Choosing between two El Calafate days
Glaciers Gourmet vs Perito Moreno Mini-Trekking: which day suits you
One is a full day on the water with lunch and two glaciers; the other puts crampons on your boots for ninety minutes on the ice. Most visitors who have time do both.
See Glaciers Gourmet cruise tickets on GetYourGuide ↗Two different El Calafate days
| Glaciers Gourmet cruise | Perito Moreno Mini-Trekking | |
|---|---|---|
| Glacier(s) | Upsala and Spegazzini, northern arm | Perito Moreno only |
| Ice walking? | No — boat only | Yes, ~1.5 hours with crampons |
| Lunch | Gourmet lunch included on board | Not included |
| Duration | About 8 hours sailing, 10–12 door to door | Around 10 hours door to door |
| From (per brief figures) | US$235 | US$399 |
Two genuinely different products
It is easy to assume these are competing versions of the same day out, but they visit different glaciers and offer a different kind of access. This cruise is a boat-only sightseeing day into the northern arm, taking in Upsala and Spegazzini with a gourmet lunch on board. Mini-Trekking, on our sibling site peritomorenotrek.com, is built around Perito Moreno specifically, and its whole point is the roughly ninety minutes spent actually walking on glacier ice in crampons after a much shorter boat crossing.
If you only have one day for glaciers
The choice comes down to what you want more: the scale and variety of two glaciers seen from the water with a proper sit-down lunch, or the physical experience of standing on ice with a mountain guide. Neither is objectively better — Mini-Trekking is the pricier, more active, more singular experience; this cruise is the longer, more comfortable, wider-ranging one.
If you have two days, do both
Many visitors with more than a couple of nights in El Calafate book both on separate dates rather than choosing. There is very little overlap in what you see — Perito Moreno is a different glacier from either Upsala or Spegazzini, and standing on ice in crampons is a different experience from watching a 135-metre wall from a boat deck.
The park fee applies to both
Whichever you book, or both, remember the Los Glaciares National Park entrance fee is separate from the tour price on either listing — see our dedicated guide to what it is and how to pay it. If you do both cruises within the window that qualifies for the park's reduced second-visit rate, the second entrance can cost less than the first.
Booking order
There is no required order between the two. Some visitors prefer to do the more physical Mini-Trekking day first while fresh, and treat the Glaciers Gourmet cruise as the more relaxed day afterwards; others do the reverse. Both run on their own fixed daily schedules, so the real constraint is simply which dates are available when you book.
Fitness and who each suits
This cruise asks nothing of you physically beyond standing at a rail for stretches on a moving boat deck — it suits travellers of any fitness level, including families with children and older visitors who would rather not manage crampons and uneven ice. Mini-Trekking asks for a reasonable level of fitness and mobility, since it involves roughly ninety minutes actually walking on ice in specialised boots, and typically carries its own age and health restrictions set by the operator.
What each actually costs
On the brief's own figures, this cruise starts from US$235 with the gourmet lunch included; Mini-Trekking starts from US$399 without a lunch included, reflecting the smaller group sizes, mountain guides and specialised equipment an on-ice walk requires. Both prices are before the separate park entrance fee, and both are the starting or 'from' price — your actual total depends on the option and date you book.
If the weather turns
Both routes depend on conditions in an exposed, glacier-fed environment, and either can see timings or specific stops adjusted for wind, ice movement or visibility. Neither is more or less weather-dependent than the other in any fixed way — check your own booking's cancellation and change policy on GetYourGuide rather than assuming either is guaranteed to run exactly as described regardless of conditions.
What you come away remembering
Travellers who have done both tend to describe them differently afterwards. Mini-Trekking is remembered as a single, visceral moment — standing on the ice, the sound of it under crampons, the glass of whisky at the end. This cruise is remembered as a fuller day: the changing scenery leg by leg, lunch on the water, and the scale of Spegazzini's wall arriving last, as the day's high point rather than its only point. Neither memory cancels the other out, which is the real case for doing both if your schedule allows it.