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First Half South America Gold Tour14 days duration (16 days including travel days to and from South America). We will have the opportunity to see the modern and exciting cities of Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. With their own charm and character, we will be taken on conducted tours to gain an understanding of their uniqueness. This will be balanced with great vistas as we undertake the Lakes Crossing from Chile to Argentina and venture to the base of the Iguassu Falls in an inflatable boat. To top it all, you will have the opportunity to experience fantastic food, as well as attend a Tango Show and a Samba Show to liven up your nights. Overall this is a very rounded tour with activities to keep everyone eagerly anticipating the next surprise, yet conducted at a leisurely pace to give us time to take in everything we are seeing and doing..
This morning you will make your own way to the airport for your flight to Santiago, via Auckland. As you cross the International Date Line you ‘gain’ a day so you will arrive in South America later on Friday. You will be met and taken to your luxury hotel for two nights. (Meals Inflight)
This morning we host a very informative tour orientation meeting in which we get to know each other and outline the important aspects of the day-to-day operation of your Inca Gold Tour of South America.
This afternoon we will take you on a city tour of Santiago. We will visit the Plaza de Armas (Main Square), the 16th Century Cathedral, City Hall and National Congress Buildings and the Moneda Presidential Palace. We also see O’Higgins Park, featuring the former Chilean Military Academy and the Santa Lucia Hill where the foundation of Santiago took place in 1542. Tonight enjoy a welcome dinner. (BD)
Early this morning we will be transferred back to Santiago Airport to connect with our flight to Puerto Montt, in the Southern Lakes District of Patagonia. This area contains a series of magnificent lakes cutting through and strung along the foothills of the Andes. On arrival we will be taken on a brief city tour including the local fish market.
Later we are transferred to our hotel in nearby Puerto Varas, a beautiful alpine type town on the shores of Llanquihue Lake. (B)
From Puerto Varas our Southern Lakes Crossing is a combination of bus and boat travel traversing this spectacular area. We will be collected from our hotel and travel by coach around the shores of Llanquihue Lake. After entering the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park we will visit the famous Petrohue Falls and then cross Todos los Santos Lake (also known as Esmeralda, Emerald in English), seeing Margarita Island, Osorno Volcano, and the peaks of Puntiagudo and Tronador Mountains to Peulla, where we will stop to complete Chilean Immigration and Customs procedures and to have lunch.
After lunch we will cross the Vicente Perez Rosales Pass to the Argentine Immigration and Customs point. We will then travel by catamaran across Frias Lake to Puerto Alegre where we will again board a bus to take us to Puerto Blest. From Puerto Blest to Puerto Panuelo is again by boat, this time on the famous Nahuel Huapi Lake. On disembarkation at Puerto Panuelo we will be met and taken to the luxurious Llao Llao Hotel for two nights. (BL)
Bariloche, situated on the shore of the beautiful Lake Nahuel Huapi is an internationally recognised ski resort with steep streets, wooden chalets perched Swiss style upon a glacial moraine at the foot of Cerro Otto, and without a doubt, it is the best centre for exploring the Nahuel Huapi National Park and surrounding areas.
Today’s pleasant tour follows the southern shore of the Lake Nahuel Huapi. On a clear day, we might catch sight of the highest mountain of the area, El Tronador (The Thunderer), whose snow capped peaks rise to 3,554 metres. The road then winds through the coyhue forest, an indigenous evergreen of the beech family. We will follow the southern edge of Lake Moreno under the steep cliffs of Mount Lopez to the spectacular Panoramic Point for a magnificent view looking back towards the Andes that we’ve just traversed. The breathtaking view includes Lake Moreno, the Llao Llao Hotel, and the northern arm of Lake Nahuel Huapi with Victoria Island in its centre. The peaks of the Andean Chain, including Mount Lopez, Capilla and Millaqueo rise to the west of the lakes. We will enjoy lunch after the tour at a local restaurant. (BL)
This morning we will be transferred to Bariloche Airport to connect with our flight to Buenos Aires. On arrival into the Argentine Capital we will be met and transferred to our downtown hotel for three fabulous nights. Tonight enjoy dinner at a traditional Argentine steak house! (BD)
Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and is the most fashionable city in South America, with many beautiful parks and plazas. Portenos, as the locals call themselves, are fun loving people who enjoy their city and music. This morning we will be taken on a city tour taking in the Government House (Casa Rosada), City Hall, House of Congress, Metropolitan Cathedral, Colon Theatre, Avenue 9th July (the widest street in the world) and the famous Italian La Boca District. This afternoon is at leisure.
