A first-timer's guide
Perito Moreno Mini-Trekking, step by step
Pickup from 8:30am, a boat across Brazo Rico, crampons, about an hour on the ice, whisky over glacier ice, then the boardwalks — here's the whole day, in order.
See Perito Moreno trekking tickets on GetYourGuide ↗The day in order
| Before the ice | On the ice | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | Pickup, drive, boat crossing | Crampons, the walk, the whisky |
| Time | Roughly 8:30am to 11:15am | About 1 hour, from ~11:30am |
| Where | El Calafate → Bajo de las Sombras → Brazo Rico | The glacier's edge, south face |
| After | — | Boardwalks (transport option), then the drive back |
| Total | About 10 hours door to door | About 10 hours door to door |
It starts with a hotel pickup after breakfast
Pickup from your hotel's front desk starts from about 8:30am, and the route can take up to 45 minutes depending on where you're staying; from there it's roughly an hour and a half by bus along Provincial Route 11 to the port of Bajo de las Sombras, at kilometre 70.9. There's no town at the port — it exists for one reason, which is the boat crossing that follows. Have your layers, your bag and your food for the day ready the night before rather than working it out over breakfast.
Twenty minutes across Brazo Rico
Brazo Rico is the arm of Lake Argentino that the glacier's south face empties directly into, and the crossing to reach the far shore takes about twenty minutes. This is usually the first point in the day where the ice front stops being a photo you've seen before and starts being the thing in front of you — the water is often scattered with smaller pieces that have calved off the wall, which gives a sense of scale before you've even landed.
Crampons, and a short talk before you step on the ice
On the far shore, a mountain guide leads a short walk from the boat and talks through some of the glacier's geology — how it's fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, why it behaves differently from most retreating glaciers worldwide — before fitting crampons over your own boots and handing out helmets. This is also where the group is split and paced, since Mini-Trekking groups move together rather than at an individual pace.
An hour among crevasses, seracs and the whisky
The walk itself covers around an hour on the ice near the glacier's edge, weaving between crevasses, small melt-water lagoons and seracs, with the guide choosing the route as conditions change day to day — this isn't a fixed path. The trek also brings the tour's best-known moment: a toast of whisky poured over glacier ice. Afterwards the group crosses the moraine and walks back through Magellanic forest, about three hours on foot in all, and there's a hot drink and a small souvenir before the boat. Meals are not included, so bring food and drinks from El Calafate rather than counting on buying them on the way.
The boardwalks close the day
The group crosses back over Brazo Rico by boat, and the bus continues on to the park's own viewing walkways — a separate system of boardwalks and balconies that every Perito Moreno visitor uses, not just the trekking groups. The boardwalk visit comes with the transport option, before the drive back to El Calafate, arriving in the early evening. It's a long day by the numbers, but the ice-walking part is over by lunchtime; the rest is transit and the view most people came for in the first place.
What catches first-timers out
Three things trip people up more than anything else on this specific day. First, the national park entrance fee is not in your GetYourGuide price and needs a separate card or cash payment at the gate — easy to forget when you've already paid for the tour itself. Second, meals are not part of the tour, so food and drinks for the day need to be in your bag before the pickup, not bought on the way. Third, the hour on the ice is paced as a group rather than at your own speed, so it suits someone comfortable keeping up with guided instructions more than someone wanting to linger and photograph every crevasse. None of these are reasons to skip the tour — they're just worth knowing before the bus picks you up, rather than discovering them at Bajo de las Sombras.
What to bring for the day itself
Pack light but deliberately: sunglasses (glacier glare is real even on overcast days), sunscreen, a reusable water bottle, and a small daypack rather than a full backpack, since you'll be carrying it through the boat crossing and the ice walk both. A camera or phone with a full battery and some spare storage is worth the extra weight — most people take more photos on this day than almost anywhere else on a Patagonia trip, between the boat approach, the ice itself and the boardwalks afterward. Cash in small denominations covers the park entrance fee and any incidentals at the port or boardwalk kiosks, since card acceptance in a remote national park setting shouldn't be assumed.