Hand-picked tours, honest local detail and everything you need to plan Argentina’s oldest national park — from a first afternoon on the Circuito Chico to the glaciers of Tronador.
Nahuel Huapi National Park protects around 7,000 km² of the northern Patagonian Andes: a glacier-carved lake the size of a small sea, forests of coihue, cypress and cinnamon-barked arrayán, and a skyline of granite spires crowned by the ice of Cerro Tronador. It grew from land donated by the explorer Francisco “Perito” Moreno in 1903 and became Argentina’s first national park in 1934.
San Carlos de Bariloche, on the south shore, is the base for almost everything — boat trips, viewpoints, ski slopes, chocolate and craft beer. This guide shows you how to split your days between them, which tours are worth booking, and where to sleep with the lake outside your window.
Curated experiences booked through GetYourGuide — boat trips, day tours and adventures from Bariloche. Tap any tour for live prices in your currency and availability.
Boat trip The park’s signature boat excursion. You sail from Puerto Pañuelo beside the Llao Llao Hotel across the lake to the tip of the Quetrihué peninsula, walk the raised boardwalk through a grove of cinnamon-barked arrayán trees, then stop on Isla Victoria for its forest trails and sandy coves.
Boat trip A full day deep in the wettest, greenest corner of the park. The boat runs west up the narrow Brazo Blest past Isla Centinela to the waterfall of Los Cántaros, where a wooden stairway climbs through rainforest to a hidden lake, then continues to Puerto Blest and the glacier-green waters of Lago Frías.
Sightseeing tour The best first afternoon in Bariloche. A guided minibus loop along Avenida Bustillo and the Llao Llao peninsula, with a stop at the foot of Cerro Campanario — whose chairlift leads to the view many visitors call the finest in Argentina — plus the Punto Panorámico lookout and Puerto Pañuelo.
Day trip Tronador — “the thunderer” — is the extinct volcano of roughly 3,470 m on the Chilean border whose hanging glaciers crack and rumble all summer. This day trip follows Route 40 past Lago Mascardi and a long gravel road up the Manso valley to Pampa Linda and the Ventisquero Negro, with free time for lunch and short walks.
Day trip One of Argentina’s most famous drives, done in a day. The route runs north around the lake to Villa La Angostura, then threads past Lagos Correntoso, Espejo, Escondido, Villarino, Falkner, Hermoso and Machónico to the alpine-style resort town of San Martín de los Andes before heading back to Bariloche.
Lake crossing The legendary lakes-and-buses crossing between Argentina and Chile. You sail Lago Nahuel Huapi to Puerto Blest, cross to Lago Frías, clear border formalities, descend to Peulla and sail the emerald Lago Todos los Santos beneath Volcán Osorno before the final road leg to Puerto Varas. Bring your passport.
Rafting The best adrenaline day around Bariloche. After a drive south on Route 40 and a gravel road through the Manso valley, you gear up and run the lower Manso — a clear, cold glacial river with a string of named rapids — down towards the Chilean border, finishing with lunch in the valley.
Kayaking See the lake from water level. A guide gives a short lesson, then leads you along the sheltered shore of Nahuel Huapi from Bahía López — or across Lago Moreno if the wind is up — past deserted beaches and forested headlands under the peaks of the Circuito Chico.
Real-time prices and availability, straight from GetYourGuide. Free cancellation on most experiences.
Viewpoints above town, boat trips across the lake, glaciers to the west and the Seven Lakes to the north — the park’s essential places, each with its own guide.
Bariloche & the Circuito Chico The gateway town on the lake
The park’s base camp: a lakeside city of stone-and-timber chalets, chocolate shops and brewpubs on the south shore of Nahuel Huapi. Start at the Centro Cívico, walk Calle Mitre and the costanera, and use it as the hub for every boat trip and day tour.
Bariloche & the Circuito Chico The classic 60 km lake loop
The scenic loop west of Bariloche along Avenida Bustillo and around the Llao Llao peninsula — lakes, beaches, forest, the Punto Panorámico lookout and the grand Llao Llao Hotel. Drive it, bike it or join a half-day tour.
Bariloche & the Circuito Chico The most famous view in the park
A short chairlift ride — or a steep half-hour walk — to a 1,050 m summit with a 360° view over Lakes Nahuel Huapi and Moreno, the Llao Llao peninsula and the Andes. It is the view on half the postcards in Bariloche.
On the lake The cinnamon forest by boat
The classic lake excursion: a boat from Puerto Pañuelo to the Bosque de Arrayanes, a grove of rare arrayán trees with cinnamon-coloured, cool-to-the-touch trunks at the tip of the Quetrihué peninsula, then Isla Victoria and its trails and beaches.
On the lake Rainforest at the end of the lake
A full-day voyage up the fjord-like Brazo Blest into the wettest corner of the park, where Valdivian rainforest spills down to the water. Climb the stairs beside Los Cántaros waterfall, then continue to Lago Frías, fed by the glaciers of Tronador.
Mountains, glaciers & refugios The thundering volcano
The park’s highest peak — an extinct volcano of roughly 3,470 m straddling the Chilean border, wrapped in glaciers that crack and roar. Drive to Pampa Linda to see the Ventisquero Negro, the Garganta del Diablo waterfalls and the hanging ice of the Manso glacier.
From the legendary Llao Llao to boutique lodges in Villa La Angostura — the best-placed hotels in the park, compared with live rates.
Patagonia’s most famous hotel: Alejandro Bustillo’s timber-and-stone landmark on a knoll between two lakes at the end of the Circuito Chico, with golf, spa and views that justify the price.
A small, romantic lodge right on the lakeshore along Avenida Bustillo, with spacious suites, a spa and the kind of personal service large hotels cannot match.
A contemporary design hotel perched above the lake a few minutes west of the centre, with big-window rooms looking straight across Nahuel Huapi.
Our ranked pick of boat trips, day tours and adventures for every season and budget.
Flights, long-distance buses, the drive from Chile and the Cruce Andino — every way in, compared.
Summer hiking, autumn colour, winter skiing — month-by-month weather and crowds.
Glacier-fed lakes, cinnamon forests, volcanoes and Andean passes — all within a day of Bariloche. Compare boat trips, day tours and adventures and book in a couple of taps.
Absolutely — it is one of the most beautiful and accessible corners of Patagonia, with big lake scenery, easy boat trips, serious hiking, skiing and a lively base town. You can compare the best tours here.
Four full days covers the highlights: Circuito Chico and Cerro Campanario, a boat trip to the arrayanes or Puerto Blest, Cerro Tronador, and the Seven Lakes Road or Villa La Angostura. A week lets you add hiking to the refugios. See the travel guide.
Yes, but only at certain access points — the boat excursions from Puerto Pañuelo, the Tronador road, the Arrayanes and a few others. Bariloche itself and the Circuito Chico are free. Foreign visitors pay a higher rate than Argentine residents; check the current fee with Parques Nacionales before you go.
In January, February and the July winter holidays, yes — boat trips and small-group tours sell out days ahead. Most tours on GetYourGuide offer free cancellation and reserve-now-pay-later, so there is little risk in booking early.
December to March for hiking, boat trips and long days; April and early May for autumn colour; mid-June to September for skiing. See the month-by-month guide.
