Argentina Luxury Vacation Review: Buenos Aires, El Calafate, Ushuaia, Patagonia, Eight-Day Trip

Among the highlights were:

The Big Ice Glacier trek across the Perito Moreno glacier near El Calafate.

The Laguna de Los Tres private guided trek from El Chalten, with views of Mt. Fitz Roy.

The Laguna Torre private guided trek from El Chalten, with views of Cerro Torre.

The Glacier Vinciguerra private guided trek from Ushuaia.

I can easily recommend all of these.

Quick tips:

You need waterproof trekking boots for all of them. Crampons (strap-on) were necessary on the first and the last, which were provided by the guides. Doing these hikes in sneakers or trail shoes is ill-advised and at worst, might be unsafe.

I ate glorious steaks in Calafate, Chalten, and Ushuaia. All were wonderful. I ate a fresh Antarctic king crab ("centolla") in Ushuaia.

The biggest highlight of the trip was descending into an ice cave on the Vinciguerra Glacier from Ushuaia. The guides our travel agent arranged were all excellent: again I felt safe, well informed, and well prepared gear-wise on the advice of the guides.