Patagonia: Chile & Argentina

Patagonia has a short season and a long memory of the wind. From November to March the light stretches out, the afternoons reach the high teens, and the Paine massif is clear often enough to plan around; the constant, in any month, is the westerly that runs across the steppe and shapes the day. Come in the shoulders for the space and the wildflowers, or the heart of summer for the warmth.

Fifteen nights, both sides of the border. The Chilean side in and around Torres del Paine, the Argentine side at Los Glaciares for the Perito Moreno and Fitz Roy, and a few days on an estancia in between where the pace drops to nothing. A night in Santiago or Buenos Aires at each end turns the long-haul sectors into something civilised.

The walking is graded to the party, the base of the Towers a long, real day and the French Valley longer, but nobody who would rather not is left out: the Grey Glacier by boat, the ice field by helicopter, and the face of the Perito Moreno from the water. This is also the best country in the world for tracking wild puma, which Torres del Paine does better than anywhere. On the estancia it is horses, the gauchos and an asado that starts in the afternoon and finishes when it finishes.

The flying turns on two fields. Punta Arenas and El Calafate both take business jets; Puerto Natales is closer to the park but short and wind-limited, so we treat it as a bonus rather than a plan. The crossing between Chile and Argentina needs paperwork filed ahead, routine but never same-day, and summer parking at El Calafate is genuinely scarce, so the slots go in early.

The international houses do not operate down here. The lodges that do, Explora and Awasi among them, we take with a private guide and vehicle rather than as part of a lodge group.

Ask your advisor about a dedicated guide for the whole stay, puma tracking with a specialist, and whether the forecast in your week favours starting in Chile or in Argentina.