The Perito Moreno Minitrekking, Hour by Hour
The Minitrekking day in order: the 8:30 pickup or the 10:00 start at the port, the road, the 20-minute boat, the shore walk, crampons, about an hour on the ice, the forest and the walkways.
The Minitrekking takes about 4.5 hours from the port, or about 10 hours with the hotel pickup, and about three of those hours are walking: along the lake shore, about one hour on the ice, and back over the moraine and through the forest. On the dates we read, the walk from the port started at 10:00 AM and the pickup began at 8:30 AM. Both are on Hielo y Aventura’s Mini-Trek calendar, from US$346 a person (checked November 2026) for the walk from the port.
The times below are the ones the Mini-Trek’s calendar showed for 25 and 30 November 2026, 20 January and 27 March 2027. The start time can change for operational reasons, and you are told by email if it does.
From 8:30 AM: the pickup (10-hour option)
On the 10-hour option the bus collects you from the front desk of your hotel in El Calafate, starting at 8:30 AM. The round of hotels can take up to 45 minutes, and that time is part of the day. If you are in a private apartment or off the route, you are given the nearest meeting point or Hielo y Aventura’s sales office at Avenida del Libertador 935. A guide rides with the group and talks about the region on the way.
The road to the port
It is 71.1 km by road from the centre of El Calafate to Puerto Bajo las Sombras, about 1 h 20 min by car on our routing (Hielo y Aventura gives 70 km), west along Lago Argentino on Ruta Provincial 11. The park gate is on the way: you show your ticket or pay there. The Administración de Parques Nacionales lets cars into this road from 8:00 to 18:00 between 1 September and 30 April, and from 9:00 to 16:00 between 1 May and 31 August (APN, read November 2026).
10:00 AM: the boat across Brazo Rico
If you drive, this is where your day starts. The boat crosses Lake Rico in about 20 minutes, in front of the glacier’s south wall: the first close look at the ice, from the water.
The shore, the talk and the crampons
On the far shore the mountain guides meet the group and take it to a lodge with a view of the glacier. From there you walk along the lake with the ice always in sight, stop for a short talk on glaciology, and reach the edge of the glacier. The guides fit the crampons and helmets, and the group splits into small groups with one guide for every 10 people.
About an hour on the ice
The approximately one-hour hike on the ice is the reason for the day. The surface is uneven but firm, and you walk past deep crevasses, seracs, sinkholes and small lagoons of intense blue, a landscape that keeps changing as the glacier moves.
The moraine and the forest
Off the ice, the walk crosses the area beside the glacier and the lateral moraine, with views of the glacier, the mountains and the lake, then drops through the Patagonian Andean forest. That completes about three hours of walking. Hielo y Aventura puts the whole walk at about 3.5 km.
The drink, the boat back and the walkways
Before the boat back there is a hot drink, a souvenir and a toast with whiskey and ancient ice, and the return crossing passes close to the glacier’s walls once more. If you drove, you are back at the port about 4.5 hours after the start.
On the 10-hour option the bus then takes you to the walkways, the network of balconies facing the glacier’s front, 6.1 km by road from the landing; Hielo y Aventura gives about an hour there. Then it is back to El Calafate.
Food on the day
Nothing to eat is included and nothing is sold on the walk, so bring food and water from El Calafate. On the 10-hour day you are out from morning to evening.
Around El Calafate
More from El Calafate with Open Dates
Boats in front of the glacier, the walkways and day trips from El Calafate with live availability. What each includes and its cancellation terms show before you book.
Pick Your Start Time
Hielo y Aventura's Minitrekking: 10:00 AM at the port, or a pickup at your hotel from 8:30 AM for the 10-hour day with the walkways. The park entrance is not included.
Check dates