Review by: Wiflried J K, United States of America, February 2010
The only downside is the distance between El Calafate and Torres del Paine. We started at 5am and did not get back to the hotel until 10pm. The border crossings are tedious and time consuming. We preferred the Perito Moreno Glacier tour.
Review by: Miriam L, United States of America, January 2010
The views are spectacular, no question about it. However, from El Calafate it takes 3 hours to get to the border with Chile, the customs to leave Argentina take about 1 hour, most of which we had to stand outside in freezing temperatures. Then we had to stand in line about half an hour to get Chilean money in order to pay an entry fee and do customs to enter Chile separately which took one more hour. From this point we had to go on a smaller bus, for 93km on a gravel road to get to our destination. We spent 50 minutes on a guided walk and then did the whole return in the same manner through customs twice, switching buses, driving 93 Km on a gravel road and 3 hours back to El Calafate. So even though the time spent at Torres Del Paine was fantastic, in all honesty, the 10 hours spent on a bus and in customs for this 50 minutes took away from the pleasure tremendously!!!!! Sorry, I have done many tours through Viator and always enjoyed them, the logistics for this one are not well thought out.
Review by: Ricardo M, Brazil, December 2009
Too far from El Calafate. To cross to Chile from Argentina would take a very long time. The site said US 13 for park tickets, but we payed US 32 each and the guide didn't give us the tickets. The van was not prepared for this kind of trip and everybody became toasted by sun and covered by dust.
Review by: Nikolaos V, Greece, November 2009
The only negative fact is that we had to change four different vehicles from the door of our hotel to the final destination and another vehicles on our way back. Other than that, it was an exceptional experience, which I recommend to everybody and I would definitely like to relive it.
Review by: Jason B, Canada, January 2009
The park, wildlife, sights and weather were wonderful, but the logistics and operations of the tour were a failure. We were asked to phone at least 24 hours in advance to confirm the tour. No one ever answered the phone. We called the Buenos Aires office and they said they could not help us, so we were very fearful no one was coming to our hotel to pick us up. We were told we must be ready at 530am. This meant we needed to get up at 430am. We were not able to get breakfast at our hotel because of the time and by 6am no one had shown up to pick us up. In a panic we continued to phone the confirmation number and still no one answered. By this time we could have had breakfast. At 615am someone finally showed up with no apology and drove us to an awaiting coach. The bathroom was disgusting and dirty. The seats were not clean, and people were smoking on the bus. The website information is not up to date or correct. We bought the tour being told we would have a lunch at an inn within the park. We got a stale ham and cheese sandwich, a bottle of water and a cookie handed to us in a plastic bag and were told we had to eat it on the bus because we wouldn't have time elsewhere. The website shows pictures of icebergs you will see--this is not true as the tour does not even go to that section of the park anymore, so said our tour guide.
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