The Perito Moreno glacier is a must for your Patagonia itinerary. Glowing blue with cold, with ice towers standing at up to 70 metres tall above the water, it is an astonishing sight.
In this article, I’ll take you through all the logistics for visiting the Perito Moreno glacier.
Where is the Perito Moreno glacier?
The Perito Moreno glacier is about 80 kilometres west of El Calafate in Argentinian Patagonia.
How do you get to the glacier from El Calafate?
You have three options:
- Car
You can drive yourself and park at the visitor centre, or get a taxi.
- Bus
You can catch a bus back and forth between El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier but this is oddly expensive.
- Guided tour
This is your best option. The trip to the visitor centre and back costs about the same as the bus. I did this tour.
Ways to see the Perito Moreno glacier
There are three main ways you can see the Perito Moreno glacier:
- Walk around the boardwalk
This is accessible from the visitor centre. There is about 5 kilometres of boardwalk with various colour-coded trails of varying difficulty. None of them is actually objectively difficult, but the higher difficulty trails include more stairs than the lower difficulty ones. The boardwalks take you round the whole of the edge of the glacier so you can see it from lots of different angles.
- Boat trip
You can add this onto your guided tour if you are doing one. I really recommend it! It’s quite something to sail close to a massive wall of ice comprised of huge frozen peaks and mini ice caves. From the boat, you really get a sense of how huge the glacier is.
- Ice trekking
This is an expensive option but by all accounts an incredible experience. If you’re happy to fork out the hefty cost (it was 400,000 pesos when I went in November 2024 but seems to increase often) then you’re in for an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime experience of walking on the glacier.
Parks pass
You’ll need a parks pass for Los Glaciares National Park to visit the Perito Moreno glacier, which you can buy here. Read more about Patagonia parks passes here, along with other things I wish I had known before travelling to Patagonia.
The glacier is on the move!
Something you’ll experience with all three of the above options is hard evidence that the glacier is on the move. Particularly when you’re on the boardwalk as you’re slightly above the glacier, you can hear it creaking, groaning and cracking, as though parts of it are straining to separate themselves from the mass of ice. It’s also not unusual for (small) chunks to break off the glacier into the water, sending out a thunderous rumble and a glittering cloud of ice particles. This all makes the glacier feel alive – a force of nature, constantly moving and constantly changing.
When you’re done with the glacier, have a slice of Argentina’s famous lemon meringue pie in the visitor centre café.
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