Classic Argentina for Families

Spend your time relaxing and exploring this wonderful city. You have our top recommendations for activities, restaurants and shopping so that you can make the most of your time here.

Today you will enjoy an orientation of the Recoleta neighbourhood. During the walking tour you will visit the impressive cemetery. Many mausoleums and tombs are the work of famous artists, seventy graves have been declared national monuments, but perhaps the most famous for our visitors will be the tomb of Evita Perón. You will also wander along the boulevards of the old district to get a feel for this part of Buenos Aires.

Your guide will meet you at your hotel and bring you (with private vehicle) on a fascinating half-day private tour of the elegant turn-of-the-century districts that earned Buenos Aires the soubriquet of the Paris of South America. Including a trip to La Boca district in the South and then up to the charming cobbled alleys and colonial architecture of San Telmo. Along to the Plaza de Mayo and up the leafy Avenida de Mayo towards the imposing grandeur of the Palace of Congress, you will discover the facts, stories and anecdotes that make up the colourful tapestry of the history of Buenos Aires.

Tours can be extended to include la Boca, Shopping, the Colon Opera house etc.

Visit the epicenter of political life in Buenos Aires, a landmark dedicated to the country's independence from Spanish rule Dominated by the Casa Rosada (Government House), the Nación Bank, the Cathedral and original Parliament House, your guide will fill you in on its history and recurring importance.

Located on the western side of the Plaza de Mayo, this is the Argentine National Congress and the legislative branch of the government of Argentina, made up of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

This is where the famous Caminito Street lies, scarcely 100 metres long, yet very much an emblematic post-card of the city. Designed by the Italian-Argentine artist Benito Quinquela Martín at a disused rail port terminal just beyond the iron cantilevered Puente de la Boca which bridges the river, it is a short yet busy pedestrian alley of brightly-painted houses which cluster above the cobblestones. The sheets of corrugated-iron shimmer with glossy blues, reds, yellows and greens and recall the original colours of the leftover paint with which the dockworkers painted their homes in the 19th century.

During your time at Peuma Hue, there are a variety of different activities available for you to enjoy in idyllic surroundings, including horse riding, fishing, kayaking as well as hiking along the many trails that surround the lodge.

You will be brought by private vehicle through the National Park, a beautiful drive of some two and a half hours with stops to enjoy the view, including the Corner of Sighs, where you get your first full view of the Glacier. During the drive, you might catch a glimpse of red and grey foxes fleeing across the heathery landscape, whilst in the distance cinnamon-coloured guanaco deer balance on rocky crags and below, large Patagonian hares leap from bushes across streams. Along the roadside crawl little armadillos and if you are very lucky you might just see the tawny back of a puma, a mountain lion. Rosy flamingos gather at the water’s edge while hawks and kites hover over the hillside, eyeing scurrying voles and other rodents. And, just possibly, way way up above, you might spy the magnificent silhouette of the condor, apparently motionless, floating on the thermal wind currents that curl between the mountain peaks.

Arriving at the humbling sight of the vast Perito Moreno Glacier, your guide will then take you on a tour along the specially built walkways. These give you superb viewpoints and photo-taking opportunities while your guide brings to life the environmental and local importance of the glacier.

The Perito Moreno glacier is 30 kilometres long, this imposing wall of ice towers some 70 metres above the walkways that offer you a selection of different views from the promontory of Península de Magallanes that juts out into the Lago Argentino. As you stand below gazing up at the massive rugged face, you become aware that the glacier is very much a living, evolving thing, as creaks and cracks like rifle shots preface the “desprendimientos”, huge chunks the size of houses which break off and fall in slow motion through the air into the black waters. They hit the surface with an almighty crash, submerging and rising up again to bob away as icebergs into the centre of the lake.

The biggest and most spectacular “desprendimientos” occur when the glacier has grown to form a bridge across to the promontory, cutting off the water flow between Brazo Rico and the Canal de los Témpanos. Increasing pressure builds up as water and ice accumulate on the Brazo Rico side and the water soaks into the ground at the point at which the ice touches the land, slowly creating a tunnel. The tunnel becomes wider and wider until the pressure of the glacier moving forward means that the bridge fractures most dramatically at a given point. Although local legend has it that this takes place every four years, in fact the last time this event occurred was in 2004, when it brought photographers, film crews and glacier enthusiasts from all over the world to wait for weeks on end for that special moment.

This ice trekking expedition usually begins at the end of your Perito Moreno glacier tour (or you can be collected from your hotel), and is a two-hour six-kilometre trek. This will begin at the "Under the Shadow" port to board a charter boat that will take you across Lake Rico, getting you up close to the glacier wall, to reach the opposite shore and the south wall of the Perito Moreno glacier. You will be briefed by your expert mountain guides and put on a pair of crampons. There will then be a two hour guided circuit introducing you to the fascinating landscape of the glaciers: streams, small lagoons, gullies, cravasses and plenty of ice formations of the most incredible blues. The trekking is moderate. The ice surface over which you walk is irregular, but firm and safe. You will receive explanations about flora, fauna and general glaciology of the region and also about the particular phenomenon that happens in the Perito Moreno Glacier and eventually produces its rupture. After the walk, a stroll through the forest brings you back to the shelter. A picnic lunch and a glass of whiskey will either be on the ice or back at the shelter.

Returning to the shelter through the lush Magellan forests, your tour will conclude there with the boat ride back to the port and transfer back to your hotel.

What to Bring:
Attire: comfortable and warm, waterproof jacket or windbreaker, and good hiking boots with lacing. Sunglasses, sunscreen, gloves, hat for sun or warm to cold case.

Limitations: Because of the degree of effort and difficulty involved in this tour it is only suitable for people aged between 10 and 65.

Choose from our selection of estancias for an authentic and luxury ranch-style stay in the sleepy Pampas plains. Ride out with gauchos, enjoy an afternoon asado (BBQ), fishing or polo lessons.