We did the Minitrek. At first sceptic that it was worth the price. However we were so happy we did it. We loved walking on the glaciers, touching it, eating the ice. Drinking the water pools and waterfalls on the glacier was delicious. The colours are amazing blue, so bright and so blue. It was really hard to imagine ice could be this colour. The guides are nice, helpful and know alot of information that was great. We finished with a chocolate alphahores and a glass of whiskey.
Delicious!
Travel from Buenos Aires to El Calafate is only via Rio Gallagos. THe trip is 44 hours long in total with a change bus at Rio Gallagos. THe cheapest bus is with Pengino and the nicest is Villa Tack. 305-450 pesos per person.
El Calafate is a pretty town which is built with great amenities for tourists. It is pleasant and well organised and so can be a bit more expensive. Once here you can do many tours to the glaciers close by, you have many options depending on your budget. You can also go to El Chalten where you can visit more glacier (cheaper to do the tours here) and go on to Fitz Roy mountains for some good trekking.
Between 7am-7pm the National Park for the glaciers is open. Price is 40 Pesos per person for foreigners. If you go eariler or later you can enter the park for free. There is no legal camping at the park though.
Simple day trip to the glacier is 60 pesos on the bus return. Boat ride along side the glacier is 35 pesos each. Mini trek (boat ride, walking on the ice for 3 hours) is 310 pesos each - with a great finish of whisky on ice. BIGtrek is 450 pesos each (which is 8 hours on the ice trek).