This evening we will be taken out to dinner where we will also experience the city’s very best Tango Show. (BD)
Today is at leisure in Buenos Aires to take advantage of the wonderful shopping or alternatively, to visit the National Art Gallery or the world famous Colon Opera House. (B)
Early this morning we will be collected from our hotel and transferred out to Buenos Aires’ Domestic Airport to join our flight to Iguazu Falls, considered by many as the most impressive in the world and surpassing in grandeur both Niagara and Victoria Falls.
Some 275 separate cascades fall in a wild array of spray over a winding 3 kilometre cliff frontage into a gorge 60 metres deep. One of the most spectacular of the falls is aptly named “The Devil’s Throat”. We will be met from our flight and taken on a walking tour of the Argentine side of the falls before being transferred to the Brazil side and to the famous old Das Cataratas Hotel, where we have accommodation for two fabulous nights. Tonight enjoy dinner at the hotel. (BLD)
This morning we visit the most spectacular side of the falls from a photographic point of view—the Brazil side! Then we take you through the rain forest by 4-wheel drive jeep to the Iguassu River where we board our powerful inflated boat for an incredibly spectacular ride up the river to the base of the falls. There should also be time for us to visit a local bird sanctuary, where we will have the opportunity to see a wide variety of South American species. (BD)
This morning we will be transferred to Iguassu Airport to connect with our flight to Rio de Janeiro. On arrival in Rio we will be met and transferred to our hotel located right on Copacabana Beach for three nights.
Rio sweeps twenty kilometres along the narrow alluvial strip between the mountains and the sea. The combination of dark blue sea, studded with rocky islands, with the tumbling wooded mountains and expanses of bare grey rock which surround the city is very impressive. Brazilians say: “God made the world in six days, the seventh He devoted to Rio”. This afternoon is at leisure. You may like to try a traditional caipirinha at the rooftop bar tonight and watch the sun set. (B)
This morning we will be collected from our hotel and taken on a tour to Corcovado Mountain, located in the Tijuca Atlantic Forest, the largest urban forest in the world and home to the Statue of Christ the Redeemer. The statue is one of Rio’s most famous landmarks. It is 37 metres high, weighs 1100 tons and has a 360 degree view of the entire Rio area below, encompassing the city, the bay, the mountains and the sea, within a circle of up to 160 km. We will then be returned to our hotel.
Our afternoon is at leisure to further enjoy Copacabana. You may wish to go shopping for typical Brazilian music. Tonight we will be taken to one of Rio’s most popular restaurants for an enjoyable Brazilian dinner. We then continue on to experience Rio’s best Carnival & Samba Show outside of Carnival! (BD)
Early this afternoon we will visit the old city of Rio and then be taken to the Sugar Loaf Mountain, located uniquely above the entrance to Guanabara Bay. It is reached by a spectacular 2-stage cable car ride that offers a beautiful look at the city and its beaches from a vantage point high above Rio de Janeiro. On arrival we will enjoy a cool drink as the sun sets over the emerging lights of Rio. (B)
Today we will be transferred to the airport for our flight to Santiago where, on arrival you will connect with your flight home. (B & Meal Inflight)
TToday is spent inflight as we recross the International Date Line and ‘lose’ one day. (Meals Inflight)
This morning we will arrive into Auckland before continuing on to Sydney. (Meals Inflight)
Welcome Home! All prices are subject to currency fluctuations, additional airline charges and changes in costs from ground suppliers. We reserve the right to vary any part of the tour at our sole discretion as circumstances may require.
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