Guide · On the water

Perito Moreno glacier boat tours, from short safari to cruise

From the walkways the ice looks huge. From a boat on Lago Argentino it fills the sky. Here is how the boat trips differ, what they cost and how to fit one into your day.

Check availabilityfrom $69 · free cancellation

Editorial team, perito-moreno-glacier-tours.comUpdated October 16, 2026Read time: 8 min7 sources

The tour for this guide El Calafate: Perito Moreno glacier day trip with optional boat 4.7 (2,735 reviews) 8 hoursBilingual guideOptional boat ride from$69per person Check availabilityFree to cancel until one day before

Quick answer

01Short trip: A boat ride below the ice front lasts 1 hour and starts from $62.
02Day with boat: This site's day trip adds the boat ride only if you choose that option.
03Small group: A sightseeing day with a boat safari is limited to 15 participants.
04Full day cruise: A gourmet cruise with the footbridges takes 12 hours.
05Park ticket: The national park ticket is never part of an excursion; buy it yourself.¹

Why see the glacier from the water

The walkways on the Magellan peninsula give you the classic view: the glacier straight ahead, the forest around you and a constant crackle of ice somewhere along the front. A boat changes the scale completely. Down at water level you look up at the wall instead of across at it, and the blue inside the cracks grows much deeper. Floating ice drifts past the hull, and when a block breaks away you feel its wave arrive a few moments later. Perito Moreno glacier boat tours exist for exactly that change of angle.

The front is also longer than you expect from the shore. Measured from side to side it runs more than 4 km, and it rises more than 60 meters above the lake.² From the balconies that height is hard to judge, with nothing next to the ice to compare it with. A boat sailing along the wall supplies the missing yardstick: the vessels look like toys against it, and the photographs you have seen of this place suddenly make sense. It is the view travelers tend to describe first when they get home.

There is a practical reason too. The weather over Lago Argentino can turn within the hour, and a sailing gives you another look at the glacier if clouds hide part of the front during your walk. Low cloud often lifts from the water before it clears the ridges. If you have just one day in El Calafate, pairing the walkways with a short sailing covers both views of the ice without committing you to a long trek, and it still leaves the evening free for dinner in town.

Your day

A day trip with the boat ride added

Morning

Pickup in town

The coach collects you at your hotel in El Calafate.
On the way

Steppe and forest

The road crosses steppe before reaching the park entrance and its forest.³
Midday

On the water

The boat sails along the front of the glacier.
Afternoon

The walkways

Time on the balconies facing the ice.⁴
Evening

Back in town

The coach returns you to El Calafate.

The short boat safari below the ice front

The simplest option is a short sailing from the shore near the glacier, running along the front and back again. One listing for this trip lasts 1 hour, offers a guide in Spanish and English, lets you skip the ticket line and starts from $62. It is rated 4.54 from 42 reviews, a fair score for a trip that is mostly about the view rather than about the guiding. It is the obvious add-on for anyone visiting the walkways on their own schedule.

This kind of sailing suits travelers who arrive by scheduled bus or rental car and want the water view without joining a group day. You still need the national park ticket, and the El Calafate tourism office states plainly that the ticket is not included in any excursion.¹ Buy it before you leave town and keep it on your phone: fees are collected at the park gate on provincial road RP 11, on the way out to the glacier.⁵ Without the ticket you will not reach the shore at all.

On board, the crew keeps a respectful distance from the front, as falling ice sends waves across the water and throws blocks into the lake. Expect to spend nearly the whole sailing on the outside deck, where the sound of the glacier reaches you best. Bring a hat and gloves even in summer: the air close to the ice is clearly colder than in the parking area, and the wind across the open deck makes it feel colder still. A small towel for the camera lens is a good idea on misty days.

Ratings

How guests rate the boat options

points

Average review scores out of 5 on GetYourGuide for each listing.

Compared

Boat options at the Perito Moreno glacier

Trip	Duration	Group	Price from
Short boat ride	1 hr	Open	from $62
This site's day trip, boat optional	8 hrs	Coach	from $69
Expedition, cruise optional	8 hrs	Small group available	from $63
Sightseeing with boat safari	8 hrs	Up to 15	from $145
Blue Safari	3 to 9 hrs	Open	from $117
Gourmet cruise and footbridges	12 hrs	Open	from $251

Per-person starting prices; the date and remaining seats set what you actually pay.

Three ways onto the lake

Pick your boat trip

El Calafate: Perito Moreno Glacier & Optional Boat Cruise

Most reviewed

Day trip, boat optional

Walkways plus the water

Duration: 8 hours
Guide: Spanish, English
Pickup: Included

See the trip

Calmer

Boat safari

Small group day

Duration: 8 hours
Group: Up to 15
Guide: English, Spanish

See the trip

Gourmet Glacier Cruise & Footbridges of Perito Moreno

Longest

Gourmet cruise

A full day on the lake

Duration: 12 hours
Start: Puerto Bandera
Footbridges: Included

See the trip

Decision helper

Which boat trip fits you?

Match your priorities with the trip that delivers them.

I have only one day and a small budget I am driving myself I want a quieter group I want a whole day on the water I also want to touch the ice

Day trip, boat optional

Pickup, guide and walkways, with the sailing added only if you want it.

The short boat ride

A 1-hour sailing you can add to a self-guided visit.

Boat safari with a guide

The group is limited to 15 participants.

The gourmet cruise

A 12-hour day including the footbridges.

