Patagonia - beautiful, dramatic, unforgettable!

We will welcome you at Aviador Carlos Campos Airport in San Martin de los Andes and shuttle you to our beautiful modern hotel with exceptional views of the mountains. We’ll set up your rental bike and if you have your own, we’ll assemble it and arrange for the bike box to be transferred to Bariloche. There will be a quick 15-20km spin before a welcome meeting and dinner at the hotel.

Today we ride La Ruta de los 7 Lagos – The Road of 7 Lakes, inside the boundaries of Parque Nacional Nahuel Hupai, first created in 1903 and the third national park in the Americas.

As you can imagine, this will be a scenic day of hills and lakes – a classic scenic route heading south and parallel to the boarder with Chile. There will be plenty of photo opportunities so make sure you phone is fully charged! At our mountain lodge hotel, you can relax massage in their wellness centre or take a dip in the pools. Massages can be booked as well.

Another magnificent day where we ride the famous Route 40 beside the large and deep Lago Nahuel Huapi created by massive glaciers.The lake is 2,510m above sea level and the deepest point is 1,437m. The lake is supremely beautiful albeit very cold with average water temperatures of 7 degrees – so if you feel the urge to take a dip in the crystal waters, be careful! At our sumptuous grand hotel, you can relax in 5-star surroundings and enjoy the magnificent views of the lakes and mountains, including Cerro Lopez 2,075m and Tronador 3,491m. There is the opportunity to play golf in the afternoon or relax in the luxurious spa surroundings.

Today is a more relaxed ride through drop dead gorgeous forests and impressive vistas to the mountains and lakes. We’ll cycle around Lago Perito Moreno and then into Bariloche for lunch. By the 1930s, Bariloche had been redesigned to resemble a European mountain resort town and was called Little Switzerland! It also has significant German links and was a haven for Nazi war criminals! What more can surprise you? Well in the 1950s, President Peron (yes, the husband of Evita), attempted to secretly build the world’s first fusion reactor on the advice of a man considered a con artist, Ronald Richter. The construction of the reactor lead to ‘a national wide shortage of brick and cement’.

Dinner at our luxury hotel.

After a sleep in and leisurely breakfast, we’ll transfer to the Bariloche airport, Teniente Luis Candelaria and take a direct flight to El Calafate. Once there, we’ll check into our hotel before heading out to explore this city, a hub for access to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares which includes the famous Perito Moreno Glacier, Cerro Chalten and Cerro Torre.

We can also visit The Glaciarium, a modern centre that educates and entertains visitors about the Southern Patagonian Ice Field – not forgetting a stop in the Ice Bar for a quick 20 minute drink!

If the van has arrived with our bikes, there is a chance to take a short afternoon ride around El Calafate before dinner at our hotel.

A special day today. We ride from our hotel to the southern arm of Lago Argentino, the largest freshwater lake in Argentina and fed by the glacial meltwater of several glaciers including the Perito Moreno Glacier – our destination. Make sure to pack warm clothes and hiking shoes for exploring; and we have arranged for a boat trip close to the impressive glacier at sunset. We will transfer back to the hotel and then head into town for a Patagonian dinner.

After checking out, we’ll transfer to La Leona and start our ride beside Lago Viedma, Argentina’s second largest lake. Icebergs from the Viedma Glacier can be seen as we ride through the glacier scoured landscape – an environment that is harsh but unbelievably dramatic and with stunning views to the glaciers and peaks beyond. A picnic with jaw dropping views of course! At our new hotel, after a check in and a change, we'll head into the village, El Chaltén, Argentina’s ‘National Trekking Capital’. This is an opportunity to view the famous peaks Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy as well as watch the many visitors heading out or returning from climbing and hiking expeditions. Before dinner, we’ll head out to enjoy the sunset over the mountains.

A change is as good as a rest, so they say, so today we’ll let the bikes rest and we’ll go trekking. There are several options and we will arrange a guide to discuss the options the night before and then decide which trail to take. We have some options that we can discuss together in the days before.

Or go fly fishing in the world famous rivers.

This is our last day of riding, so we have planned an early start in order to watch the sun rise on the Andes. Breakfast and then a short transfer to La Leona at Lago Viedma, before we head over the arid and treeless hills to Lago Argentino and El Calafate.

If we have time, we will arrange a boat trip on Lago Argentino to hopefully see a calving glacier in the afternoon.

All too soon, we have reached the end of this amazing bike tour.

We’ll help pack up the bikes and check you out of the hotel. Group photos are recommended and at a designated time, we’ll transfer you to the airport for your journey home…. or perhaps your journey to other places in dramatic Patagonia, like Torres del Paines or Terra del Fuego.

We hope that this tour will inspire you search further for more amazing places to cycle with Grand Tours Project.