Best of Argentina & Chile

Arrive in Buenos Aires, a city that feels both familiar and completely its own at the same time. Grand old buildings, wide tree-lined avenues and neighbourhood cafés give it a European feel, but the rhythm of the city is unmistakably Latin American. On arrival, transfer from the airport to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to settle in and rest, or take a first quiet walk if you feel like stepping out.

This day you head out for a guided half-day city tour covering some of Buenos Aires’ most familiar sights. The drive takes you along 9 de Julio Avenue, with a view of the Colón Theatre as you pass through the centre of the city. You then move into Plaza de Mayo, the main square where much of the city’s history and politics have played out. It is surrounded by the Casa Rosada, Metropolitan Cathedral and Cabildo. Inside the cathedral, you will find the tomb of General San Martín. There is a short stop at a Café Notable, one of Buenos Aires’ historic coffee houses, where you can enjoy a coffee and light snack before continuing on to La Boca. This part of the city is known for its bright colours, especially along Caminito street, where you will often see street art and tango performers. From there, the tour continues to Recoleta, a calmer more elegant neighbourhood with wide, shaded streets. The highlight here is the Recoleta Cemetery, the resting place of Eva Perón.

In the evening, you visit Viejo Almacén in San Telmo for a traditional tango show. Dinner is included, and the setting is intimate, with the performance taking place just a short distance from the tables, giving it a very close-up feel. After this, you will stay overnight in your hotel in Buenos Aires.

This day is free for you to enjoy Buenos Aires at your own pace. You might stay in the city, wander through a neighbourhood, or simply sit at a café and watch the world go by. If you feel like heading out, you could book optional experiences, such as take a boat ride through the Tigre and Paraná Delta, where the city slowly gives way to waterways and small islands. Another option is San Antonio de Areco, a quiet colonial town in the Pampas where gaucho traditions are still part of everyday life. Or you could stay closer to the city and join a relaxed cycling tour through Palermo and Recoleta, tree-lined parks, wide avenues and elegant residential streets.

This is the day when you head south to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, set on the island of Tierra del Fuego. The trip marks a clear shift in landscape, from the capital’s energy to vast, open spaces at the edge of South America. On arrival, you will pause briefly at a scenic viewpoint for your first look at the surrounding mountains and waterways before continuing to your hotel. Tucked between snow-dusted peaks and the Beagle Channel, Ushuaia feels like a remote outpost at the very edge of the continent, the last stop before the vastness of Antarctica begins.

This morning you head into Tierra del Fuego National Park, where the Andes gradually open into forests, rivers, and the rugged coastline of the Beagle Channel. A guided visit takes you through some of the park’s most scenic spots, with time to stop along the way and simply take in the views. It is the kind of place that feels remote in the best possible way, being quiet, wide, and shaped by Patagonia’s raw natural beauty.

If you would like to explore further, you can also take an optional boat trip along the Beagle Channel, passing Sea Lion Island and Bird Island, where sea lions and seabirds gather on the rocky shores as you sail through these southern waters, before returning back to your hotel.

This day you fly north to El Calafate, leaving behind the dramatic southern landscapes of Ushuaia and gradually shifting into the wide, open steppe of Patagonia. The scenery changes noticeably from mountain-framed waters to vast, dry plains stretching into the distance. Set on the shores of Lake Argentino, El Calafate feels more relaxed and open, with a quiet sense of space and wilderness all around. It is the place you arrive in when the landscapes start to feel almost unreal in scale, with ice fields and national parks waiting just beyond town. You check in to your hotel and settle in for the night.

You head into Los Glaciares National Park today for one of Patagonia’s most striking natural sights, the Perito Moreno Glacier. The drive itself feels like a slow build-up, with open water and mountain views gradually giving way to ice-filled landscapes. When you arrive, the scale of it really hits you. The glacier is not just something you look at from a distance, you hear it as well, with deep cracks and sudden shifts breaking the silence as huge blocks fall into the water below. After spending time taking it in from the viewing walkaways, you make your way back to El Calafate later in the day, with the evening free to unwind.

On this day you cross the border into Chile by public bus, travelling through vast stretches of Patagonia where open steppes, lakes, and distant mountains roll past the windows for hours. It is a quiet, unhurried journey where the landscape slowly shifts as you move from Argentina into southern Chile. When you arrive in Puerto Natales, you make your way to your hotel and settle in. The rest of the day is free for you to relax or take a gentle walk around this small, windswept town by the water.

You leave Puerto Natales early and head out toward Torres del Paine, watching the scenery gradually shift from open Patagonian plains into mountains, lakes, and sharper rock formations as you get closer. The drive is long, but it is the kind where the landscape keeps changing enough that you don’t really notice the time. Inside the park, you stop at a few viewpoints along the way, including Milodon Cave near the route and Salto Grande waterfall within the park area. By the time you return to Puerto Natales, the day naturally winds down, and you are free to just take the evening as it comes.

You leave Puerto Natales in the morning by public bus, settling in for a long, steady ride across the open Patagonian steppe. It is the kind of journey where there is not much to do except watch the land stretch endlessly in every direction, shifting slowly as you head further south. By the time you reach Punta Arenas, you make your way into the city and do a short loop around the main viewpoints and the old centre near Plaza Muñoz Gamero, where the city’s maritime past still shows in the buildings and layout. After that, you head to your hotel and the rest of the day is yours to slow down, rest, or step out later if you feel like it.

This is the day when you fly up to Santiago, leaving the southern end of Chile behind as the scenery shifts during the journey. Once you land, you head into the city and check into your hotel. The rest of the day is free, so you either rest after the flight or take a gentle walk outside just to get a first impression of the city.

You head into Santiago’s historic centre and start the day at Plaza de Armas where the square feels busy in a very local everyday way rather than anything staged. From there you wander into the Metropolitan Cathedral and then drift through the surrounding streets where older buildings sit alongside the city’s steady modern rhythm. Later you make your way up San Cristóbal Hill and the city opens out below you with the Andes sitting quietly in the background. You finish the loop in Bellavista where things feel looser cafés spilling onto the streets, murals everywhere and people just hanging out rather than rushing around.

You transfer to the airport for your return flight to London, bringing the journey through Argentina and Chile to a close. It is a day of heading home, but with plenty of memories from Patagonia’s vast landscapes, glacier moments, and the energy of Santiago still fresh with you.