Patagonia Cruise With Australis

This has been a wonderful trip and we definitely will recommend your company to anyone wanting to plan a trip to Buenos Aires. You've made it all so easy for us and the kids have had the time of their lives.

"This is the best vacation ever," my son said today.

Thanks!

The company was very insightful and we felt our itinerary was thoughtfully put together.

We really liked the L Hotel. It had a great feel & location. The staff were very helpful and nice.

The hotel in El Chalten was nice and close to the trails. They even made special gluten free bread for me without me even asking – they just brought it out when I came to breakfast.

The hotel in El Calafate was very nice and had the best breakfast. The hotel in Puerto Natales was supposed to have a restaurant, but actually does not even though their website indicates they do. This did make it somewhat tricky to find a place to eat on Christmas for dinner. There are pictures on the website of a pool – it’s still there, but definitely needs some care put into it. Great location.

We really enjoyed all of the tours. For the itinerary, we really enjoyed the vast majority of things picked and enjoyed the fact that everything was planned for us already. The tours were very good and the guides were all knowledgeable. I can’t pick a favorite place since they were all so unique and special in their own way.

There were a couple of changes we would recommend. We arrived in Chile around 10pm on Christmas Eve – the ATM at the bus station didn’t work, the money exchange places were not open. But even if we did have Chilean pesos, there were no cabs, so we had to walk to our hotel. It was doable, but not ideal with our bags.

We did not realize the New Years Eve was mainly spent with family or outside of Buenos Aires and that so many businesses would be closed. Luckily our hotel found a restaurant close by we could get into for a meal and celebration. We were unaware that EVERYTHING would be closed on new years day in Buenos Aires. Had we known this, we probably would have flown home 31 Dec instead on 1 Jan.

We loved Argentina! The people were so very kind and the parts of the country that we saw are beautiful. We really enjoyed the food. (I’m going to try my hand at making empanadas). We went on many hikes and took tons of photos.

All the hotels were very comfortable and clean. The staff at the desks were helpful and friendly. The hotel at Torres del Paine was extra special and a real treat.

The car rental worked out very well. Being able to travel on our own schedule was so much better than being on a tour (which we had planned to do before Covid hit and Chile closed its borders).

We can’t thank you enough for the planning and all the arrangements made for us. We had a truly memorable time in the beautiful Argentina.

We have little else to say but THANKS for all of your help during the organization of our trip to Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. It has been an amazing experience for us all the way through and your ceaseless support has been truly paramount for us. We found an excellent level of service with you and everything was super smooth (contrarily to the Drake’s Passage…)!

Your super kind guides helped us discover in depth and in a genuine way the life and costumes of South America.
Needless to say, a big big thanks for the initial setup of the trip with us at the beginning!

So again thank you so much for your precious help,

Best

Chiara y Matteo

We had an incredible experience.

The only hiccup we had were the flights being overbooked and having to spend more time than needed at the airport. Overall, we loved all the excursions. We would 100% recommend Say Hueque.

- At Iguazu, we enjoyed having the private guided tour to learn more about the falls and Rodrigo was great. It would have been nice to have an extra hour or so at the end to walk around ourselves and revisit some of the falls- they were so beautiful and could have spent the whole day there watching them!

- For the hike at Torres del Paine, the guides were fantastic. We are just faster hikers and don’t typically hike in a group. I think for that excursion, having the option to take the bus there and do a hike on our own and bus back would have been nice.

- The museum was closed in Ushuaia for the penguin rookery tour. Would recommend scheduling that tour on the days the museum is open if possible. Either way, seeing those penguins so close was so much fun! They’re so cute!

- Wish we could have been there one extra day to watch Argentina win the World Cup while in Argentina! What a fantastic game!!!

Thanks again for all your assistance with this. We had a wonderful time and hopefully one day we can go back (we really want to combine the O and the W for a backpacking trip in Torres del Paine!)

All the guides and hotels were fantastic and we wish we had more time there, we really had the best honeymoon we could have asked for!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

First, thank you so much for all the arrangements, the trip overall was wonderful, and we feel like we did manage to see the highlights of Southern Patagonia in the time we had available.

We were extremely pleased with all of the transfers, with only one exception, they were all on time, professional and courteous. The exception was in Ushuaia when we were waiting to be taken to the airport. We had received a message saying they would pick us up at 9:15 instead of 9:00, but when they hadn’t shown up, or we hadn’t heard from them by 9:30 we called a taxi. We were worried we might miss our flight. We did eventually hear from them, and they were apologetic, but even a message to the hotel earlier would have reassured us. As it was, we had no time to spare at the airport.

All of the tours you had arranged went as planned, again with one exception, but the error was caused by the hotel in Ushuaia, not your company or the tour company. We expected to go to the tour company’s office for the start of the tour, hike to Emerald Lake, but Altos Ushuaia gave us a message saying we would be picked up at the hotel. After waiting, texting, and two taxi rides we finally caught up with the shared tour, and felt badly about the inconvenience we caused to the other two people. It all worked out in the end, but it left us with a bad feeling about the hotel.

