Wild Argentina

You land at Ezeiza. Most flights from North America and Europe arrive in the morning, and someone is waiting for you when you clear the airport. Instead of turning toward Buenos Aires, the car goes the other way, about 50 minutes to Estancia Villa María in the countryside.

The point is a soft landing. There are grounds to walk, a quiet afternoon and nothing you have to do. The city you skipped gets its turn on Day 17.

This morning you go back to the airport and fly to Puerto Iguazú. A driver takes you first to a tea-tasting house, where you learn about what this region produces. Around 2:30 pm you set off for the lodge, about two hours through green country.

Yacutinga Lodge sits in the jungle of Misiones province, almost surrounded by the Upper Iguazú River. An afternoon presentation covers the rainforest and its conservation. Wildlife in the area includes rich birdlife, monkeys, sloths and capybara. You stay two nights.

After breakfast you kayak the San Francisco river. It is gentle, unhurried paddling with good chances to watch wildlife, and the banks have salt patches that wild animals seek out. Watch the edges.

Back at the lodge there is lunch and some free time. Later a guide walks you through the forest and explains its medicinal plants, orchids, birds and mammals. After dinner comes the night walk, where you may see owls and other nocturnal life.

Breakfast, then the morning is yours. If you want something to do with it, visit the lodge's orchid rescue program. After that you drive back to Puerto Iguazú, arriving around 1 pm.

The afternoon is the border crossing into Brazil and the falls. The Brazilian side is the panorama: you watch the Iguazú River go over the edge from a distance. Afterward you cross back to Argentina, where you stay two nights.

Today is the Argentine side, and it is a different experience from yesterday. Instead of the view from a distance, you get close. A series of walkways takes you up to the Devil's Throat, one of the most impressive parts of the falls.

Paths through the forest follow the edges of the falls and the river. Take your time on them. Then you return to your hotel.

You leave Puerto Iguazú this morning and drive south-west for about four hours to Posadas. If you want to break the drive up, Jesuit ruins and gem mines can be visited along the way. They cost extra and need to be arranged in advance.

At Posadas you change vehicles for the last 45 minutes to your hotel in the Iberá wetlands, where you stay three nights. This is the part of the trip that takes effort to reach, and that is the point.

The Iberá wetlands are one of the largest freshwater wetlands in South America, and you have two days to explore them: on the Paraná River, in the wetlands themselves and in the grounds of the hotel. The hotel sits in the north-east corner of the reserve, on the edge of the Paraná.

The wildlife list is long: caiman, otters, capybara, marsh deer and around 350 species of birds. Between outings, the hotel's cooking is excellent and the swimming pool looks out over the river.

This morning you are driven to Posadas airport, about 45 minutes away, and fly via Buenos Aires to El Calafate in Patagonia. It is a long travel day, and the country at the other end looks nothing like the wetlands.

At El Calafate you are met and driven to Eolo lodge, outside town in wild country. It is your base for the glacier and for a day of your own.

A change from the animals today. The road from El Calafate to Perito Moreno Glacier runs through rugged country of lakes, streams, woods and snow-capped mountains. You get a panoramic view first, then walkways and footbridges bring you close to the face of the glacier, 5 km (3 miles) long.

A boat trip in front of the glacier is included and gets you to within 500 meters (about 1,600 feet) of the ice. If you want a more active day, kayaking and trekking in front of the glacier are possible. Ask your Destination Consultant.

The day is yours around the lodge, with one activity included. Choose from a visit to a lagoon with flamingos, birdwatching, mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding or a 4x4 tour.

The flamingos are the obvious pick on a wildlife route, but the others put you into the same Patagonian landscape. Beyond that, the day has no fixed plan.

You are driven to El Calafate airport for a morning flight to Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city. When you land, you visit Tierra del Fuego National Park, on the Beagle Channel, with its bays and forested hills.

Then you go back to Ushuaia, where you stay two nights. This is the southern end of the route, and from here everything heads north.

Around 9 am you board a boat into the Beagle Channel. The first stops are Sea Lion Island, Bird Island and a lighthouse. Then comes Martillo Island and the highlight of the day: you walk among Magellanic and gentoo penguins for about an hour.

From there you continue to the Acatushún Museum at Estancia Harberton before returning to Ushuaia.

A driver takes you to Ushuaia airport for the flight to Trelew, in another part of Patagonia. The area is known for its Welsh settlements as well as its wildlife. In Trelew you are met and driven about an hour to Puerto Madryn, where you stay two nights.

Today is mostly travel, which leaves you ready for an early start tomorrow.

Set off early for Puerto Pirámides and a whale-watching trip of an hour and a half. The boat is a semi-submersible, so you can watch from above the water and from a submerged lower deck, which gives you a view of the southern right whales from below the surface.

After the boat there is time for lunch. Then you visit the sea lion colony at Punta Pirámides and Caleta Valdés, an interesting geological feature. Along the way you have a fair chance of seeing guanacos, rheas, foxes, maras (the Patagonian hare), armadillos and skunks. You are back in Puerto Madryn at sunset.

The morning drive is 90 minutes to Punta Tombo, where you spend at least two and a half hours at a Magellanic penguin rookery. There is a visitor center and there are trails to explore.

From the rookery you are dropped at Trelew airport for an evening flight to Buenos Aires. You are met on arrival and driven to your hotel, where you stay two nights.

The city you skipped on Day 1 gets its turn, with a twist: a walking tour of the city's largest green spaces. You visit Palermo Woods and the Rosedal, a big stretch of lakes, trees and roses. Next come the Galileo Galilei Planetarium and the Japanese Garden.

The Botanical Garden follows, designed by the landscape designer Carlos Thays, with many plant species and a large collection of sculptures. Then the Evita Museum and MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art, before you head back to your hotel.

A driver takes you to the airport today for your flight home, or for the next leg of a South America trip. If you want more time in Buenos Aires before you go, it can be added, and a tango show is one way to spend the evening. Your Destination Consultant can arrange it when the rest of the route is planned.