Perito Moreno GlacierTours & Tickets
Perito Moreno Glacier Tours›Choosing your day
Updated: August 10, 2026

Walkways, Boat, Minitrekking or Big Ice: Choosing Your Perito Moreno Glacier Day

Hours, prices and access verified by the Perito Moreno Glacier Tours team — last checked August 10, 2026.

Four completely different days carry this glacier’s name, and the listings compare badly because they are not the same product. Two of the four have hard age limits that rule people out before price enters the conversation, which is where this needs to start.

A boat approaching the ice wall of the Perito Moreno Glacier

In this guide

  1. Four days, one glacier
  2. The walkway circuits
  3. The boat safari
  4. Minitrekking
  5. Big Ice
  6. What are the age and fitness limits?
  7. The four options, compared
  8. Can you combine them?
  9. Do you actually walk on the glacier?
  10. Which day suits which traveller
  11. Three ways this goes wrong
  12. The short verdict

Four days, one glacier

Perito Moreno is unusual among great glaciers in being genuinely easy to reach. Eighty kilometres of good road from El Calafate ends at a car park, and a system of steel walkways takes you to within a few hundred metres of a five-kilometre ice front that is sixty metres high above the water.

That accessibility is why four products exist. You can look at it from the walkways, approach the wall by boat, walk on the ice in crampons for an hour and a half, or spend three to four hours crossing it on a longer trek.

They range from $76 to $800 and from a gentle day out to a serious one. The single most useful thing to know before comparing prices is that two of them will not take you at all if you are outside a set age band.

The walkway circuits

The passarelas are the heart of every version of this day, and on the cheapest tours they are the whole of it. Several kilometres of steel walkway descend the hillside opposite the ice front in a series of circuits, each at a different height, each giving a different angle on the wall.

You need three to four hours to do them properly, and most tours allow that. The lower balconies put you closest to the water and the sound; the upper ones give you the whole five-kilometre front at once. The colour is the thing photographs never quite carry — a blue that is genuinely unlike anything else.

And the calving. Blocks the size of buildings break off the front and fall into Brazo Rico with a report you feel as much as hear. It happens on no schedule at all, which is why sitting still on a balcony for forty minutes is a better use of the day than walking every circuit twice.

The boat safari

An hour on the water, from a jetty on the Magallanes peninsula, running along the front at a respectful distance. It is sold as an optional add-on to almost every walkway tour, usually for around thirty to fifty dollars.

What it adds is scale. From the walkways the wall looks enormous; from a boat at its foot, with the ice sixty metres above the deck, it is a different order of thing entirely. Photographers get their best material here.

What it does not add is contact. The boats keep a safe distance because calving throws ice and pushes water, and the distance is not negotiable.

If you are picking one add-on: the boat is the cheapest meaningful upgrade on this glacier. Thirty to fifty dollars roughly doubles what you take away from a walkway day, which is not true of anything else on the list.

Minitrekking

The most-booked ice experience here, and for most travellers the right one. A boat crosses Brazo Rico to the southern flank, a short walk through lénga forest reaches the moraine, guides fit crampons, and you spend roughly ninety minutes on the ice.

The route stays on the lower, gentler part of the glacier and takes in crevasses, blue pools and the sculpted surface that the walkways cannot show you. It finishes, traditionally, with whisky over glacier ice.

The whole day runs eight to eleven hours from El Calafate and costs $358 to $475 depending on what else is bundled. The age band is roughly ten to sixty-five, and it is enforced.

Big Ice

The serious version. Three to four hours on the ice instead of ninety minutes, deeper into the glacier, across terrain the Minitrekking route never reaches — larger crevasses, ice caves in some seasons, and views back down the whole flow.

It is a full twelve-hour day from El Calafate at $630 to $800, it requires a genuine level of fitness, and the age band is narrower still: roughly eighteen to fifty, again enforced.

For people who came to Patagonia to be on a glacier, it is the product. For everyone else it is four hours of hard walking in crampons at a price that buys two Minitrekking days.

What are the age and fitness limits?

This decides more bookings than price does, and it is the thing operators are least flexible about.

OptionAge bandFitness neededEnforced?
WalkwaysNoneAble to manage steps and several kilometres of walkwayn/a — open to everyone
Boat safariNoneBoarding a boatn/a
MinitrekkingRoughly 10–65Moderate; 90 min on uneven iceYes, at check-in, with identification
Big IceRoughly 18–50Good; 3–4 hrs on demanding terrainYes, strictly

Exact bands vary a little by operator and are published on the listings. What does not vary is that they are checked. Turning up at sixty-eight for a Big Ice trek does not work, and the refund position in that situation is not generous.

The walkways have no limit and are the reason this glacier works for multi-generational travel: grandparents and grandchildren can share the same day while the middle generation goes trekking, all on the same bus.

