At Swoop, we like to think that no one knows Patagonia better than us. Every year we send our team out across the region to experience the best of Patagonia – and that’s on top of the many members of our team who already live there, from Bariloche and Pucon in the north down to Puerto Natales in the far south.
During the recent 2023/24 season, we sent over 2200 travellers to Patagonia, as well as more than 20 members of the Swoop Patagonia team. From enjoying the springtime flowers to the first snows of winter, we visited more than 20 national parks and reserves, stayed in every type of accommodation from luxury lodge and refugios to wild camping – and hiked on more trails than we could count. We do this so that we can offer our clients the best expert knowledge and find exactly the right trip for them.
But what were our Swoopers’ personal highlights of their trips? We asked each one to pick out the one moment that stood out about their adventures around the ends of the earth.
Torres del Paine National Park
“When I worked as a guide in Torres del Paine, I hiked the W Trek and O Circuit literally dozens of times, but somehow I had never had the opportunity to do the Lazo Weber hike in the west of the park. It’s pretty gentle by local standards, through the sort of terrain we call ‘Patagonian flat’, but I loved the views across the lagoons to distant mountains, despite the wind! It was a joy to realise that a national park I know so well still had the ability to surprise me.”
– Marcela travelled on our Experience Paine’s Nature and Wildlife tour
“Hiking the W Trek during the first snows of winter felt like having our own private Patagonia. We didn’t see a single other trekker during the entire time we were out on the trail – everybody in the group was in disbelief, even our guides. The short days meant we had to hike hard every single day to complete the route, but my sore knees were a worthy price to pay for such a treat: how often do you get Patagonia’s most famous national park all to yourself?”
– Lauren travelled on our W Trek in Winter tour
“I spent six months travelling around Patagonia as a digital nomad, connecting with our local partners and all my Swoop colleagues who live in the region. It was a perfect way of connecting more closely with people and enjoying traditions that can otherwise pass you by as a traveller – after visiting Torres del Paine I even got to celebrate New Year’s Day with a friend’s family at their home in Puerto Natales. There were 20 of us together for an incredible home-cooked asado!”
– Carys spent six months in Patagonia as a digital nomad
Los Glaciares National Park
“My favourite encounter was with Lobuna, the horse I rode over several days riding from estancias in Los Glaciares National Park. Sat in my soft sheepskin saddle like a true gaucho, we happily rode together over miles, and quickly became firm friends. Her only fault was that I’ve never met a horse who disliked getting her hooves wet – we had to have a long discussion every time we had to cross a river!”
– Chloe travelled on our Riding to Hidden Glaciers trip
“For me, this year was about connecting with our partners and understanding how we can work together to protect Patagonia. It was a joy to meet up with people so passionate about their destinations. At Refugio del Glaciares I met park rangers where the money from the mountain refuge directly funds the conservation of beautiful lenga forest, while at Huemules Reserve you can already see conservation and tourism fuelling each other. It underscored how we need to move people off the busiest trails and work with new projects where people will experience the wilds of Patagonia without over burdening nature.”
– Harriet is Head of Swoop Patagonia and travelled across the region
“Climbing up to the Paso de Viento on the Huemul Circuit is a real way to test yourself. It was exhausting, and I had to concentrate hard every slow step I took over the rough moraine. But when I reached the top, the fatigue just fell away. I looked down over the entire Southern Patagonian Ice Field, a beautiful plain of ice that stretched out to a horizon of distant mountain peaks. It was an extraordinary moment.”
– Tomas travelled on our Huemul Circuit trip
“I got completely wrapped up in the laid-back atmosphere of El Chaltén. Just hanging out in a bar like Cerveceria, the entire hiking world seems to pass in front of you. Everyone had an interesting story to tell over a drink, a favourite day hike they’d just done, or a tip about the best bakery to stock up on cookies for the trail. All recounted under the watchful eye of Mount Fitz Roy high above us!”
– Cecilia travelled on our Best of Los Glaciares trip
“Travelling as a vegan is always interesting in somewhere like Argentina, but I absolutely fell in love with Puentes Amarillos Tienda Natural in El Chaltén, and the amazing boxed lunches they made up to take on day hikes, and best eaten where a glacier snakes down from a mountain into a turquoise lake. I always threw in a couple of their alfajor cookies for an extra treat, and wondered where they got their peaches from: they tasted like pure sunshine and happiness.”
– Rachel spent six months in Patagonia as a digital nomad
Aysen
“I got to reconnect with the Patagonia I remembered when I first travelled here 20 years ago. I hiked through the Leones Valley in Aysen, following a rough trail through landscape that felt like a geology textbook sprung to life. Far in front of us was the Leones glacier, with only me and my hiking companion to look at its face. It was a fabulous, wild reminder that Patagonia still has so many beautiful and unexplored glacial regions waiting to be explored.”
– David travelled on our Highlights of Aysen Road Trip
“One thing I didn’t expect on my trip was to be dodging guanacos on my way to breakfast. I was at Explora in Patagonia National Park to learn about the rewilding that’s been done there to return old ranching land back to its natural state. After years of hard work, the wildlife is prospering to the extent that guanacos would gather in the morning around the lodge to graze. It was a humbling example of what can happen when the fences come down.”
