Can You Combine Ice Trekking And The Walkways In One Day?
Ice trekking and the viewing balconies are sold as one park day, not two. Here is how the schedule fits together, how much walkway time you really get, and when splitting them makes more sense.
Allow a full day for the journey, boat crossing and guided ice walk.
At a glance: MiniTrekking and Big Ice differ in age limits and walking demands. Transfer and walkway time depend on the selected option.
Planning update, September 2026: dollar amounts below are earlier estimates, not current quotes. Compare your actual date and full party; admission, pickup, meals and cancellation terms depend on the selected product and option.
Booking an ice trek at Perito Moreno does not mean giving up the balcony views. The boat that carries trekkers across Lago Argentino leaves from a pier inside Los Glaciares National Park, a short drive from the viewing platforms, so the trekking itinerary already runs past them. Plenty of first-timers spend an evening trying to solve a scheduling problem the operators solved years ago.
Can You Combine Ice Trekking And The Walkways In One Day?
Yes, and on almost every itinerary you do not have to arrange it yourself. An ice-trekking day at Perito Moreno runs as one full park day: hotel pickup in El Calafate, the drive out, time on the walkways, a boat crossing of Lago Argentino, then roughly an hour and a half walking on the ice in crampons. The two sit on opposite shores of the same lake arm, close enough that no operator would sell them apart. You can split them over two days if you want, but you would pay park entry twice and drive the same road twice for no extra glacier. Anyone weighing the walkways against a boat trip or a trek should start from that fact: the trek is the version that contains the others.
What Does A Combined Day Actually Look Like?
Pickup is early. The glacier sits about 78 km southwest of El Calafate on a fully paved road, so reckon on 1.5 to 2 hours each way, and the park day then stacks three things: the balconies, the boat crossing, and the trek itself, which starts with a short walk through lenga forest before the crampons go on. At the ice, guides fit the crampons, run the safety briefing, and take small groups in single file along the flatter ice near the edge. You get about ninety minutes up there. The boat brings you back, and depending on how your operator orders the day, the walkway stop lands either before the crossing or after it. The listing for this site's Mini Trekking style tour puts the whole thing at about 11 hours door to door. Three to four of those hours are the road.
Do You Have To Book The Walkways Separately?
No. The balconies are not a separate ticket. They are part of the national park, and any tour that drives into the park can stop there. What is separate is park entry, which is normally paid on the day and is not always folded into the tour price. Foreign visitors over six years old pay around ARS 50,000, and because Argentina's exchange rate moves quickly, check the current rate and its equivalent in your own currency before you travel. Tickets are sold online through the official park ticketing portal or in person at the gate. A second visit within 72 hours is half price, which is the one case where splitting the trek and the walkways over two days costs less than you would expect. Our breakdown of entrance fees and tour costs covers what tour prices usually do and do not include.
How Much Walkway Time Do You Really Get On A Trekking Day?
Less than on a walkways-only trip, and that is the honest trade-off. A trekking day gives you a proper stop at the main viewpoints rather than a slow half-day working through every level of the boardwalk, because the boat departure fixes the clock for everyone. For most visitors that stop is enough. You see the 5 km wide face from the classic angles, you hear the cracking, and if you are patient you watch a chunk of it calve into the lake. Photographers chasing different light through the day are the exception, along with anyone who simply wants to sit and stare. If that is you, read whether the walkways alone are enough before you pay for the ice, and check our notes on where the best angles actually are.
Who Should Split The Two Across Separate Days?
Three groups. Families with a child under eight, since Mini Trekking takes ages 8 to 65 and there is no exception. Anyone who finds an eleven-hour day too long. And travellers on a tight budget, because the walkways-focused day trip costs a fraction of the trek. There is a fourth, quieter case: people who want the glacier without a schedule. A trekking day is timed around a boat, so you cannot linger. A walkways day can be stretched or cut short. The age rules for ice trekking are worth reading first if anyone in your group is near either end of the range, and older travellers may prefer the options in our guide for seniors and limited mobility.
Which Tour Bundles The Boat, The Ice And The Walkways?
The trekking and cruise tour from El Calafate is the one built to do all three: a boat crossing of Lago Argentino, a guided trek on the ice with crampons and a briefing, and walkway time in the same park day. It runs about 11 hours and rates 4.8 across more than 8,551 bookings. That booking volume matters more than the rating on its own, because it means the schedule has been run thousands of times in Patagonian weather. Prices move with season and currency, so see live prices on the listing rather than trusting a number in an article. If you are still mapping out the day, our take on how much time you need at the glacier pairs well with this one, and you can compare Perito Moreno glacier tours side by side before you commit.