Print program Day 1. Arrival in Buenos Aires
Welcome at Ezeiza airport by your French-speaking guide and transfer to your hotel located in the heart of Buenos Aires.
Free time
Diner et Nuitée à l’hôtel Double Tree by Hilton 5*
Day 2. Buenos Aires
Breakfast
Buenos Aires, Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital, is the intersection of Latin America and Europe; a collision of cultures, food, and energy. The city is either a destination in its own right or a must-see stop on the way to the wine country of Mendoza, Iguazu Falls, or the wild landscapes of Patagonia. What’s certain is that it attracts travelers from all over the world. Here’s a look at this city with its captivating energy.
When you arrive in Buenos Aires, you may feel like you’ve landed in Paris, Barcelona or Budapest. Outdoor cafés are filled with locals chatting over cappuccinos or wine, while restaurants stay open well past midnight. The locals, due to the capital’s port location, are called Porteños, and they stay up late. Dinner is usually served after 9pm. So, “merienda” is de rigueur, a snack break between 4pm and 6pm. Coffee, medialunas (small croissants) and empanadas are typical dishes during this snack. From the first steps in this city, it’s clear that Argentines enjoy life – and coffee!
From 9:00 a.m. Guided tour of Buenos Aires. Walking through the streets of the historic center of Buenos Aires with your local guide is a good way to get on the pulse of this city and learn about its history, between dramas and victories. Microcentro is the bustling business district and is home to many key sites: the Plasma de Mayo, the Casa Rosada, the Teatro Colon or the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires where Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope under the name Francis, officiated. Not far away is the Recoleta, an upscale neighborhood characterized by beautiful apartments with wrought-iron balconies, shady streets, and dog walkers. For a concentration of cutting-edge shopping, chic restaurants and nightlife, head to Palermo. This neighborhood attracts a young and trendy crowd. Palermo is also known for its very large and magnificent parks such as the Rosedal, a rose garden that has some thousands of rose bushes, embellished with 26 busts of poets and writers, a bridge and a pergola.
Palermo is also home to the botanical park or the largest Japanese garden outside of Japan.
In the south of the city, San Telmo is the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires, renowned for its cobblestone streets and tango lounges. It's also where you'll find dancers performing at the popular open-air Sunday market.
We'll end our tour in the most photogenic neighborhood of Buenos Aires: La Boca. Colorful buildings and other street performers, this neighborhood is also home to the La Bombonera stadium where Argentine soccer idol Diego Maradona played.
1 p.m. Lunch at the Estillo Campo restaurant to enjoy the best meat in the world!
One thing is certain, Buenos Aires is not the place to start a diet. This city offers specialties, each more gourmet than the last. Empanadas, small stuffed turnovers baked or fried. Their meats, especially beef, are known to be one of the most tender. Their pizzas, heritage of an Italian culture,
with their dough more than 3 cm thick. Dulce de Leche, an essential delicacy made from milk and sugar. And many other gustatory temptations.
Return to the hotel around 15:00.
End of the afternoon at leisure.
Overnight stay at the Double Tree by Hilton 5* hotel
From 20 :00 tango dinner at "Tango Porteno"
How can we talk about this city without talking about tango? This dance sets the rhythm in Buenos Aires. Milongas are traditional places where you can admire dancers full of grace and sensuality. The precision, intensity and beauty of this dance is unlike any other. Return to the hotel around 11:30 pm.
Day 3. Buenos Aires - El Calafate
Breakfast
Transfer to the airport to catch your flight to Patagonia. Duration: 3 hours of flight.
Patagonia
At the edge of the Earth, on the border with Antarctica, lies a region of incredible reliefs and landscapes: Patagonia. In the heart of this wild and untamed nature, you will be able to admire many animals but also pendid glaciers, lakes, icebergs, steppes, forests, mythical mountains... Enjoy the experience of another world, where untamed nature still has all its rights.
Welcome at the end of the world by your English-speaking guide and transfer to your hotel located in the center of the city.
Lunch on your own
El Calafate
80 km from Perito Moreno, at the foot of the Andes Mountains and Lago Argentino, El Calafate is above all the stopover town from which to visit the Glacier National Park, which has 356 glaciers in a perimeter of 720 000 hectares. Its name comes from a shrub with yellow flowers and black berries (similar to blueberries), which is very common in the region. El Calafate is best known for its impressive glacier, the Perito Moreno. It's a small, laid-back town that sees thousands of adventurers and enthusiasts, hikers and globetrotters who come to visit the Patagonian Glacier National Park. Take advantage of your trip to El Calafate to recharge your batteries, discover breathtaking landscapes and commune with nature.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Los Alamos 4* hotel
Visit your hotel
Day 4. El Calafate
Breakfast
The glaciers of Patagonia
Stretching over 350 km from north to south and 50 km wide, the Glacier National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covers an area of 600,000 ha, and includes two large lakes: to the north Lago Viedma and to the south Lago Argentino, which is the third largest in South America and the first in Argentina in terms of surface area (1,560 km2). The park has a cool oceanic climate, with Pacific winds being frequent. This humid climate, which is therefore snowy at altitude, explains the fact that the Perito Moreno and Spegazzini glaciers are not, unlike the Upsala glacier, in retreat, but are slightly increasing.
