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| Atacama, Colca & Macchu Picchu Adventure | Los Lagos Self-Guided Adventure |
I’ve always wanted to ride across Patagonia and the tour was even better than I expected – I’ve also ridden in Alaska and South Africa and this was the best riding I’ve ever had.
John Burridge, UK, 2008
Onward to the end of the Earth! Our Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego tour will really hit the spot with the adventurer inside you. The magnificent mountain scenery of the Andes, the vast emptiness of Patagonia  and the volcanic starkness of the ‘Land of Fire’. Couple this with the cultural diversity of the region and the loc al knowledge our Chilean tour guides bring, and this is one winter holiday you won’t forget in a hurry. This tour really hits the spot – open roads, twisty bits, great scenery, no golf courses, lots of different experiences en route.
Highlights
- Ventisquera Seno
- Torres del Paine
- Ruta 40
- Bories
- Pampa Guanaco
All trips to Chile are temporarily suspended.
Itinerary
Day 1 Depart UK.
Day 2 Arrive Osorno. We will meet you at the airport and transfer you to our hotel, where you will meet the team and your fellow riders at our Welcome Dinner. Overnight Osorno.
Day 3 Osorno – Bariloche (250 - 320 km). After collecting our motorcycles, we leave Osorno, crossing the mighty Andes via Puyehue Pass, with views of recently active volcanoes. We drop down into Argentina and the town of Villa la Angostura, then ride along the edge of beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi, with its cold, clear, waters which reach depths of more than 500 m in some places, surrounded by forests of native cypresses and coihues. We soon turn south and pass the Limay River and the site of the general store where the American bandit Butch Cassidy used to take on supplies. From there it is short run into Bariloche, where we will spend the first night, in this world-famous resort city at the edge of Nahuel Huapi.
Day 4 Bariloche – Esquel (310-330 km incl. 45 km gravel). After breakfast we leave Bariloche and head for Esquel, 310 km south. This takes us along the edge of the mountain lakes of Mascardi, Guillermo, and Gutierrez, surrounded by high peaks and forests. We will stop in the town of El Bolsón for lunch. Then it is on to Esquel, a small and cozy city founded by the Welsh in the 19th century, where we’ll enjoy a great meal and a good sleep.
Day 5 Esquel – Puyuhuapi (200 km gravel). Breakfast in Esquel, and hit the road. 45 km to the south we reach the edge of the Ventisquero Seno. The ride up Queulat Mountain is one of great twisting roads and excellent road surfaces. It offers spectacular views to the glacier and native forest, and the 30 m high Father García waterfall. Puyuhuapi Thermal Spa is located in a sheltered cove with abundant vegetation, at the mouth of the streams flowing down Melimoyu mountain range. Thermal waters gush forth at different points along the beach with water at close to 50°C forming two pools. Overnight in Puyuhuapi.
Day 6 Puyuhuapi – Coyhaique (200 km incl. 100 km gravel). After breakfast we ride to Puerto Aisén and Puerto Chacabuco, and then on to the Simpson River National Reserve, 41,000 ha in size with a small museum of flora and fauna, an arboretum and a large lenga trunk with its ring dated between 1578 and 1970, as old as Chile itself! Our ride continues to Lake Los Palos in the Colonos Valley and Lago Riesco. Overnight in Coyhaique.
Day 7 Coyhaique – Los Antiquos (300 km incl. 200 gravel). Today we go to Argentina again to the small village of Los Antiguos, and our accommodation the Estancia Telken, very beautiful place. The rest of the day is a chance to relax before tomorrow’s ride.... the famous ruta 40, the Carretera Australconsidered one of the five most unforgettable short rides in the World by author and biker Mike Carter.
Day 8 Los Antiquos – Bajo Caracoles (330 km all gravel / dirt). Today we get serious about our riding, because we have 330 km of gravel and mixed gravel and dirt. This is the Patagonia you have heard about, the very picture of emptiness and desolation. You can ride for several hours and not see so much as a fence. It is a land where you can expect to see wild animals such as guanacos, Darwin’s rheas (similar to ostriches) and at least one type of armadillo. We pass the outpost settlement of Bajo Caracoles and finally reach the remote ranch where we will stay, at the Estancia La Angostura. This is an authentic rustic Chilean Ranch, a true "estancia", complete with working "gauchos" and dinner cooked over an open fire und enjoyed under a huge star filled sky. Accommodations here are more basic, all part of the authentic Patagonian experience!
