Reuthers
Patagonia / South America
Guided Photo Tour

Welcome to Santiago, the capital and largest city of the South American state of Chile. The transfer from the airport to our tour hotel takes you to the traditional welcome dinner and briefing in the evening. Anyone participating in the "Best of Santiago" day tour will arrive one day earlier.

Early in the morning we will start our South America adventure with an excursion to the Chilean port city Valparaiso, which is known for its steep cable cars and hills with colorful houses. Among other things, our destination is the lookout balcony of the city, Paseo 21 de Mayo.

Today we take it easy and travel via Casablanca and Ruta 66 to Colchagua Valley, the wine region around Santa Cruz. After checking in at the hotel and an informative tour of the winery, there is of course a wine tasting with premium wines.

On the legendary Pan Americana we will travel as quickly as possible towards Patagonia to Temuco, once the settlement area of the Mapuche Indians, center of the German-Chileans and capital of the Region de la Araucania. On the left the Andes, the mountain ridge as a border to Argentina, and on the right the Pacific - with this view photographers dreams come true...

We arrive in Patagonia on our photo tour - in time for the photo stop overlooking Lake Villarrica and the active volcano Villarrica (2840 m high) which lies south of the lake. Our route leads us along the lake to the other side, to the small town of Pucon. A lonely mountain road will take us up to the Andes to the border crossing to Argentina. Wild mountain rivers and the 3747 m high volcano Lanin offer us breathtaking nature pictures. In San Martin de los Andes we will stay the night at the foot of the Andes.

This day is dedicated to a whole series of mountain lakes where we will travel along in solitary wilderness. Highlight is the Lake Nahuel Huapi, the source lake of the Rio Limay. In the Mapuche language, its name means "Island of the Jaguar". The lake is located near San Carlos de Bariloche and has an area of 531 km² with a maximum depth of 460 m. The volcano Puyehue, 2236 m high, east of the Puyehue National Park, rises above everything. German beer and German hospitality await us in an Andean valley in the south of Argentina, in El Bolson, which used to be a hippie center. By the way, in El Bolson stray dogs of different breeds cross the traffic light regularly when it is green...

We continue travelling along the legendary Ruta 40 in Argentina, this time with the Andes on the right. The fascinating endless expanses of Argentina are much like the west of the USA. Those who love the open spaces in the USA will be thrilled by the expansiveness of Argentina. After we crossed the border to Chile, we immediately head for our accommodation in Futaleufu. The place was named after the crystal blue river Futaleufu, which is considered to be one of the best white-water rafting rivers in the world.

The Chilean Ruta 7, also called Carretera Austral, is one of the most beautiful routes in the world! Jungle and fog-cloaked fjords adorn the gravel road. We will stay overnight in the Puyuhuapi Lodge, which can only be accessed by boat. In the solitude there is neither mobile communication nor Wi-Fi - instead you will find the Termas Puyuhuapi to relax.

Today is at your own disposal. If you wish, you can enjoy the thermal springs, massages or a canoe trip on the Puyuhuapi Fjord, a small fjord just across from the Ventisquero Sound.

We then continue our photo tour on the Carretera Austral and arrive in Coihaique, capital of the Aysen region. In Patagonia you can literally use the popular motto "The Route is the Destination".

Again, we cross a border pass to Argentina and set up camp in Perito Moreno, also known as Lago Buenos Aires. The name Perito Moreno comes from the Argentine geographer and anthropologist Francisco Pascasio Moreno. The city and the famous glacier were named after him in his honor.

Today we can enjoy an open road which is familiar to us through our USA tours and which is typical for the Ruta 40 in the Argentinean part of Patagonia. In the middle of this secluded area there is only one place to stay overnight...

The second stage of the seemingly endless Ruta 40 finally takes us to El Calafate. The village is located in the Argentinian province of Santa Cruz, near the South Patagonian ice field. El Calafate is best known as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park with the huge Perito Moreno glacier.

Today there is a top highlight on the program of our Patagonia photo tour: The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the largest outlet glaciers of the Campo de Hielo Sur, the largest glacier area of the South American Andes. In a comfortable bus we will drive to the National Park Los Glaciares, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and take a boat tour and a hike directly to the glacier. The Perito Moreno Glacier is the size of the city of Buenos Aires and with a bit of luck we might witness how a piece of ice breaks off from the glacier front with a loud roar and then drops into the Lago Argentino.

Via La Esperanza we continue travelling along the Argentinean Ruta 40 to the border crossing to Chile and then directly into the Torres del Paine National Park, where our overnight stay is planned at Lago Grey, near the glacier.

A popular viewpoint and photo highlight is the Condor Lookout, which we will reach after a short hike. Up here we have an amazing view of the Torres del Paine, three needle-like granite mountains, which are between 2600 and 2850 m high and are the landmark of the National Park. We are sure to see the Andean condor circling directly below us, a species of bird that is one of the New World vultures and nests on the lookout of the same name.

We leave the National Park, pass Puerto Natales and finally reach Punta Arenas, an important port on the Strait of Magellan.

Early in the morning we start our Patagonia adventure to the end of the world on the road with the same name, the Ruta del Fin del Mundo. With the ferry we will cross the legendary Strait of Magellan and at San Fernando the border to Argentina. Our overnight stay is in Rio Grande, largest city of the island Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America and capital of the departamento of the same name in the Argentinian province Tierra del Fuego.

Around noon we reach the southernmost city of the world, Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego and called the "end of the world". Here, at the entrance to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park, numerous highlights await us, which is why we are staying for two nights.

For today we recommend optional excursions. On the one hand a boat trip on the Beagle Canal with course to the Bird Island, Sea Lion Island, the lighthouse Faro Les Eclaireurs and finally to the penguin colony on Martillo Island, where you can walk amongst the penguins. As a second option we suggest a ride on the End of The World Train, which will take you to the National Park Tierra del Fuego and then take you on a round trip by bus. Both and other highlights in Ushuaia must be booked immediately, as the capacities in this part of the world are limited all year round.

In the early afternoon we leave Ushuaia. Experience has shown that many people will come back soon, because they are eager to visit such locations again. Today we return to Rio Grande and enjoy travelling through mountain passes and popular ski resorts.

Just as we arrived, we will return, but this time we first cross the border into Chile and then take the ferry across the Strait of Magellan. From the end of the world we return to civilization, to Punta Arenas. In the evening our traditional Farewell Dinner takes place, where we will review our shared photo tour through Patagonia once again...