We enjoyed the stunning natural scenery and delicious wines in Patagonia
Michel and Meike
In November 2024, we went on a wonderful trip with Sapa Pana Travel for the third time, this time to Argentine and Chilean Patagonia.
Quite soon after our arrival in Santiago de Chile – given the time difference of just four hours compared to the Netherlands – we headed straight into the city centre to visit the Pre-Colombian Art Museum. In the evening, we had dinner at Osaka, a lovely and trendy Japanese-Peruvian sushi restaurant.
AWA Hotel
The next day, we took a domestic flight to Puerto Montt in the Lake District, which lies in the north of Chilean Patagonia. We were taken to the luxurious and modern AWA hotel, overlooking one of Chile’s largest lakes and the Osorno volcano. After spending a few days enjoying the scenery, we collected a rental car in Puerto Varas and drove along Lake Llanquihue, with the Osorno volcano constantly visible in the background.
Passing by several other lakes, we crossed the border into Argentina, ending up in Villa La Angostura. The next day, we drove to Bariloche, Argentina’s ski resort, via the stunning Seven Lakes Route. In Bariloche, we had a lovely lunch at Llao Llao, a very classic hotel-restaurant in a superb location. Finally, we took the cable car in Bariloche to enjoy a spectacular view of the area.
Actually, the plan was to continue through the Lake District along the Carretera Austral, but as the weather was forecast to be so bad (constant rain with a weather rating of 1), we came up with Plan B and made a spontaneous decision. We left the rental car behind in Bariloche and took a domestic flight to Mendoza, about 1,000 km to the north.
Mendoza
Mendoza is Argentina’s red wine region. We were treated to a temperature of 28 degrees – a lovely 9 on the weather scale. We spent the day relaxing by the pool in the sunshine. The next day, we had lunch at Salentein, the winery owned by the Dutch PON family. And the day after that, we had another sumptuous lunch and drank some lovely wines, this time on the terrace of The Vines.
After flying back to Bariloche, we collected our rental car again and drove back through the beautiful Lake District to Puerto Varas. From Puerto Montt, we then took a domestic flight to Punta Arenas, in the south of Chilean Patagonia, near Tierra del Fuego.
“ Torres del Paine, one of Patagonia’s major highlights, with enormous, rugged mountains and beautiful lakes ”
From there, we picked up a new rental car and drove on to Puerto Natales. We stayed at the luxurious and stylish The Singular Hotel, where we also enjoyed some wonderful food and drink. From there, we drove to Torres del Paine.
Perito Moreno
After two days, we crossed the border back into Argentina to see the spectacular Perito Moreno Glacier. This glacier is no less than 50–70 metres high and is truly impressively vast and beautiful. The next day, we took a boat trip to the side of the glacier. There, we went on a special 1.5-hour mini-hike on the glacier itself, during which our crampons proved to be no luxury at all. After the trek, we drank ‘whisky on the rocks’ with ice cubes from the glacier.
The next day, we drove along the stunning blue Lago Argentino to El Chaltén, a beautiful mountainous region with Mount Fitz Roy as its highest peak. The final leg of our journey through Southern Patagonia was a long drive back to Punta Arenas, where we stayed in a cosy boutique hotel before flying back to Santiago.
Casa Real
Back in Santiago, we were driven about an hour south of the city to spend a further two days at the chic and classic Casa Real wine hotel, where we thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine whilst sipping plenty of wine. There’s also a lovely Andino Museum there, dedicated to Pre-Columbian culture.
Before flying back to the Netherlands from Santiago, we went for another meal at the trendy Osaka sushi restaurant, this time on the sun-drenched outdoor terrace with some cosy lounge music playing.
We thoroughly enjoyed another beautiful, varied and well-organised trip with Sapa Pana Travel, so thank you, Johan and David, for your help with this!
Fancy a trip of Argentina or Chile?
Would you like to go on a self-drive trip of Argentina or Chile and are you curious about the options? Then do have a look at the itineraries we’ve put together for inspiration. You can book these tours directly, but we’d also be happy to put together a personalised itinerary based on your wishes and ideas.
Do you have a question? Please feel free to contact us. Call +31 73 610 62 04 or send an email to info@sapapanatravel.nl. We’ll be happy to help.