The four options, compared

OptionFromDay lengthOn the iceAge bandBest for
Walkways only$768–9 hrsNoneAnyFirst visit, any budget, any age
Walkways + boat$83–$1348–9 hrsNoneAnyThe best value upgrade here
Minitrekking$358–$47510–11 hrs~90 min~10–65Anyone who wants to walk on it without a hard day
Big Ice$630–$80012 hrs3–4 hrs~18–50Coming to Patagonia specifically for the ice
Multi-glacier navigation$22511 hrsNoneAnySeeing Spegazzini and Upsala as well

The last row is a different trip that shares the region rather than the glacier: a long boat day across Lago Argentino taking in several ice fronts, with less time at Perito Moreno itself.

Can you combine them?

Yes, and most of the good bookings do.

Every trekking product includes walkway time, because the bus goes there anyway and the balconies are on the route. What varies is how much: some Minitrekking days give you two full hours on the passarelas, others give you forty minutes at the end when you are tired.

The boat safari combines with everything. Adding it to a walkway day is the cheapest meaningful upgrade available; adding it to a Minitrekking day sometimes duplicates the crossing you already make, so check the itinerary rather than assuming.

What does not combine is Minitrekking and Big Ice. They are alternatives, they run on the same day from the same base, and nobody sells both.

Do you actually walk on the glacier?

Only on Minitrekking and Big Ice. The walkways face the ice front across water and the boats keep their distance, so neither puts a foot on the glacier at any price.

This matters because the marketing photographs blur it. A walkway tour listing showing people in crampons is showing you the upgrade, not the product, and travellers who booked $76 expecting to stand on ice are consistently the ones who feel misled.

The honest framing: $76 buys you the best view of a glacier available anywhere in the world without a helicopter. $358 buys you ninety minutes standing on it. They are both good days and they are not the same day.

Which day suits which traveller

First time in Patagonia, one day at the glacier

Walkways plus the boat, $83 to $134. You get the full front from every angle and an hour at its foot, and you keep the money for El Chaltén.

You want to walk on a glacier and this is your chance

Minitrekking. Ninety minutes on the ice, a manageable day, and the age band takes in most travellers.

Travelling with children or older parents

Walkways for everyone, and the trekkers in the party can peel off — several operators run mixed bookings on the same transfer.

Patagonia is the trip and the ice is the reason

Big Ice, if you are inside the age band and fit. Three to four hours out on the glacier is a different experience from ninety minutes at its edge, and nothing else on this list substitutes for it.

Three ways this goes wrong

  • Booking a trek outside the age band. Both trekking products enforce it with identification at check-in, and discovering that at the moraine is an expensive morning.
  • Assuming the park fee is included. Many walkway tours quote transport and guiding only, with the national park entrance paid separately in cash at the gate. Read the exclusions.
  • Booking the shortest day and expecting to see calving. It happens on no schedule. Sitting still on a balcony for forty minutes gives you far better odds than walking every circuit at speed.

The short verdict

Start with the age band, not the price. If Big Ice is open to you and the ice is why you came, take it; nothing else does what it does.

If you want to walk on the glacier without a twelve-hour day, Minitrekking is the answer and has been for years, which is why it is the most-booked product here.

And if you are here to see the thing rather than stand on it, take a walkway day and add the boat. At $83 to $134 it is the best value on this glacier by a wide margin, and the calving does not charge extra.

Common questions

What is the difference between Minitrekking and Big Ice?
Time on the ice and how hard the day is. Minitrekking gives you about ninety minutes on the gentler lower glacier and runs ten to eleven hours in total. Big Ice gives you three to four hours deeper into the flow, runs a full twelve hours, and needs a genuine level of fitness.
Are there age limits for the glacier treks?
Yes, and they are enforced with identification at check-in. Minitrekking runs roughly ten to sixty-five and Big Ice roughly eighteen to fifty, with exact bands varying a little by operator. The walkways and the boat safari have no age limit at all.
Do you walk on the glacier on a walkway tour?
No. The walkways face the ice front across the water and the boats keep a safe distance, so neither puts a foot on the glacier. Only Minitrekking and Big Ice do, and the marketing photographs on cheaper listings often show the upgrade rather than the product.
Is the boat safari worth adding?
It is the best-value upgrade on this glacier. Thirty to fifty dollars puts you at the foot of a sixty-metre ice wall for an hour, and it roughly doubles what you take away from a walkway day. Check first whether a trekking booking already includes the crossing.
How long do you need on the walkways?
Three to four hours to do the circuits properly, which most tours allow. The lower balconies put you closest to the sound and the upper ones give you the whole five-kilometre front at once. Sitting still for forty minutes gives far better calving odds than walking everything twice.
Can I do Minitrekking and Big Ice on the same trip?
Not on the same day; they are alternatives running from the same base. On a longer stay in El Calafate you could do both on separate days, but there is little reason to, since Big Ice covers everything Minitrekking does and more.

Where to go next

Tours that fit this trip

Chosen to match what this guide covers, not for what sells.