February Reviews

The highlight was the scenery at the Torres del Paine. The walks were excellent, as were the guides. The group we were with worked very well and we got on extremely well. The EcoLodge was great fun to stay at. The food, accommodation and Service were excellent.

Seeing Torres Del Paine for the first time was the highlight. Scenery was incredible and our guide, Ben, at Chile Nativo really enhanced the trip.

Highlight - Seeing humpack whale breaching. Viewing Maellanic penguins from the boat. Landscapes / wildlife - Gorgeous. Otherworldly. People - interesting, friendly. Don't have grandchildren. But if I did, I think I'd tell them about the penguins. Surprises - I was surprised that we actually got to see a whale breaching.

Trip was AMAZING! Our guide, Pablo was incredible, and are group was wonderful. One of the best trips I've ever taken!

My highlight was going over the John garner pass. I knew there was going to be a huge glacier but there is nothing to prepare you for that view over the top.

The landscape with vast open spaces, snow capped mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, shrubs with edible berries, delicious food and wine and world class hiking and horse riding. The light was very different to the light in Australia which allowed for excellent photographic opportunities. The wildlife was great. We saw an armadillo, but alas, no puma. I lost count of the number of condors and we saw many other animals including skunks, foxes, guanacos, rheas and domestic animals such as horses, sheep and cattle. We met no locals but the staff at the hotels and lodges were all delightful.

I loved the penguins excursion to Ila Magdalena and the magnificent landscapes in Torres del Paine. I hope it will still be there for my grand-children. People were nice and courteous and we had the wonderful surprise to have good weather every day!

Antarctica was amazing.

Kayaking Serono River was amazing. I've never been so close to a glacier while on the water. Saw so many animals -- rhea, puma, penguins.... I liked that fellow travelers had selected Patagonia as a destination -- no one was just 'passing through'.

So many highlights! El Chalten was the first area we explored and our first hike was to Mt Fitzroy as the weather was beautiful that day. A very special time sitting in front of the lake looking at the granite spires after a hard scramble to the top. Another favourite hike was Loma del Pliegue Tumbardo with it snowing at the top! Also Puerto Moreno Glacier seeing carvings, the Petrified Forest at Leona, the W trek and whale watching with a very knowledgeable guide on the 'Forrest' boat. Probably the best weeks scenery was the Carretera Austral and surviving the gravel roads! This area should be recommended more although the beauty was fewer people! I think it will take a while to fully appreciate all we saw.

The highlight was definitely the landscape and scenery. It is a well preserved area, away from human's craziness. The people in the Park were very nice and helpful.

Overall, Not only I could see a lot of great landscapes but also, I enjoyed sharing time with other members of group tour coming from variety of countries and having nice local foods like ram and nice local wines. Staying in Refugio was the most impressive things for me. There I could totally keep myself out of my works, e-mail and smart phone etc. And by guides and other group members I could complete over 100km hiking for sure.

What awed me the most has been the stunning, sheer beauty of the mountains, besides the wonderful landscapes and the infinite open range horizons. Also, the wildlife is amazing, we got to spot a puma, too (and condors, caracals, llama, guanacos, red and grey foxes...). I’ll teach my grandchdren the respect for such a special, unique place like Patagonia.

Torres del Paine as wonderful as always ,landscape amazing met interesting people Patagonia camp excellent although for serious hiking I think Eco camp are better

Nice, well-assorted group

The trip was just grand,

There were many highlights, some via Swoop's efforts and others through our individually arranged trips. Landscapes are amazing, thank goodness my husband was driving on the lengthy trips. Wildlife at Iguazu was fantastic, from the coati's; monkeys, beautiful butterflies, tree snake (not my favourite). We met some really lovely people; were really impressed by the police & security in Buenos Aires and the cleanliness of the city. What to tell the grandchildren - it's hard to know where to stop, but I think the waterfalls on the Argentinian side at Iguazu were really spectacular. The main surprises were the bike racks on the BA trains - so efficient and space saving; the clear and simple directions when taking transport in Buenos Aires, particularly the lit up sign boards inside the train carriages ; the transport & tourist police - again not seen in London & very reassuring; the cleanliness of Buenos Aires.

Ecocamp was a unique experience. We enjoyed it and would love to stay there again

If you like hiking (or the outdoors in general) and wine, Chile is one of the best places on the planet to visit. Landscapes remind me of the Montana nickname - Big Sky Country. Wildlife was more abundant and more accessible than we expected. People were friendly and helpful. Didn't really go in with specific expectations, so we really were not "surprised" by anything. I/we learned much more detail about the society and the original European settlers than we knew. I had no idea that Croatians migrated in some numbers to the area - like my ancestors (Rick).

Highlight was our stay at Eolo Hotel in El Calafate and our gorgeous hikes in El Chalten to Laguna de los Tres and Laguna Torre.