Can I travel around Patagonia without a guide or tour? Not hike or off beaten track. I am fit 71 year young.?

Question

I have a reservation to cruise Antarctica from Argentina and return. I want to see what Patagonia looks like, but guided tours are very expensive. I bought guide books and maps and it looks like I can travel around easily by rental car or by local buses and airliness. This is in mid-Dec. beginning of summer there. Have frequent flyer miles from USA by way of Santiagoc Chile or Buenos Aires, Arg. I do not want hosteling, trekking, sharing rooms, camping. I speak pretty good Spanish & was in north of Argentina 35 years ago, driving an American car alone. No problems. If you have done this or read and heard stories about it, let me know what you think, but tell me your expertise. Lets say I have $3000 on the high end and $1000 on the low ended. I really prefer an escorted tour w/o a lot of hiking, but they are really expensive . Thanks

Answer 1

I have traveled around Patagonia alone by bus. When it is summer there you have the opportunity to meet other lone travelers especially from Europe, Canada, and Australia and more and more from Japan doing the same. Being you know enough Spanish you should not have much problem.

Answer 2

I don't think it will be dangerous, the thing is that I've never gone alone to the Patagonia. I've travelled with friends, with a guide and stuff. What I can recommend you is to find tourism students, they are cheap to show you around, safe and very excited to help people. You can ask about them in San Carlos de Bariloche (Bariloche, between Rio ***** and Neuquen).

The Patagonia is really safe, no comparison to Buenos Aires at all, and I think you'll be fine. Just be sure to have all the equipment you need, and it will be safe to have credit card or something like that instead of money. But that's a rule everywhere.

Answer 3

I'm Argentinean living here.

Yes you can do it with no guide person! Maps and guide books also Internet are good choise. Take buses "Coche Cama" (bed bus) "Ejecutivo/Suit". Buses links all the mayor cities in Argentina in daly or more trips.

I can recomend you after Ushuaia go then to Bariloche in bus.

-Stay and enjoy all that you can of Bariloche because it is the best of the south of Argentina. Take city tour (u$s 10), the "Cau Cau" tour to Victoria Island (u$s 25), and the 7 lakes tour (u$s 35). Don't miss Cerro Tronador, a coffee at Llao Llao hotel (go in local bus (calles colectivo)), a Fondeu in "La Alpina" and dance in a night Club! Eat chocolat as much as you can.

-Ushuaia has the pinguins and ice and Perito Moreno glaciar.

-Then go to Mendoza city in bus and see General San Martin Park, Termas del Cacheuta (must go to there only u$s 10 to 30 do hot wather hotel day spa, other day do water park) and do a city tour with winery (with wine taste u$s 15 to 20). Drink all the wine you can!, visit the Aconcagua... and go around. There are special tours just for taste different wines.

-From here you can go by plane (because it is cheap compare bus cama (cama measn bed but also refers to 1st class) to regular flight and only u$s25 difference) to Cordoba city. Visit the land marks, antics zone, the biggest pedestrians streets ever, and please go to "Valle del Punilla".

-If you can and have time please go to see Iguazu Falls in Misiones ( U$S100 from Cordoba). It is a Must see wonder of nature much bigger than Niagara falls. In misiones there are also Jesuitics ruins and semi-precious mines.

- Return to Bs. As. (U$S 100 flight max) see some tango show, eat at Puerto Madero, visit Recoleta Cementery (great city of the deaths), Japanese Garden (japan in Bs.As.), Obelisk, The Tigre, San Isidro (don't miss the Tren de la Costa) and Delta are great places. Shopping Abasto and Abasto area. Use sub-way to go around city. Better than a car or Taxi in rush hours and extremely cheap. Many atractions are closer to a subway station. Walk over Santa Fe street and Corrientes Avenue and look at the buildings (Don't miss "Edificio de Aguas Argentinas").

-Then flight to Usuahia again.

Rent a car is expensive. I wont recomend you that. Walking is better to go around the city.  Take a taxi they are cheap for only $4 to $9 (U$S) you can go to any corner of a city. Plan the places you want to see the most.

