Patagonia With Kids
Which days survive contact with children, which activities have a hard age floor, and why the child ticket you are expecting does not exist in Argentina.
Almost every Patagonia itinerary is written for an adult who can walk ten hours and sleep anywhere. Very little of it works with a seven-year-old, and the advice usually given — “it’s fine, just go slower” — is not an answer. Three numbers decide whether a day works: how long the drive is, whether the activity has an age floor, and whether your child pays a park fee. The third one is the surprise, because the rule is different in each country and it is not the rule families expect.
The short answer, by age
The bands below are built around the two ages that genuinely change the answer: 6, when children stop being free in Argentine national parks, and 12, when they stop being free in Chilean ones.
| Age | What works | Why the line falls there |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 | Perito Moreno boardwalks, the End of the World Train, the short El Chaltén trails, Laguna Nimez | Short drives, step-free routes and a car you can retreat to. Nothing here needs a fixed start time or a ticket bought weeks ahead. |
| 6–11 | Everything above, plus the Magdalena Island penguin landing, the Martillo Island penguin walk, and the Torres del Paine scenic circuit | Children in this band can hold 2–4 hours of walking. They can also cross a border without it becoming the whole day. This is the age at which Argentine park fees start applying to them in full. |
| 12–17 | Everything above, plus Laguna Torre at El Chaltén, the Perito Moreno minitrekking (8+), and the longer Ushuaia days | The age floor on ice trekking stops being the obstacle. Distance and vertical gain become the real constraint, and one or two of them can be attempted per trip. |
| Any age | What does not work: the Base of the Towers day hike, Laguna de los Tres, and the El Calafate to Torres del Paine cross-border day | Not a judgement about stamina. These are 14–16 hour door-to-door days or 20 km-plus with close to 900 m of ascent, and there is no shorter version of them. |
The middle two bands are where the planning happens. Under 5, the answer is essentially one town — El Calafate with a glacier and a boardwalk — plus Ushuaia’s train. From 6 the fee structure starts working against you on the Argentine side, while the range of activities widens. From 12 the ice-trekking floor opens and the constraint becomes distance and vertical gain rather than rules.
The three numbers that decide a day
This is the part that is specific to Patagonia rather than to travelling with children generally. Distances here are not short, borders cost time, and the wind cancels things. A “full-day tour” can mean five hours or sixteen, and the difference is almost entirely driving.
| Day | Drive, each way | Border | What it means with children |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Calafate → Perito Moreno Glacier | 80 km / 1.5–2 h | None | The easiest big-sight day in Patagonia. Boardwalks, a lift, an internal shuttle and no fixed schedule. |
| Ushuaia → Tierra del Fuego National Park and the train | 12 km / 20–30 min to the gate; 8 km to the station | None | The shortest drive to a national park anywhere in this region. The train is 1 h 50 min return with a mid-route stop. |
| Puerto Natales → Torres del Paine gates | 80 km / 1.5–2 h | None | Works as a vehicle-based circuit with short walks. The walking version does not. |
| El Calafate → El Chaltén | 220 km / 3–4 h | None | Six to eight hours in a vehicle for the round trip. Reaching the good trails needs an overnight in the village instead. |
| Ushuaia → Estancia Harberton (Martillo Island) | 85 km / 1.5–2 h, plus a 10–15 min boat crossing | None | An 8–10 hour day in total. Long, but the boat crossing is a highlight in itself. |
| El Calafate → Torres del Paine, cross-border | 3.5–4 h, roughly 700 km return | Two posts, cleared twice, passport required | 14–16 hours door to door. The single worst day in this region to attempt with children. |
A workable rule, if you want one: treat any single leg over about three hours as something a family does once in a trip, not twice. That rule alone removes the two worst days from most family itineraries and leaves the ones that actually work. It also means the base town matters more than the highlight — two nights in El Calafate with a short drive to the glacier beats one night in each of three towns.
Age floors: what children are not allowed to do
An age floor is different from a difficulty level. A difficult hike is a judgement call; an age floor is a rule, and it does not bend for a fit child. Only some Patagonian products publish one, so here is what each activity actually states.
