more details in advance (including detailed itinerary) and to be contacted further in advance (I finally heard from them a week in advance, when one of the optional excusions I wanted was already fully booked). Also the information we were given about what meals were included was confusing, resulting in our buying lunch on a couple of occasions even though it was included (be sure to get clarity on this). In spite of that, the tour was WONDERFUL and well organized once we got there and I would definitely recommend it. The excursions and the hotels were all good quality. I would book with this operator again. If you are able to add the optional mini-trekking excursion, do it because it was our favorite part of the trip.

via Viator

Great visit in Patagonia!

This was a really great tour. The two days in Ushuaia were really fun - great visit to the park followed by a very nice boat tour where we got to see a lot of wildlife. The views we had on the lake and glacier tours in El Calafate were simply spectacular. I'd also add that the logistics and communications for the tour were first class. All pickups and drops offs were timely and we were always kept well informed of the next steps. All in all ... a really great time.

via Tripadvisor

Glacier trekking a must!

Signature tours (Claudia) did a great job organizing our trip! Our group of 6 adults, loved the trekking on the glacier! It was a fabulous day! Claudia was very accessible and answered emails quickly!

via Tripadvisor