Home > Motorcycle Tours > South America Motorcycle Tours > Patagonia Tour
Patagonia Tour
Chile & Argentina
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An unforgettable adventure.
Don't miss this spectacular ride across the southernmost parts of South America. Experience the magic world of Patagonia, the dramatic Andes with snow-covered volcanoes, beautiful lakes and still growing glaciers. Spend some nights at beautiful Estancias nestled along the foothills of the rugged Andean Cordillera. This tour has been described as "breathtaking" and just plain "wow."
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Quick links > Tour Details | Photos | Dates | Pricing | Booking
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Adventure riding at its very best. This tour is a one-way tour; you will have a flight back from Punta Arenas to Santiago de Chile. The tour begins in Osorno (some 500km south of Santiago de Chile), on paved and gravel roads across Mountains and Plains to Argentina's Atlantic coast. A ferry takes you across the straits of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego so you can ride the Pan-American Hwy to the southernmost city of Ushuaia. Experience a most impressive landscape, very sparsely populated, at the Tores del Pine National Park, and don't forget the gaucho-style barbecue dinners at beautiful Ranch and Guesthouse on Butch Cassidy's tracks.
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Tour Details
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Location:
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Osorno to Santiago de Chile (SCLMO3)
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Terrain:
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Paved, gravel, and sand roads
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Duration:
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17 days (including arrival and departure)
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Riding days:
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15 days
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Route length:
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Approximately 4,400 km (2,734 miles)
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Motorcycles:
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BMW F650GS single cylinder, BMW F650GS two cylinder, BMW F800GS, BMW R1200GS, BMW R1200GS Adventure
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Group size:
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Minimum four riders
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Accommodations:
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Comfortable hosterias, ranches (estancias, with simple accommodation) and hotels, with breakfast included.
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Highlights:
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Puyehue Pass, Bariloche, Queulat hill, Father Garcia waterfall, Puyuhuapi Thermal Spa, Perito Moreno glacier, penguin colony near Punta Arenas
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Tour Difficulty
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• Ability to ride in all weather conditions - required
• Ability to ride tight turns and switchbacks - required
• Ability to ride on dirt, gravel, and sand surfaces - required
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Requirements
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• Motorcycles license for riders
• Riding experience (see tour difficulty above)
• Helmets are required by law
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Included Services
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• Trilingual tour guide (English, German, Spanish)
• Accommodations in comfortable ranch houses and hostels
• Airport transfers
• Flight from Santiago to Osorno
• Flight from Punto Arenas to Santiago
• Paperwork for border crossings
• Return transfer of motorcycles
• Support vehicle & luggage transport
• Breakfasts, snacks, and water
• Dinner at Estancia La Angostura
• Welcome & goodbye dinners
• Tickets for Perito Moreno Glacier Park, Lapataia Park, Torres del Paine Park, Milodon Cave, Seno Otoway Penguins
• Information material and maps
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Not Included
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• Fuel
• Dinners, lunches, & drinks
• Flights to tour start & from tour end
• Individual activities
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Tour Photos 
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• Check out some pictures of our recent tours!
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Tour Dates
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• Season: November to February
• Scheduled tours:
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February 3 - 19, 2012 (Punta Arenas to Osorno)
[sold out!]
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- November 9 - 25, 2012 (Osorno to Puntas Arenas)
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- January 11 - 27, 2013 (Osorno to Puntas Arenas)
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- February 1 - 17, 2013 (Puntas Arenas to Osorno)
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• Want different tour dates? Contact us with the dates that interest you!
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Tour Pricing
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PER PERSON
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Riding a BMW F650GS single cylinder*
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$7010
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Riding a BMW F650GS two cylinder*
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$7430
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Riding a BMW F800GS*
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$7940
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Riding a BMW R1200GS*
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$8190
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Riding a BMW R1200GS Adventure
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$8520
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Passenger
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$3380
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Single room supplement (optional)
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+$950
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*Model years are 2010 or 2011
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- Prices based on a minimum of six riders
- 50% deposit required for reservation. Final payment is due 6 weeks prior to tour start.
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> Prices quoted in USD. See current currency conversion rate.
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Itinerary
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Day 1: Collection - Arrive in Osorno, transfer to Motoaventura offices, welcome diner with the team of MotoAventura, Sonia and Roberto and sleep in Osorno.
Day 2: Osorno - Bariloche - Crossing the mighty Andes via Puyehue Pass, with views of recently active volcanos. We'll drop down into Argentina and the town of Villa la Angostura, then ride along the edge of beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi, with its cold, clear, waters which reach depths of more than 1500 feet in some places, surrounded by forests of native cypresses and coihues. We'll soon turn south and pass the Limay River and the site of the general store where the American bandit Butch Cassidy used to stock up on supplies. From there it is short run into Bariloche, where we will spend the first night in this world-famous resort city at the edge of Nahuel Huapi.
Day 3: Bariloche - Esquel - After breakfast we leave Bariloche and head for Esquel, 310 km south. This takes us along the edge of the mountain lakes of Mascardi, Guillermo, and Gutierrez, surrounded by high peaks and forests. We will stop in the town of El Bolsun for lunch. Then we will leave the pavement for a while to visit the cabins near Cholila where Butch Cassidy, Etta Place, and the Sundance Kid lived while trying to run a respectable ranching business. The we return to the pavement at the famous Ruta 40 which will eventually take us to deepest Patagonia. But for now, we'll enjoy a great meal and a good sleep in Esquel, a small and cozy city founded by the Welsh in the nineteenth century.
