Perito Moreno Glacier Minitrekking: Walk on Ice with Crampons

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.78 (243 reviews) 89% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/13

Duration10h

GroupUp to 50

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

You Walk on the Glacier Itself — Not Just Look at It From a Distance

You get hotel pickup, a full day in Los Glaciares National Park, a twenty-minute boat crossing to the glacier's edge, crampons fitted by a professional guide, and roughly three hours walking on the ice itself — including about seventy minutes on the glacier proper. The guide explains the glaciology and the region's wildlife as you move. Transport back to your hotel is included. The whole day runs ten hours.

10h

Step-by-step itinerary

Perito Moreno Glacier full day tour

Pick up from hotels in El Calafate
Travel 75 km via Provincial Road N°11
Arrive at National Park and walk balconies
Bus to Bajo las Sombras pier
20-minute navigation on Brazo Rico
Group briefing and crampon fitting
Minitrekking on Perito Moreno Glacier
Return navigation to Bajo las Sombras pier
Bus back to hotels in El Calafate

The Experience

The guide meets you at the hotel in El Calafate before dawn, and the drive out to Perito Moreno takes about 75 kilometers along Provincial Road 11. You pass through scrubland and low hills, and then suddenly the landscape opens and you see the glacier itself — a wall of blue-white ice that doesn't look real until you're standing in front of it. The bus drops you at the balconies first, where most tourists stop and take photos. Your guide points out the different trails and lets you walk around for a bit, getting your bearings, and then it's time to move on to the actual minitrekking part.

From the balconies, a second bus takes you about 6 kilometers to Bajo las Sombras pier. You board a small boat and cross Brazo Rico for twenty minutes, watching the glacier's front walls get closer — the ice is striped with dirt and crevasses, and chunks of it calve off into the water with a sound like distant thunder. The guide talks about how the glacier advances and retreats, and why it does what it does. Then you're at the shore, and the guide fits crampons onto your boots. They feel awkward at first, but after a few steps on the ice they make sense — you're walking on something that should be slippery and it isn't. The trekking lasts about three hours total, with roughly an hour and ten minutes actually on the ice itself. You move slowly, in groups of about twenty, and the guide explains the flora and fauna of the region, the glaciology, and the particular rupture cycle that makes Perito Moreno different from other glaciers. It's cold and your legs work harder than you expect, but you're standing on something that's thousands of years old.

After the minitrekking, you retrace the boat crossing back to Bajo las Sombras, and the bus is waiting to take you back to El Calafate. The whole day is ten hours from pickup to drop-off, and by the end you're tired in a way that feels earned. You've actually been on the glacier, not just looked at it from a platform.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and drop-off in El Calafate, a professional guide, crampons, entry to Los Glaciares National Park, a twenty-minute boat crossing of Brazo Rico, and the minitrekking experience on the glacier itself. The guide provides explanations about the glacier's geology, the region's flora and fauna, and the rupture cycle that makes Perito Moreno unique.

Good to know

Moderate physical levelNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by All Patagonia

Is this one for you?This tour is built for travelers who want to stand on the glacier, not just view it from a platform — the boat crossing and the crampons are what make that possible, and they're what take the logistics off your hands.