In the bust station or the airport you can ask for the latest maps and new events to see at Tourist office/corner. Ask for list of hotels. Call and make the reservation just right there! It is safe and ok.Choose 3 star hotels. Cheap & convenient and adapted for American taste. Don't let they put you in the most expensive. You'll be sightseen more than anything. At hotel ask for places they could recomend you and trips. If you stay at an expensive hotel 4 or 5 stars... they will recomend you the most expensive tours. That's why I recomend you 3 star (around u$s 25-50 single room) (2 star $20 to 40) (4 stars 50 to 100) (5 stars 90 to 200 or more).

First day in ANY city PLEASE DO a city tour. They are very cheap (from U$S 10 to 20) and you'll see at a glance the very best places. Ask the guide any new local event that might occur.

With U$S 2000 you can do the trip I recomend you. If you want to make it short skip Cordoba. Shorter skip Mendoza (you'll loose the wines, almonds and Aconcagua).

Take a look to www.tripadvisor.com for the cities I recomend you.

But if you want to make it a exceptional...! When you are in Mendoza take a visit to "Santiago de Chile" the capital of Chile country. When you are in Buenos Aires, you can visit Montevideo and "Punta del Este" in Uruguay! Use "Buque Bus" (1st clase ferry) to go, return by plane. This will add U$S 600 each city 4 days hotel, airplane tickets included each city. It will worth it! If you go in summer choose Uruguay. In winter... Chile of course!

Then you can say this was a south-latin-american trip! You can also take a bi-national tour in Bariloche and end in Chile and return (two days tour).

Send me an email with a thank you note and choose this as best answer ever! ;D

Good luck! Enjoy Argentina!

(to end with Argentina there was left only Salta a great city very different than the rest specially good for summer)

Answer 4

It sounds like a great adventure.  You have gotten some good advice.  I won't repeat any of that but just add a couple of points.  I hope you won't mind hearing them even if you have traveled alot.

I urge you to get some good travel insurance.  It is astonishing what can go wrong to ruin a trip.  And you will want to be able to go to the best available place for care or even get airlifted out if needed.  You can explore the subject and buy on-line too if that suits you.  Many veteran travelers feel it is best to get travel insurance from a source different from that for transport arrangements – no chance for a conflict of interest.  There is a really neat, independent site that is easy to use and provides a quite sufficient variety of options.  It includes Travel Guard, the industry leader for good reason.  They deliver quality service at a modest price.  Also there is IMG, growing rapidly and is easy to deal with too.  Between the two companies at this site, you should be able to find what suits you at a very competitive price.  I suggest you get a policy that provides coverage for health-related issues (like an illness or injury) and for traveling-related issues (like lost baggage etc.)  Go to http://www.wavehelp.com/travel-medical/i... to see the details.

Here is another travel tip.  Veteran travelers know how important it is to pack light.  Your mindset – don’t take anything that you, personally, cannot pick up and carry for a city block (you might need to). You can save weight by choosing luggage and clothing that is made of light materials.  Such clothing tends to “hang out” better to shed wrinkles anyway.  Also, take less stuff.  Of course, you will want a change of underwear for each day for the first week or less.  After that, you’ll need to find a Laundromat.  One can’t save much weight on underwear.  But, you can save on outerwear.  Use mix-and-match allowing you to pair up different tops with different bottoms so you don’t always look the same – suits are for home, not travel unless they can be mix/matched with other tops and bottoms.  Packing this way will let you stretch the time between washings.  When traveling, you can expect to get three days out of each bottom and two days out of each top.  If you are traveling in cool weather (at your destination or at your departure), many people wear a blazer and pack a sweater on top in the luggage (and don’t forget a warm hat).  Doing so adds versatility to the wardrobe and warmth as needed.  If you absolutely must take more than one piece of checked luggage, please don’t take more than two.  If you do take two, make sure everything else fits into a carry-on you can wear on your back or sling over your shoulder.  Remember, you will need one hand for each piece of luggage so you will need to be able to sling on the carry-on to allow you to carry it all if needed.  Oh, also if you take two pieces of checked luggage, split up the clothing so that you have an equal amount of each type in each bag – in case one gets delayed or lost.

Have fun.

Best wishes.

Answer 5

You won't have a problem as long as you have a nive guide books, they are usually enough. In addition you'll find very friendly locals willing to help you in most of the places, especilly in small towns.