Most people see the Perito Moreno from the walkways and drive back to town. Across Lago Roca, on the Colonias peninsula between the Roca and Rico lakes, the Adventure Domes stand in the lenga forest facing the glacier, with no neighbours for five kilometres but the family that owns the land. It is a way of sleeping close to the ice and walking the peninsula without pitching a tent: comfortable, quiet, and with as light a footprint as the place asks for.
Day 1 · El Calafate
Highlight · The shore of Lago Argentino and a first unhurried afternoon in El Calafate.
Arrival on the shore of Lago Argentino and a free afternoon in town.
Night · El Calafate
Day 2 · The pioneers' trail to the Perito Moreno
Highlight · The south face of the Perito Moreno from the lookout above Playa de las Monedas.
The old road of the estancias leads to a working ranch for a morning of shearing and horsemanship and a Patagonian lamb roast. After lunch a boat crosses to Playa de las Monedas, where a twenty-minute walk through the lenga forest ends at a lookout over the south face of the Perito Moreno. The boat follows the ice to Bajo de las Sombras for the walkways, and drops off at the peninsula, a short walk from the domes.
Night · El Calafate
Day 3 · The Colonias peninsula
Highlight · Lowlands, glacial lagoons and Nothofagus forest on foot across the Colonias peninsula.
Walk · Lakes trek · full day
Walk · Peninsula trek · 12 km
A day on foot, chosen on the spot. The lakes trek crosses the north of the peninsula, a long full day through lowlands and glacial lagoons full of birds, with lunch at a ranch and views of Cerro Buenos Aires, Cerro Cristal and the glacier. The peninsula trek is shorter, a little over 12 km through Nothofagus forest with Magellanic woodpeckers and austral parakeets, past a ravine of trees uprooted by a flood of Lago Rico. The third option is a morning with the family that runs Cerro Moreno, a Hereford cattle ranch, over mate and stories.
Night · El Calafate
Day 4 · The peninsula and back to El Calafate
Highlight · A last walk from the domes before the crossing back to town.
A last walk, or simply the camp, before crossing back to town in the afternoon.