The only other tour I would say anything negative about was the day trip to Torres del Paine from El Calafate. While the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and we are glad we were able to see it, I wouldn’t recommend that tour. It took 16 hours: we were picked up at 6:30 and returned at 10:30pm. The red tape involved in the border crossings took up about three hours, and then again at the National Park headquarters. We knew the entrance fee was not included, and we were ready to pay, but even though they ask for the fee in US $, they will not accept cash, and our credit card was rejected, along with several of the others on the bus. In the end the tour guide paid for several of us with her credit card and we gave her the cash, but all that took more than an hour. The total amount of time we were allowed in the park was only about 2- 2 1/2 hours, which doesn’t justify the long, uncomfortable trip to get there and back.

Several of the tours were just spectacular, and we give very positive recommendations to the tour companies and the guides.

The hotels that were chosen for us were all comfortable and we enjoyed our stays. My only comment would be about Altos Ushuaia, which is very remote, and has a restaurant which is not open after breakfast until dinner at 7pm. It required taxi rides, which is fine, but a more centrally located hotel would have been more convenient.

Overall, we loved it, and have created some very special memories. I would not hesitate to recommend your company for anyone looking for a similar package!

The trip was bucket list dream come true for Yukiko and became mine as well after discovering Patagonia with my own eyes!

We are glad to rest in between and enjoyed the main experiences like gentle horse back riding with amazing view, mini hike on Perito Moreno Glacier, and hike at near Torres del Paine (we could not make to the main hike due to decided to rest).

Even more, all the hotel, Frances Drake Hostel, Los Canelos Hotel, and Rio Serrano hotel had such a breath taking views and we want to thank you so very much for making our trip possible and wonderful. If it wasn't for your bright suggestions and help with changing our bus time, we would not have been able to complete our bucket list on our honeymoon.

Happy holidays and best wishes!

I just wanted to tell you how much we appreciated your efforts in making our trip quite memorable. Memories come back every day.

Ushuaia warmed my heart by the empanadas from Martinica Bar De Lomos. They were the best empanadas we’d eaten on the trip and the owner is very kind and fun.
I would suggest that for anyone going to the end of the world.
I also think our hotel may have been a bit too far from restaurants, 3.5kms, but overall, I did warm to the place!

I feel like I’m going backwards on our trip starting with Ushuaia! The tours we did there were all very interesting and fun except we could have done without the Beagle Channel boat ride. Having the morning off would have been great but we could have cancelled as well.

We loved the atmospheres of Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas. The former had a cool, hippy vibe. Punta Arenas was interesting except it was Sunday. Still, we wandered the streets to see all the architecture and ended up at Wake Up, a very cool breakfast and lunch place which I highly recommend as well. A bit limited for dinner on a Sunday but whatever. Hotel room was clean, breakfast was uneventful.

Our time in Torres del Paine was amazing. The hostels were fantastic and the hiking and touring were crazy! The weather cooperated with us as well. Transportation was easy and we were confident with everyone getting us, and our luggage, to where we wanted to go. The funny thing was, when I was reading about staying in a hostel I didn’t think much about it because we normally stay with our kids in the hostels so, when I found out that we’d be with strangers the first thing that crossed my mind was, I better get some pajamas!! Turned out to be so great. We had great conversations with whoever we met and the hiking was beautiful.

Very impressed with anyone who finished the ‘W’.

El Chalten was strangely a really cool place. It makes everyone feel young again! We hiked up to Mt FitzRoy and then to Laguna Torre the next day. So beautiful. That La Lenga scent was encouraging us on! The hotel in El Chalten was just right.

El Calfate was cool and we did our best shopping there except for Zoe’s sweater which we found in La Boca with Florencia. It reminded us of a similar town in Alberta, Canada. By the way, all the glaciers we saw were super and mind blowing and sad of course because they are melting so quickly. The refugio was perfect.

Our time in the north was wonderful although maybe a bit too much driving. At the same time, that can’t be helped. Salt Flats were neat and I recommend taking the extra time to take the tour. In hindsight, we would have loved to have stayed in Purmamarca for another night. We really enjoyed ourselves in one restaurant where there were three boys playing their guitars and drums for us and singing, what I think were, folk songs. The hotel in Purmamarca was exactly what Jack and I love because it was beautiful and had a separate sitting area. We just might go back for some hiking in the area and then stay there so that we could cook our own meals. If we had done the trip backwards, we would have spent more time there.

Gerardo did a fantastic job guiding and driving us safely around. It’s a lot of driving for him too but all very interesting.
Lastly, we fell in love with Buenos Aires. Florencia gave us a wonderful tour and we really learned a lot about the city. The following day, we felt quite comfortable getting around and Florencia’s recommendations, the Hyatt for lunch for example, were bang on.

Thank you so much for helping us with our trip. We have already recommended you to a friend although he is arriving on Saturday so little time, but you never know. Our many friends on facebook and instagram couldn’t believe what we saw so we will be recommending you to all of our friends.

Gracias

Thanks for making our trip so wonderful. We loved our guides, Rosario and Fabian. And the accommodations were comfortable and within easy walking distance of shops and restaurants.

The visits to the wineries were informative about the family histories, plus delicious food.

I will not hesitate to recommend your services.

In a word, "fantastic" and all due to your great planning, coordination and documentation. "Thank you".
All private transportation arrangements were on time, courteous, and clean.
Most of the hotels lived up to their 3 star rating.
The Torres Del Paine was great for viewing but the dusty pothole roads were an unpleasant necessity.
Can't think of anything more to add except the 6 hour boat trip out of Ushuaia to "walk with the penguins" that didn't materialize but on the other hand, the End of the World train ride was an enjoyable highlight.
Many thanks again