Perito Moreno Glacier tour: all 16 compared, from $60 to $588

Perito Moreno is the glacier people fly to Patagonia for, and the reason is simple: you can stand in front of a wall of ice, at eye level with it, on a metal balcony, with nothing between you and the front of the glacier but water. One listing describes it as one of the world’s only advancing glaciers. Another calls it the most important glacier in Los Glaciares National Park. What every listing agrees on is the shape of the day: you leave El Calafate in the morning, you spend the middle of the day at the ice, and you come back in the evening.

The single thing worth understanding before you book is that there are three different ways to be at the glacier, and they are not interchangeable. The first is the walkways — the boardwalks and balconies built into the hillside opposite the front wall. Every tour on this page includes them, because they are what the national park is built around. The second is the boat: roughly an hour on Lago Argentino, on the Brazo Rico arm or in front of the northern wall, in a vessel that makes the ice look its real size. The third is walking on the glacier itself, in crampons, with a guide — the mini trekking day, or the longer Big Ice trek.

Those three are why the fares run from $60 to $588. A day on the walkways with a bilingual guide and hotel pickup is one product. A day that adds an hour on the water is another. A day that fits crampons to your boots, crosses the Rico Arm by boat and walks you across the ice for an hour is a third, and it costs what it costs because it is guided at roughly one guide for every ten guests.

What the walkways give you is time and position. The listings are specific about it: four hours on the boardwalks on the option without navigation, three hours plus an hour on the water on the option with it, about two hours on one of the trekking days, about three hours of your own time on the guided expedition. That is the part of the day when people stand still and wait, because blocks of ice fall from the wall into the lake and nobody can tell you when. One listing puts it exactly that way — watch and listen to the falling ice from the glacier into the water. It is the reason the balconies have benches.

Sorted the way this site presents them: the top pick first, then the walkway days, then the ones built around the water, then the treks on the ice. Six numbers decide almost every booking — fare, length, what the fare covers, rating, review count and what an hour of the day costs — and they are all in the table below.

The walkway days. These are the eight-hour bookings, and they are where most people start. $69 is the most reviewed tour on the whole site: 2,735 reviews at 4.7, hotel pickup and drop-off, a bilingual guide, the boardwalks and an optional boat safari. $60 is the lowest fare here and still carries 725 reviews at 4.7, with a guide in English, Portuguese or Spanish and the Nautical Safari as an option. $62 is built for a comfortable pace, with round-trip hotel transfer, an air-conditioned vehicle, a bilingual guide on the boardwalks and roughly three hours of your own time at the viewpoints. $65 keeps it to the essentials — hotel pickup in an air-conditioned vehicle, a guide, and the footbridges — and is rated 4.8 across 165 reviews.

The walkway days with more written into the fare. $83 adds the Curva de los Suspiros viewpoint and an optional cruise close to the ice walls, and its listing is marked wheelchair accessible. $84 pairs the trails inside the park with an hour of navigation through the Brazo Rico if you choose that option. $84 is the one that spells the timings out: four hours on the walkways without navigation, or three hours plus an hour on the water with it, round-trip transfers from downtown hotels, insurance, and access for wheelchair users accompanied by a companion. $90 is the odd one out and worth reading carefully: a shared transfer without a guide, four hours at the boardwalks at your own pace, and a hotel pickup round that takes under thirty minutes. It is rated 4.4 across 69 reviews, the lowest rating on the page, and the reason is in the description — there is no guide with you.

The days built around the water. $145 includes the boat rather than offering it as an option: admission to the walkways, a bilingual guide throughout, and a one-hour ride in front of the northern wall, with views across Lago Argentino and the steppe. $117 holds the highest rating on the site, 4.9 across 112 reviews, and is a different day again: navigation on the Rico Arm, a hike along a nature trail, a beach full of ice floes, a toast with calafate liqueur and a visit to the walkways. $197 sails past the ice wall and treks across sand, rock and forest, with two hours on the catwalks and a packed lunch with panoramic views. $251 is the twelve-hour cruise day: a glacier cruise, a thirty-minute walk in Patagonian forest, the footbridges of Perito Moreno and a lunch box if you take that option.

The treks on the ice. Four tours put crampons on your boots. $399 is our top pick and the best evidenced of them: eleven hours, approximately one hour hiking on the glacier, a crossing of the Rico Arm by boat, a Patagonian forest, the boardwalks, a sightseeing cruise in front of the wall and one guide for every ten guests, rated 4.8 across 852 reviews. $450 is the ten-hour mini trekking version: hotel pickup, boat ride, ice walking crampons, the footbridges, and cracks, sinkholes and deep blue shades underfoot. $520 is a guided mini-trek with all necessary equipment and a scenic run along the front wall, rated 4.5 across 125 reviews. $588 is the longest day on the site at twelve hours and the most demanding: sailing in front of the glacier wall, a guided forest trek, the guided glacier hike itself, the walkways and all hiking equipment, rated 4.9 across 53 reviews.

What the cost-per-hour column means. It divides the fare by the booked length, so a twelve-hour day reads cheaper per hour than an eight-hour one. Use it to see which fares are carrying something extra — crampons and a guide on the ice, a cruise, a lunch box — rather than as a ranking. The walkways are in all sixteen fares; everything above that is what you are choosing between.

If you want the fullest day and the most proof behind it, book $399. Eleven hours, approximately an hour hiking on the Perito Moreno Glacier in crampons, the Rico Arm crossed by boat, a Patagonian forest, a sightseeing cruise in front of the wall and the boardwalks afterwards. Rated 4.8 across 852 reviews, more than any other tour on this page except the classic walkway day, and run at one guide for every ten guests. It is our top pick because it is the only listing that gives you all three ways to see the glacier inside a single booking.

If you are booking the cheapest full day, book $60. It is the lowest fare on the site, runs eight hours, starts at your hotel, puts a guide who works in English, Portuguese or Spanish with you on the walkways, and offers the one-hour Nautical Safari as an option. 725 reviews at 4.7. The next cheapest, $62, is the same length with roughly three hours of your own time at the viewpoints and a slightly higher rating across 146 reviews.

If you want the safest bet on numbers alone, book $69. 2,735 reviews at 4.7 is not a sample, it is a consensus, and it buys hotel pickup and drop-off, a bilingual guide, the boardwalks and an optional boat safari to get closer to the ice. This is the tour most people who search for a Perito Moreno Glacier tour end up on, and there is nothing wrong with that.

If the hour on the water is the part you care about, book $145. The boat is included rather than optional: one hour in front of the northern wall, plus admission to the walkways and a bilingual guide for the whole eight hours. Rated 4.8 across 193 reviews. If you would rather have the highest rated day on the water, $117 holds 4.9 across 112 reviews and adds a nature trail, a beach of ice floes and a toast with calafate liqueur.

If you want to walk on the glacier and have the day for it, book $588. Twelve hours, the longest booking here, with sailing in front of the wall, a guided forest trek, the glacier hike itself, all hiking equipment and the walkways at the end. It is rated 4.9 across 53 reviews. $450 at ten hours and $520 at ten hours are the shorter crampon days if twelve hours is more than your schedule allows.

One tour to read twice before booking: $90. It is a shared transfer without a guide and four hours at the boardwalks on your own. That suits some people exactly and it is honestly described, but it is rated 4.4 across 69 reviews — the lowest on the page — and $60 costs less and comes with a guide.