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Buenos Aires is just the beginning of a journey south where glaciers crash and mountains rise

Vast glaciers, fathomless crevasses and thundering rivers await adventurers travelling in the wake of naturalist Charles Darwin on Saga’s new holiday Patagonia – A Tour to The Ends of the Earth.

During the 14-night tour, which starts and ends in Buenos Aires, guests travel to Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego and the southern-most city in the world.

For a perfect view of Mother Nature’s splendour guests take a half-day cruise along the Beagle Channel, named after the ship which carried Darwin on his five-year voyage around the tip of South America.

Views from the water include the peaks of Mount Olivia and Mount Escarpado, the opportunity to get up close to colonies of sea lions and chaotic rookeries of Imperial cormorants, as well as the Perito Moreno ‘White Giant’ glacier where great chunks of ice dramatically crash into Lago Argentino.

Ushuaia’s four-star Los Acebos Hotel, in a forest above the city, offers more staggering views of the Andes and makes the perfect base for adventurous trekking and watching for wonderful wildlife.

A flight to El Calafate for a two-night stay at the four-star Posada Los Alamos Hotel. Just a stone’s throw from Argentina’s third largest lake, the hotel is close to the wildlife-rich Laguna Nimez reserve while the town’s tree-lined streets and manicured gardens provide an oasis of civility in the wilderness of Patagonia.

In the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, travel through the Patagonia steppe and Andean forests before walking along of Perito Moreno glacier’s raised walkways which offer access to this majestic ice flow and perhaps glimpse a heart-stopping ice fall.

Cruise across Lake Rico to slip between icebergs and drift past its 180ft cornflower blue head wall. The tour continues to the four-star Rio Serrano Hotel in Cerro Castillo is in sight of the sheer granite needles of Torres del Paine, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. From here excursions range from a half-day horseback ride to the Nutria River, a trek to the frontal moraine of the Torres Glacier, lake cruises and cycle rides.

A transfer to Puerto Natales and the three star-plus Costaustralis Hotel on the shores of the Fjord of Last Hope offers more panoramic views of the Patagonian Andes. Once a sleepy fishing village, Puerto Natales’ corrugated iron bungalows and brightly coloured clapboard dwellings now house outdoor shops and trendy rustic restaurants.

A 31-mile cruise to glaciers in the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park is also on the itinerary, taking in the Última Esperanza fjord, an area of outstanding natural beauty and home to colonies of seals, more cormorants and pods of whales.

The adventure begins and ends with city life in Buenos Aires – plus the option of two extra nights in the Argentinian capital. A guided tour gives guests an insight into the lighter and darker history of the country, with the streets reverberating to the sound of tango, the Plaza de Mayo acting as a focal point for processions remembering ‘the disappeared’ victims of the brutal military regimes of the 1970s and 80s, and the lavish mausoleums of Recoleta making it arguably the world’s most ostentatious cemetery.

Guests can also tag on a post extension to discover the natural beauty and key historic sites of the fjord lands of Tierra del Fuego aboard the luxury small ship MV Ventus Australis. This 4-night cruise of a lifetime provides unrivalled access to wildlife-rich Ainsworth Bay, Pia Glacier, Glacier Alley, Wulaia Bay and Cape Horn, following in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and Captain Fitzroy and the regions lost indigenous people.

14 nights from £3,999 per person, departing on April 1, September 28 and October 28, 2019 from London Gatwick to Buenos Aires with Norwegian Airlines. Price includes VIP door-to-door chauffeur service, return flights, airport taxes, accommodation, 12 breakfasts, six lunches and five dinners, porterage, tour manager, optional travel insurance and additional cancellation rights, or a discount if passenger has own insurance. 

Price is £s per person based on two people sharing on Apr 1, 2019 departure.

For details call free on 0800 056 0464 or visit travel.saga.co.uk/south-america

Editors:

Saga has created four ‘Time to’ holiday styles: Go for it, Stay & Explore, Discover and Unwind. Each style helps guests decide on a holiday that feels right for them. Patagonia – A Tour to the Ends of the Earth is Go For It (Pace 1).

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