Day 4: Esquel - Puyuhuapi - Breakfast in Esquel, and hit the road. Breakfast, 45 km to the south in a way in cornice that borders the Ventisquero Seno. It is the Queulat hill that is true stairs in the hill, of modern layout and ample curves. It offers spectacular views to the glacier and nativa forest, the water fall Father Garcia with a fall of 30 meters. Puyuhuapi Thermal Spa is located in a sheltered cove with abundant vegetation, at the mouth of the streams flowing down Melimoyu mountain range. Thermal waters gush forth at different points along the beach with water at close to 50C which forms two pools. Lodging in Puyuhuapi.
Day 5: Puyuhuapi - Coyhaique - Breakfast and trip to Puerto Aisn and Puerto Chacabuco, National Reserve Simpson River, of 41.000 ha and has a small museum of flora and fauna, a arboretum and a heavy trunk of lenga with its ring dated between 1578 and 1970, where you can see the history of Chile. Lake Los Palos in the Valley of the Colonos and Lago Riesco. Lodging in Coyhaique.
Day 6: Coyhaique - Perito Moreno - Travel to a typical ranch called "Estancias", where we can see how gauchos live, on the famous route 40.
Day 7: Perito Moreno - Estancia La Angostura - Today we get serious about our riding, because we have 330 km of gravel and mixed gravel and dirt. This is the Patagonia you have heard about, the very picture of emptiness and desolation. You may ride for several hours and not see so much as a fence. It is a land where you can expect to see some of the wild animals such as guanacos, Darwin's rheas (similar to ostriches) and at least one type of armadillo. We pass the outpost settlement of Bajo Caracoles and finally reach the remote ranch where we will stay, at the Estancia La Angostura. As a special treat we will be staying at a authentic rustic chilean Ranch. A true "estancia", complete with working "gauchos" and dinner carred over an open fire und enjoyed under a huge star filled sky. Accommodations here are more simple and single room maybe a walk thin with a shared bathroom.
Day 8: Estancia La Angostura - Calafate - We continue on for another 200 km of gravel riding, past more estancias and the mighty Santa Cruz River, which drains Lake Argentina. Then, we reach pavement again, for a short ride into the town of Calafate, where we will spend the night.
Day 9: Calafate (optional riding day) - This is mostly a slack day, a day to recover from the grueling days of dust and gravel in the outback. But don't lay back so much that you miss our tour of the Perito Moreno glacier, which is one of the most spectacular sights in all of Patagonia. At day's end we return to Calafate and get a good sleep.
Day 10: Calafate - heading toward Torres del Paine - Head out of Cerro Castillo followed by a ride through breathtaking scenery along Lago del Toro, to the Puente Negro (Black Bridge) over the Serrano River, and a splendid view of the Paine Massif. Continue along the Eberhard fiord to the old port and sheep processing center at Bories, now a Chilean National monument. Sleep in a very beautiful Hotel on the way to Torres del Paine.
Day 11: Torres del Paine - Cerro Castillo - Head out for a look at Torres del Paine National Park. We will visit Laguna Azul (Blue Lake), Salto Chico (falls), and Condor Look-out. Afterward, we will have a half-hour hike to the look-out over the lake to see the amazing Cuernos, or 'horns' of Paine Massif. Then a stop for a possible close-up view of the wild guanacos, and the look-out point for the famous Torres, or 'towers' of Paine, followed by a short trip to Cerro Guido and the Baguales mountains. For dinner, we will have a traditional gaucho-style barbecue known as 'asado al palo' at an estancia (ranch) with lodging at a comfortable hostería at Cerro Castillo. We will travel approximately 200 km on gravel roads.
Day 12: Cerro Castillo - Cerro Sombrero - We travel to Cerro Sombrero on the way we will see old estancias before we cross the Estrecho de Magallanes with the ferry.
Day 13: Cerro Sombrero - Ushuaia - Leave Cerro Sombrero and head for Ushuaia on a paved road. Near Tolhuin the gravel starts again as we head along Lake Fagnano and up into the spectacular Darwin Range, over Garabaldi Pass. Then at the end of the day, Ushuaia for dinner and our lodging for the night.
Day 14: Ushuaia - We will go to the end of the road, Bahia Lapataia in the National Park. After this trip we can visit in the city of Ushuaia the jail, today a museum.
Day 15: Ushuaia - Cerro Sombrero - Leave Ushuaia early, for the start of a long and interesting day. Gas up in Tolhuin or Rio Grande and then head across Tierra de Fuego on dirt and gravel roads rarely taken by motorcycle riders, following the route of estancias and guanacos. We will have to ford a shallow river as we leave Argentina at Radman and head for the Chilean side of the island. Then we pass Pampa Guanaco, a section full of those wild animals, which should offer some good photo opportunities. Then we'll ride into Cerro Sombrero, where we spend the night.
Day 16: Cerro Sombrero - Punta Arenas - On the way to Punta Arenas we will visit the Penguins Colony 20 km. before Punta Arenas, where we will have our last dinner together!
Day 17: Departure - Flight to Santiago de Chile.
Note: We reserve the right to make changes.
 Ready to ride? Book here
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