Full Patagonia Adventure (Pucon to Ushuaia)

Seventeen nights from Pucon in Chile to Ushuaia, ridden self-guided with a support truck and a bilingual guide following each day, which makes this the operator’s flagship Patagonian crossing. The hire is included, with upgrades available.

Villa La Angostura comes first on the Seven Lakes Route, then Trevelin by way of Los Alerces National Park and the house near Cholila where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid farmed for several years after leaving Wyoming.

Puyuhuapi follows back in Chile at the start of the Carretera Austral, with Corcovado National Park, then Coihaique through the Queulat rainforest, and Puerto Tranquilo on Lago General Carrera with a rest day and a boat out to the Marble Caves. Los Antiguos and Gobernador Gregores follow on the remote Ruta 40 pampas, with guanacos along the fences.

El Calafate gets a rest day for the Perito Moreno glacier, which is among the very few large glaciers in the world still advancing, with an optional ice hike on it. The Strait of Magellan is then crossed to Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia, the end of the world, with Rio Grande, a penguin option at Harberton and Bahia Lapataia beyond. A second ferry returns to Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine takes two days. Prices are quoted in US dollars. The truck is what separates this from the operator’s cheaper Patagonian packages: luggage carried, help at hand, and the freedom to ride the day at whatever pace suits. In a region where a puncture can leave a rider two hours from the nearest town, that is worth a good deal more than the convenience of travelling light.