– Matt travelled on our Explore Patagonia National Park from a Luxury Lodge trip
“Trekking through Cerro Castillo National Park for four days felt like being part of the first generation of hikers discovering something new. My guide and I had been quite alone by a mountain lagoon dotted with icebergs, until we spotted a knot of hikers in the distance. We watched them for half an hour as they got closer and closer, until they finally joined us on the shore, and we all congratulated each other on our tremendous good fortune at finding new friends to share this amazing landscape with.”
– Felipe travelled on Cerro Castillo National Park Trek
Glaciers and volcanoes
“I never fail to be humbled by my encounters with glaciers. This time it was in Tierra del Fuego, in places so remote you can only visit them by boat. We hiked along the shore to some, but the zodiac cruises allowed us to get so close I felt I could touch them. Even in the sunshine, they seemed to freeze the air around us until everything was sharp and blue and clean, until we were completely wrapped up in the giant ice cliff around and above us.”
– Lujan travelled on our Cape Horn and Glaciers Cruise
“Exploring the Chilean Fjords by boat, we landed on a distant beach and followed the footprints of a huemul deer until they crossed a meltwater river. It was fed by the broken blue cliffs of the Amalia Glacier that rose up above us like frozen ramparts. This was the sort of moment I appreciated most as a hiker – it was easy to walk to a spot where I felt like I had the entire glacier to yourself and truly enjoy how remote I was from civilization.”
– Nico travelled on our Southern Patagonia Glaciers Cruise
“On a side trip to the Atacama Desert, I climbed Cerro Toco, a long-dormant volcano in a dry landscape that looks like the surface of Mars – if Mars got the occasional fall of snow. High above the desert, I could look over the border to Laguna Verde in Bolivia. A few years earlier I had been there, gazing up at the peak of the volcano and wondering what the view would be like. It was well worth the wait to find out.”
– Sydney travelled on our Explore Atacama from a Luxury Lodge trip
A taste of luxury
“I took a surprise boat excursion from Melimoyu Lodge in northern Aysen, close to the Chilean Lake District. We took a boat across a narrow lake then followed a trail up through a forest until we reached a private hot spring by a rushing river. That I had expected, but I didn’t know the lodge’s chef would be waiting for me with a pisco sour in his hand. He cooked a three course lunch for me on the spot, then I spent a happy hour relaxing in the volcanic waters. It was a genuine slice of luxury, served up far off the beaten track.”
– Iain stayed at Rio Palena lodge
“One morning I sat out by Lago Ranco in the Chilean Lake District. The water was like a mirror, with the mountains and low clouds forming perfect reflections. The trees and ferns were dripping with dew. I listened to the birds and the gentle lap of water and the entire buzz of the modern world just fell away. It was a quiet reminder that we’re nothing in comparison to the nature that’s around us, and we always need to take time to reconnect with something bigger than ourselves.”
– Melinda stayed at Futangue Hotel
“I took a private boat trip out to French Valley in Torres del Paine, to a fantastic hike through the forest to the Italian viewpoint looking out over a glacier. Everything was red and gold with autumn colours, offering a wild contrast against granite grey mountains and steel blue ice. Having our own boat meant we could get back to the lodge super quickly – there was even some time to enjoy the spa before dinner!”
– Augustín travelled on our Explore Torres del Paine from a Luxury Lodge
Wildlife encounters
“I was sailing through Glacier Alley in Tierra del Fuego and our ship became absolutely surrounded by humpback whales. They were all spouting great plumes of vapour until it felt like there was nothing but all ice and humpbacks. I lost count of how many we saw. We’d constantly run from one side of the deck to the other to try to take it all in, it was just such an amazing moment of joy between this small group of us on the top deck of the ship.”
– Danny travelled on our Wildlife, Glaciers and Cape Horn Cruise
“We were driving back from Glacier Grey to our lodge in Torres del Paine, when our guide suddenly stopped the car. There were two photographers at the side of the road, and in front of them a puma silently padded out of the brush. It was 20 metres away, and completely oblivious to how spellbound we were by its presence. I’m not sure how long it stayed before wandering off – a minute or an eternity, possibly – but I’m pretty sure I held my breath the entire time.”
– Hayley travelled on our Torres del Paine Luxury Adventure Retreat
“We were driving down the Carretera Austral highway in Aysen when I saw movement in some bushes near the road. Quietly pulling over, we saw a huemul deer walk out carefully pick its way through the scrub. It was followed by another and another until there were more than a dozen in front of us. You can go hiking in prime huemul deer country and barely see a hoof print, but here on this remote road, they happily grazed around us before moving on and blending back into the landscape.”
– Burnham travelled on our Gentle Adventure in Aysen trip
“Watching southern right whales with their calves was a magical moment in Peninsula Valdes. Although the boats have strict guidelines about how close they can approach the whales, no one seems to have told the whales the rules. One swan right up to us and under our boat as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Perhaps it was for them, but for those of us on board it was truly a sublime moment to be so close to these extraordinary creatures.”
– Peter travelled on our Best of Peninsula Valdes trip
Collectively at Swoop, we’ve now logged hundreds of trips around Patagonia. We can’t wait to add to that tally in the next season – and help you find your perfect Patagonia adventure along the way.
*
