ANDEAN PATAGONIA

Forests, lakes and glaciers The Andes mountain range shows its beauty in the Patagonian provinces. Millennial and silent forests with native vegetable species extend along the shores of glistening waters. At the summit of the mountains, nature overflows in granite peaks and ice fields spreading their glacier tongues into lakes of unsurpassable beauty. Lanín National Park From San Martín de los Andes one can easily sail on Lake Lácar and Lake Nonthué in the Lanín National Park with its volcano of the same name (3,776 m)..- Route of the Seven Lakes From San Martín de los Andes and along road 234, the route makes its way between falls and forests to Villa La Angostura on the shores of the Nahuel Huapi Lake. Very close by, it is the winter resort of Cerro Bayo. From Villa La Angostura one can reach Los Arrayanes National Park, a charming forest containing species over three hundred years old, most of them being more than 20 m high. It is said that Disney was inspired by these woods to create Bambi. - Nahuel Huapi National Park Its lake of glacial origins covers 560 square kilometers and its creeks wind into the woods of the National Park named after it. On its shores is San Carlos de Bariloche, a first class tourist centre that offers the winter resort of Cerro Catedral on its outskirts as well as an interesting cultural scene.- Tours from BarilocheTours to Catedral, López, Otto and Tronador, famous for its, glaciers leave from San Carlos de Bariloche "capital of the Andean Patagonia THE BEATEN TRACK- Los Glaciares National Park It offers a landscape of imposing glaciers descending from the continental ice field. Thirteen glaciers on the Atlantic side break into huge ice towers onto the waters of the lakes Viedma and Argentino. The front faces of the glaciers Perito Moreno, Mayo, Spegazzini and Upsala fall upon the latter, at a short distance from the shores of the glaciers Agassiz, Onelli, Ameghino and Frías. Tertiary granite formations covered with thick Andean forests are part of this spectacle. You can go by boat across the lakes to have a closer contact with the front face of the glaciers. A tour takes the visitor trekking on top of the glacier, where the hues of blue are just amazing. Once on top of the glacier the visitor can take a glass of whisky with ice from the very same glacier.El Calafate is the closest service center, which can be reached by air from Buenos Aires and Ushuaia or by bus from Río Gallegos.- The Torre and Fitz Roy mountains These are in the El Chaltén area, inside Los Glaciares National Park, and they are a challenge for mountain climbers and trekking lovers.- The Cueva de las Manos, Alto Río PinturasTo the south of the town of Perito Moreno, there is one of the most significant displays of cave painting in Patagonia. Handprints and hunting scenes which are over 9,300 years old fill the caves and rocky gable-ends of the River Pinturas canyon.. The Cueva de las Manos was declared World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 1999. BARILOCHE/VILLA LA ANGOSTURA/SAN MARTIN DE LOS ANDES PACKAGE (by plane) 9 nights Bariloche, Villa La Angostura, San Martín de los Andes Excursions: Cerro Catedral, Circuito Chico, Route of the Seven Lakes, Cerro Chapelco