Fly & Drive The Patagonia Experience (4x4)

Thirteen nights from Pucon to Puerto Natales, driven self-guided, which is the four-wheeled version of the operator’s condensed Patagonian route. A Toyota HiLux is included, with a Navara upgrade, and the price is per person sharing.

The Seven Lakes Route carries the drive east by way of San Martin de los Andes to Villa La Angostura, then Trevelin and Los Alerces National Park, with the Circuito Chico near Bariloche as an optional loop.

Puyuhuapi follows back in Chile at the head of the Carretera Austral, with Corcovado National Park, then Coihaique through the Queulat rainforest and Puerto Tranquilo on Lago General Carrera, the twelfth deepest lake in the world, with a rest day for the Marble Caves and Patagonia Park.

Los Antiguos and Gobernador Gregores come next on Ruta 40 among the guanacos, then El Calafate with Fitz Roy in view and a rest day for the Perito Moreno glacier. The border crossing at Paso Rio Don Guillermo leads to Torres del Paine, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1978, and the drive finishes at Puerto Natales, which sits within about a kilometre of Tierra del Fuego across the water without ever crossing to it. Prices are quoted in US dollars. A 4×4 makes the gravel sections of the Carretera Austral straightforward rather than a consideration, and the luggage space means a fortnight’s worth of Patagonian weather can be packed for properly. Running the same route on four wheels also lets a mixed group travel together, which is the reason the operator built these packages in the first place.