This trip is pure Patagonia. In Chile, you will experience snow-capped mountains of unimaginable scale, deep blue lakes, rich green rainforests and vast oceanic glaciers. In Argentina, the desert canyons of the steppe reach their most dramatic, on a par with what we've seen in Chile's Atacama. As you travel down Ruta 40, the skies are huge, the horizons endless. The unpaved roads lend a further spirit of adventure and exploration if you embrace the bumps in the road.

There is wildlife everywhere too - condors in the sky, herds of guanacos in the grasslands, rheas on the steppe, dolphins in the fjords and flamingos in the lagoons.

The culture is rich and authentic. From cave art painted 10,000 years ago to time spent mucking in on our friend's estancia ranch, this trip immerses you in the many threads of local culture and the traditional sheep-rearing ways of life in Patagonia.

Activities? There are walks of all lengths to be enjoyed at each stage, plus easy kayaking and lots of vehicle-based discovery.

This longer version includes a once-in-a-lifetime private boat charter in the remote icefields.

As a tailormade trip we can adjust things to suit you prior to your departure. There is also much of this trip where it is up to you to set the pace. There is plenty of opportunity to get out walking on this vacation but equally, you have time to sit and stare at the landscapes. At various stages in the journey, you have private guides who adjust activities to suit you.

This vacation is really very comfortable throughout. We've visited and stayed at every one of them, giving them our seal of approval for you.

The hotels and lodges in this part of Patagonia represent a wonderful selection of very high-quality small hotels for you to stay in. These are not luxury properties by any means but rather very clean and comfortable owner-run places where the welcome is as warm as you’ll find anywhere in the world.

One thing that many have in common is the quality of the food. The delicious, varied and usually quite healthy meals you eat in many of your hotels contrast markedly with the standard of food served in most provincial towns and villages, which is average at best. It's a really special part of the experience - we've seen as much from the hundreds of photos our clients send us of their dinner delights!

All in all, driving is a very safe, easy and enjoyable way to travel in Patagonia. It gives you wonderful freedom to explore and deepens the spirit of discovery that makes this trip so special.

Most of your driving is done on the two major highways running north to south either side of the Andes - the Carretera Austral in Chile and Ruta 40 in Argentina. Both are single-carriageway and traffic is usually very light.

The roads along this trip are mostly unpaved, so it's a little bit more adventurous than our self-drive vacation through the Lake District and northern Patagonia, which is nearly all paved. In this area the surface of the road is usually loose gravel on a flattened/scraped bed of dirt. Along most of its length, there is plenty of room for two-way traffic - the road being approximately three car widths from side to side. Expect to be travelling an average of around 50km, which gives you plenty of opportunities to stop and enjoy the views along the way.

We provide a substantial vehicle to give you good clearance.

You stay two or three nights in most of your destinations before moving on. Most distances are between 120-200km so you would generally expect to be driving for three to four hours every second or third day. You have plenty of time and daylight to complete your journey and our Vacation Guide makes suggestions for stops along the way, places you can head off for short walks or stop to appreciate particularly fine views. It is rare that a day would be dedicated to driving, the norm would be that you set off in the morning and have the afternoon free to walk and explore.

The simplest way to navigate is to download Google Maps or Waze onto your phone and use that as a GPS - it's very accurate and easy in our experience.

We provide a complete driving guide to ensure you are fully prepared for your travels.

Being in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are the reverse and so our winter is Patagonia's summer. The season for travelling in Patagonia is therefore October to April, which equates to spring through fall. Days are long, meaning you have plenty of time to explore.

This trip encompasses dry steppe, cool rainforests and everything in between so chances are you'll experience a bit of everything, but you should have a good amount of sunshine along the way.

Not in Patagonia, no, you are at or around sea level.

No, typically your hosts will speak very good English but you should not expect locals to speak any English. You will be very well served to have at least a few words of Spanish under your belt, or tongue, before you go.

We can tailor your vacation in any number of ways, and will often have to play with the running order to find space for you, or to avoid your overlapping too much with other clients.