A trek with a boat crossing

See the trekking guide for Minitrekking and Big Ice.

[The Perito Moreno glacier] is close to 30 km long, with a front of 4 to 5 km on the southern arm of Lago Argentino.

Administración de Parques Nacionalesrendered from Spanish · Source 6

Day trips from El Calafate with an optional boat ride

Many day trips from town are built around the walkways and offer the sailing as an add-on. The tour sold on this site works that way: hotel pickup, a bilingual guide and the boat ride only if you pick that option, over a day of 8 hours, from $69 for the base price. It is rated 4.74 from 2,735 reviews, a large body of feedback that tells you the format works. The price of the boat option is shown when you choose your date.

Several similar day trips follow the same pattern. A guided expedition with an optional cruise starts from $63 and is rated 4.84 from 146 reviews. A full-day tour with optional navigation starts from $84 and is rated 4.75. The differences lie mostly in group size, guide languages and the cancellation window. Read those lines before you compare the headline prices, since they decide how flexible your booking really is.

The add-on model is practical for a first visit. You decide on the boat ride when you book, the guide handles the timing, and the coach waits for the group after the sailing. If the weather turns poor, you still have the walkways and the forest trails. For travelers who want both views of the glacier at a modest cost, this combination is the natural starting point, and it fits neatly between a late breakfast in El Calafate and an early dinner back in town.

Before you sail

Pack for the deck

Bring

Warm layers and a windproof, waterproof jacket
Gloves and a hat, even in summer
Sunscreen and sunglasses for the glare off the ice

Arrange

Your national park ticket, bought before the day
Check the cancellation window of your listing
Leave time for weather changes on the lake

Calculator

What the boat trip costs your group

Choose a sailing, enter your group size and see the combined starting price.

Short boat ride1 hourfrom $62 Day trip, boat optional8 hoursfrom $69 Boat safariUp to 15 peoplefrom $145 Gourmet cruise12 hoursfrom $251

People 2

Total from$124

per guest from $62

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Glacier tour prices start from what GetYourGuide lists; for other currencies we apply the ECB reference rate, and checkout confirms the final sum.

Video

Perito Moreno Glacier Argentina: Boat Tour, Boardwalks & Travel Guide

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Small groups, safaris and the long cruise

If you dislike big coaches, look at trips that cap the group. A sightseeing tour with a boat safari and a guide limits the group to 15 participants, runs 8 hours, offers English and Spanish and starts from $145. It is rated 4.82 from 193 reviews. A smaller group changes the day in quiet ways: boarding is quicker, the guide answers questions at the railing rather than over a microphone, and the stops on the road out take less time.

Some operators sell a boat safari together with a short walk on the ice. The Blue Safari trip, for example, lasts between 3 and 9 hours depending on the option and starts from $117. It sits between a plain sailing and a full trek, and our guide to trekking on the Perito Moreno glacier covers it in more detail. If touching the ice matters to you, start there before you book any boat trip on its own.

At the far end of the scale is a full Perito Moreno glacier cruise that spends most of the day on the water. A gourmet cruise that also includes the footbridges takes 12 hours, departs from Puerto Bandera and starts from $251. It is rated 4.68 from 103 reviews. Long navigations like this usually visit other glaciers on the lake as well; if Upsala and Spegazzini are your real goal, our sister guide to El Calafate glacier tours compares those cruises.

What a boat tour costs, and how to compare

To judge the price of a Perito Moreno glacier boat tour, compare like with like. The lowest-priced day trips start from $60 and include pickup, a guide and the walkways, with the sailing offered on top. The short sailing on its own starts from $62. Small-group days with the boat safari built in start from $145. And a full cruise day starts from $251. Between those points lies nearly every option you will see offered in El Calafate.

Every figure here is a from-price, and the real amount depends on the date, the season and the seats left. Amounts switch to whichever currency you select in the header. Remember to add the park ticket to every option, since no excursion includes it.¹ The daily pass costs 50,000 Argentine pesos at the general rate.⁷ Keep that cost in mind when a cheaper day trip seems to undercut a pricier one by only a small margin.

Cancellation terms differ more than you might think. The tour sold on this site allows free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance. One day trip with an optional boat asks for 3 days' notice for a full refund instead. If your travel plans are still moving, that line matters more than a small difference in price, especially in the busy months when flights and buses into El Calafate change at short notice.

Tips for a good boat trip

Stand on the side facing the glacier as the boat turns, and keep your camera ready but your eyes free: the moment ice breaks away rarely lasts long enough to frame it well. A zoom lens helps with the texture of the cracks, while a wide lens captures the whole front with the railing in the foreground for scale. Short video clips often tell the story of a collapse better than a burst of photographs, and they capture the sound as well.

Dress for wind and spray. A waterproof outer layer, gloves and a warm hat make the outside deck pleasant even on grey days. Inside the cabin you stay warm but lose the sound of the ice, which is a large part of the experience. Plan to spend the sailing outside and step in only to warm up. Sunglasses are worth packing too: the glare from the white surface is strong when the sun breaks through the clouds over the lake.

Finally, think about the order of your day. If clouds sit low in the morning, take the boat first and walk later; if the sky is clear, enjoy the walkways while the light is good and sail in the afternoon. Day trips with an optional boat usually fix the order for the whole group, while a self-guided visit gives you the freedom to follow the weather. Either way, leave a little slack in your plans for the lake to show its best side.

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