 Day 9 Bajo Caroles – Calafate (300 km incl. 200 km gravel). We continue on for another 200 km of gravel riding, past more estancias and the mighty Santa Cruz River, which drains Lake Argentina. Then we reach tarmac again, for a short ride into the town of Calafate, our overnight stop.
Day 10 Calafate (160 km incl. 40 km gravel). This is mostly a quiet day, a day to recover from the gruelling days of dust and gravel in the outback. But don’t lay back so much that you miss our tour of the Perito Moreno glacier, which is one of the most spectacular sights in all of Patagonia. At day’s end we return to Calafate and get a good sleep.
Day 11 Calafate – Cerro Castillo (240 km incl. 70 km gravel). We leave Calafate for a look at the Grey glacier, spilling off the immense Southern Patagonian Ice Field in Torres del Paine National Park. The it’s on to Laguna Azul (Blue Lake), Salto Chico (falls), Condor Lookout, and a half-hour hike to the lookout over the lake and the amazing Cuernos, or "horns" of the Paine Massif. Then a stop for a possible close-up view of the wild guanacos, and the lookout point for the famous Torres, or "towers" of Paine, followed by a short trip to Cerro Guido and the Baguales mountains. For dinner, a traditional gaucho-style barbecue known as "asado al palo" at an estancia (ranch). Overnight in a comfortable hostería in Cerro Castillo.
Day 12 Cerro Castillo – Bories (200 km all gravel). We head out of Cerro Castillo followed by a ride through breathtaking scenery along Lago del Toro, to the Puente Negro (Black Bridge) over the Serrano River, and a splendid view of the Paine Massif. Then we continue along the Eberhard Fjord to the old port and sheep processing centre at Bories, now a Chilean National monument. Our overnight hotel is a real gem, on the road to Torres del Paine.
Day 13 Bories – Cerro Sombrero (450 km). We pass old estancias before we cross the Estrecho de Magallanes by ferry to our overnight stop in Cerro Sombrero.
Day 14 Cerro Sombrero – Ushaia (550 km incl. 120 km gravel). Leaving Río Grande we head for Ushuaia on a paved road. Near Tolhuin the gravel starts again as we head along Lake Fagnano and up into the spectacular Darwin Range, and over Garabaldi Pass down to Ushuaia for dinner and our lodging for the night.
Day 15 Ushaia (free day). We follow the road right to the end, at Bahía Lapataia in the National Park. If you want to go further you’ll get very wet! We then visit the old jail in Ushaia, now a museum.
Day 16 Ushaia – Cerro Sombrero (550 km incl. 20 km gravel). A day to explore Tierra del Fuego. We leave Ushuaia early, for the start of a long and interesting day. Gas up in Tolhuin or Río Grande and then we head across Tierra de Fuego on dirt and gravel roads rarely taken by motorcycle riders, following the “route of estancias and guanacos.” We have to ford a shallow river as we leave Argentina at Radman and head for the Chilean side of the island. Then we pass “Pampa Guanaco”, an area famous for its guanacos, which should offer some good photo opportunities. The final section takes us back to Cerro Sombrero, where we spend the night.
Day 17 Cerro Sombrero – Punta Arenas (250 km incl. 80 km gravel). On the way to Punta Arenas we will visit the penguin colony, 20 km before our destination. Here we will have our last dinner together!
Day 18 Depart Punta Arenas. We will transfer you to the airport for your long journey home.
Day 19 Arrive UK.
Total distance c. 4000 km
Ready to book? Please click here
Price includes: 15 days motorcycle hire including Chilean and Argentine liability insurance (optional CDW insurance available locally, US$100); tri-lingual guides (German, Spanish, English); satellite phone; support vehicle; 16 nights’ accommodation in comfortable hosterías, ranches (estancias, with simple accommodation) and hotels, with breakfast included; fuel; hard panniers, tank bag, windshield and 60 l pack; maps; National Park entrance fees for Torres del Paine, Perito Moreno and Bahia Lapataia; paperwork for all border crossings; Punta Delgada ferry; domestic flights; airport transfers; welcome and farewell dinners; biker’s rucsac.
Price excludes: Meals not mentioned above. Flights - allow c. £800-900 - and travel insurance, which can be arranged by H-C Travel at time of booking.
Any questions? Please click here
Some experience of riding on gravel roads, or offroad, is required.
| Atacama, Colca & Macchu Picchu Adventure | Los Lagos Self-Guided Adventure |
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