| Activity | From | Age floor | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perito Moreno boardwalks (the pasarelas) | El Calafate | No minimum | Elevated walkways opposite the glacier face, 4–5 km of interconnected circuits walked at your own pace. The white circuit is step-free with ramps and a lift to the first balcony; a free internal shuttle skips the uphill walk from the lower car park. |
| Perito Moreno minitrekking (on the ice) | El Calafate | 8–65 years | One and a half hours on the ice with crampons, roughly 10 hours door to door including transfers and the boat crossing. Operator-published age band; the extended 6 km version carries the same floor. Book ahead in December–February. |
| Big Ice | El Calafate | 18–50 years | Three and a half hours on the ice including crevasses and caves. The published floor is 18, so this one is closed to every child regardless of fitness. |
| Laguna de los Tres (Mount Fitz Roy) | El Chaltén | No legal minimum | 20–23 km and 7–10 hours with close to 900 m of ascent on the final section. There is no rule stopping a child; the floor is stamina, daylight and weather. Start from the village, not from a transfer. |
| Laguna Torre (Cerro Torre) | El Chaltén | No legal minimum | 18–20 km and 5–8 hours, less climbing than Fitz Roy and the more realistic of the two long El Chaltén days with a teenager. |
| Mirador de los Cóndores and Chorrillo del Salto | El Chaltén | No minimum | Short walks from the village that take an hour or two. The condor viewpoint is uphill but brief; the waterfall is flat. Both are the practical answer to a half-day with small children here. |
| Base of the Towers day hike | Puerto Natales | No legal minimum, roughly 15 hours guided | About 22 km with close to 900 m of ascent, usually run as a very early start and a late return. In the 27 April – 15 September 2026 window CONAF requires an accredited specialised guide, which removes the self-guided option entirely. |
| Torres del Paine scenic full-day circuit | Puerto Natales | No minimum | Mostly vehicle-based with short walks at the viewpoints, which is why it is the Torres del Paine day that works with children. The park entrance applies to each person in the vehicle. |
| Magdalena Island penguin landing | Punta Arenas | No published minimum | A boat crossing plus a marked path among the colony. Landings operate October–March only; outside that window the island is closed and the day does not run at any price. |
| Martillo Island penguin walk | Ushuaia | No published minimum | The only Argentine tour where visitors walk ashore among wild penguins. An 8–10 hour day, landings capped at about 20 people on the island at a time, sold only in the austral spring and summer. |
| End of the World Train | Ushuaia | Children 0–3 travel free | Roughly 1 hour 50 minutes return with a 15-minute stop at La Macarena station. The station is at RN3 km 3065, about 8 km west of the centre, and there is no city bus to it. |
| Tierra del Fuego National Park trails | Ushuaia | No minimum | The coastal path and the Lapataia sector are short and flat. The park gate is 12 km from the centre, 20–30 minutes by road. |
Two of these matter more than the rest. Big Ice is closed to children outright at a published 18, so a family cannot buy their way onto it. And the Base of the Towers trail has no age rule at all — which is the trap, because it is the one long day that looks available to everyone on paper while being roughly 15 hours and 22 km in practice. The absence of a rule is not permission.
Why your child’s park ticket may cost the same as yours
This is the fact that most family budgets get wrong, because the rule is different on each side of the border and it is not the rule people assume. In Argentina there is no child category in the national park rate card: anyone from 6 years old pays according to the category their nationality puts them in, which for a foreign family means the full general rate. In Chile the free band runs all the way to under 12.
| Where | Country | Free under | Child discount | Figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Glaciares National Park (Perito Moreno, El Chaltén) | Argentina | Under 6 | None — from 6 upwards a foreign child pays the general rate | ARS 50,000 general rate; ARS 25,000 for Argentine residents, which is the rate an Argentine child moves to at 6 |
| Tierra del Fuego National Park | Argentina | Under 6 | None — from 6 upwards a foreign child pays the general rate | ARS 40,000 general rate; ARS 18,000 for Argentine residents |
| End of the World Train (operator product, same day as the park) | Argentina | 0–3 | Yes — 4–12 pay roughly half the adult fare | Tourist class ARS 35,000 for a child against ARS 70,000 for an adult |
| Torres del Paine National Park | Chile | Under 12 | 12–17 pay a reduced one-day rate, but the multi-day pass costs the same as an adult | CLP 17,400 one-day for 12–17 against CLP 34,000 for 18+; CLP 48,500 for both on a multi-day pass |
| Cueva del Milodón (separate CONAF monument) | Chile | Confirm on the portal | Separate CONAF ticket from the park | Not included in the Torres del Paine pass — priced independently at the monument |
Three consequences follow for a family of four with two children aged 8 and 11:
- In Argentina, both children pay full price in the park. At Los Glaciares that is ARS 50,000 each on top of the adults — four full tickets, not two plus two discounts.
- On the same day, the train gives one of them half off. The End of the World Train charges ARS 35,000 for a child aged 4–12 against ARS 70,000 for an adult, because the train is an operator product rather than a park fee. Two different rules apply to one outing.
- Crossing into Chile resets it in your favour. At Torres del Paine both children are free under 12, so the same family pays for two adults rather than four people.