An incredible Andean glacier colossus: the Perito Moreno Glacier, impressive, lively and noisy! A real monster rising 60 m above the level of the lake, it is undeniably the most famous glacier in Patagonia and one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world. This Patagonian ice cream nugget is one of those rare places to see, at least once in a lifetime.
Catamaran excursion in Lake Argentino to discover the Upsala, Spegazzini and Perito Moreno glaciers. You will sail between the icebergs. Unforgettable experience !!!
Departure from the hotel at 7 am and boarding at 8:30 am at the port of Punta Bandera.
Sailing in Lago Argentino is one of the few ways to get closer to some of the more remote and inaccessible glaciers. You will have the opportunity to travel comfortably in a modern catamaran or you can walk along the balconies and terrace, allowing you to take beautiful photos.
The tour takes place between spectacular icebergs of immense size and various shapes. From the boat, we'll see, among other things, the Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers, the largest and highest (120m high) of all the glaciers in the park, and finish with the most beautiful glacier in the world: El Perito Moreno, where we'll descend to admire it from footbridges.
During this unforgettable day, we'll also take a one-hour walk through the forest of the Spegazzini Channel, on an island known as Puesto de las Vacas.
Return by bus to Calafate from Perito Moreno around 18h.
Lunch: Hot Patagonian meal on board Dinner on your own
Hotel Los Alamos 4*
Day 5. El Calafate
Breakfast
Day trip to the "Nibepo Aike" estancia to discover the life of the Patagonian gauchos. Estancia Nibepo Aike, located in Los Glaciares National Park, will give you a picture of life in a traditional Patagonian estancia or ranch. On this tour, you'll have the opportunity to watch a sheep-shearing demonstration, hike through the surrounding landscape, and choose to go horseback riding (to be paid locally)
Asado (Argentinian barbecue) with lamb on the menu Return to the hotel around 17h
Dinner on your own
Hotel Los Alamos 4*
Day 6. El Calafate - Buenos Aires
Breakfast
Transfer to the airport to catch your flight to Buenos Aires. Meet and greet by your guide and transfer to your hotel.
Day and meal on your own.
Opportunity to visit the Buenos Aires Rose Garden as well as the largest Japanese Garden outside of Japan.
Overnight stay at the Double Tree by Hilton 5* hotel
Day 7. Buenos Aires - Iguazu
Breakfast
Free morning dedicated to shopping. This will be an opportunity to go shopping at the magnificent GALERIAS PACIFICOS very close to the hotel. Historic building known for its magnificent vault.
Lunch on your own
Transfer to the airport to catch your flight to Iguazu. Meet and greet by your guide and transfer to your hotel in Brazil, after crossing the border.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Double Tree by Hilton 5* hotel
Visit your hotel
Day 8. Iguazu
Iguazu National Park
The Iguazu National Park was created in 1934 on the border of three South American countries: Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. But it is only in the latter two that you can see the famous waterfalls, inscribed in the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1986. The Iguazu is a tributary of the Paraná River and is called Iguaçu in Brazil.
The falls were discovered in the sixteenth century by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, during the conquest of the area by the Spanish conquistadors.
Today, tourists no longer need to put on explorer's clothes to discover the Iguazu Falls; The park has been landscaped with numerous paths and footbridges to facilitate the walk of visitors without distorting the nature of the site.
Breakfast
Excursion: The falls "Brazilian side" and visit to a bird park.
If the landscape is more intimate on the Argentinian side, the Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side offer an even more spectacular view as it is from here that you will have a complete panorama of the 3-kilometer front of waterfalls flowing from the rainforest. Only one route on this side of the border, but this one will allow you to appreciate the show from other angles.
Option : It is also on the Brazilian side that you can treat yourself to a helicopter ride to observe the falls from the sky... An unforgettable spectacle! To be paid on site
Lunch break in the park's restaurant "Puerto Canoas" Return to the hotel around 4 pm
Dinner on your own
Overnight stay at the Double Tree by Hilton 5* hotel
Day 9. Iguazu - Buenos Aires - Départ
Breakfast
Excursion: The Falls "Argentine Side"
Most of the falls are located in Argentinian territory: 4 routes will allow you to discover them by getting as close as possible, to observe them from below or from above, in the heart of the forest. If the crowds are not very large, you may be lucky enough to observe the local fauna, iguanas, toucans and other parrots, eagles flying over the falls, peccaries, caimans or other coatis. In recent years, the Park has been modernized and a small train takes tourists to the start of the hiking trails to the falls.
This same little train will take you to the footbridges that lead to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), an impressive depression where thousands of litres of water flow with a crash in the middle of clouds of steam iridescent by rainbows.
Option: The most adventurous will not hesitate to climb into the zodiac-type boats that get as close as possible to the falls. To be paid on site
Lunch break in the park's restaurant "El fortin" Dinner on your own
At the end of the day, transfer to the airport to catch your flight to the United States via Buenos Aires.
End of our services.
