Originally Posted by
philip0
Appreciate the tip(s). Two additional questions for you.
I finally realized the Walichu caves are actually "reproductions" by a private landowner to "provide tourists of the experience of seeing what a cave painting might have looked like", so of course that was one day-trip crossed off my list.
Do you think Torres del Paine is worth doing if we only have a single day for it? Under present itinerary we have 6 nights in El Chalten; 2 nights in El Calafate before flying to Ushuaia; and then 5 nights in Ushuaia before the flight back to BsAs. The flight to Ushuaia and hotel there can be changed or refunded: so would you recommend trading time in Ushuaia for a trip to TDP?
We're already committed to at least three full day trail hikes in El Chalten, the guided Viedma glacier boating / hiking tour everyone raves about, and spending one of our days in El Calafate seeing Perito Moreno {whether on the footbridges or hiking tour is TBD}. I could probably cancel the FTE->USH plane tickets and get to Ushuaia by bus if we make a detour to TDP from Calafate, this is something we considered but sounded hectic. I think we're also having trouble getting excited about these long bus rides given a preexisting bias against that mode of transportation. Thanks for your feedback.
Agreed with TDP worthy of a visit.
Our bus group tour that took ~12 hours. The bulk of time was spent through immigration and driving. Stopped at ~6 vista points for ~10 minutes each (barely enough time to shoot with a tripod), coupled with a ~1.5 mile easy hike. IOW, the good stuff accounted for ~20% of the time. The scenes were breath taking stunning, far more than what we saw on our very short hikes in Argentina.
With additional time and cost, TDP should really be appreciated by renting a car and staying in the park for a night or two. The drive is long, but on good roads. Our driver took a shorter route including a short stretch of dirt road which does not require a SUV. We saw a small group went there in a taxi!!! Serious.