There is a second-entry discount worth knowing about on the Argentine side: 50% off a return to the same sector within 72 hours. At Tierra del Fuego it applies only if you buy online, so paying at the gate forfeits it. On fees specifically, the useful habit is to check the authority rather than a blog post — Argentine park tickets at ventaweb.apn.gob.ar, Chilean ones at pasesparques.cl. At El Chaltén the portals are online-only with no cash desk at all.
Strollers, carriers and the step-free routes
Patagonia is not generally an accessible destination, but there is one notable exception and it happens to be the region’s headline sight. The Perito Moreno walkways are a network of elevated metal circuits facing the glacier across the Iceberg Channel, and part of that network is genuinely step-free.
- The white circuit works with a stroller. It has ramps and a lift up to the first balcony, which faces the ice directly. It is the reason a family with a buggy can do this day at all.
- A free internal shuttle removes the uphill walk from the lower car park to the walkway entrance. Take it rather than pushing uphill.
- The red circuit is the one to skip. It gets closest to the glacier face by way of a long descent, signed at around 520 steps, and every one of those steps is climbed again on the return.
- The white and yellow circuits are the family default — short, level, and with the strongest views per metre walked.
- Wear grippy shoes even in summer. The surface is metal grating in places, and wind-driven rain or ice makes it slippery.
Outside the glacier, expect stairs, gravel and uneven ground. A carrier is more useful than a stroller almost everywhere else in Patagonia, and the El Chaltén village walks are the main exception where either works. Allow at least 90 minutes on the boardwalks; three to four hours if you want to wait for a calving.
Crossing the border with children
Cross-border days add a set of rules that have nothing to do with walking, and families carrying snacks are the group most often caught out by them.
- Every child needs their own passport, valid for at least six months from entry. Children listed on a parent’s document are not accepted in either country.
- Chile does not allow fresh fruit, meat, dairy, honey or seeds in. The declaration must be made online before the crossing, and the rule is enforced rather than nominal. Sealed, processed food or buying on the Chilean side is the practical answer.
- Keep the Chilean entry slip. Chile issues a tourist card at the border; it is surrendered on exit and it is also what you show to claim the hotel tax exemption.
- Keep the Argentine digital entry record. Argentina no longer stamps most passports, and the digital record is what a hotel needs to waive the accommodation tax. Retrieve and save it as soon as you enter.
- Border queues are the unpredictable part. Drive times on this site exclude them, and a two-post crossing cleared twice can add hours. Do not put a border day and a flight on the same date.
One health rule is asymmetric and worth checking before you book: Argentina requires foreign visitors to carry travel medical insurance covering the whole stay, with a statutory minimum in emergency medical cover. Chile does not require it. The details, and what the policy has to include, are on our trip budget page.
Sources we checked
| Figure on this page | Source |
|---|---|
| Los Glaciares and Tierra del Fuego park rates; under-6 exemption; second-entry discount | Administración de Parques Nacionales (Argentina), rate card in force since 1 June 2026, checked 22 September 2026 at ventaweb.apn.gob.ar |
| Torres del Paine rates; under-12 exemption; 12–17 bands; guide rule and circuit closure | CONAF (Chile), card published as valid for visits to 31 December 2026, checked 22 September 2026 at pasesparques.cl |
| End of the World Train fares and the 4–12 child band | The operating company’s own published fares, checked 3 August 2026. The operator states that tourist-class fares rise by roughly 14% from October. |
| Minitrekking 8–65 and Big Ice 18–50 age bands | The concession holder’s published product conditions inside Los Glaciares National Park |
| Drive times, distances and border posts | Our own travel times page, which cites the transport operators’ timetables and the park authorities for gate distances |
| Argentina’s insurance requirement for foreign visitors | Decreto 366/2025, published 29 May 2025 and in force from 1 July 2025; the requirement itself is being enforced, while the sworn declaration was not yet being collected at entry points as at mid-2026 |
Chilean and Argentine sources sometimes disagree about an age band — one Chilean operator card puts the paid band at 13–17 where the park authority’s own table makes it 12–17. We print the park authority’s figure and tell you the difference exists rather than quietly picking one. If a figure here disagrees with the authority’s own page, the authority is right and we are wrong — tell us and we will re-check it.
Frequently asked
Is Patagonia a good destination with young children?
It can be, but not the Patagonia most guides describe. The trips that work with children are the ones with short drives and no fixed schedule: the Perito Moreno boardwalks from El Calafate, the End of the World Train and the national park from Ushuaia, and the short village walks at El Chaltén. The trips that dominate Patagonia content — the Base of the Towers, Laguna de los Tres, the cross-border Torres del Paine day — are 14 to 16 hour days or 20 km-plus with close to 900 m of ascent, and they do not have a short version. Choosing a base town with a short drive to something is worth more here than choosing the highlight.
Do children pay national park entrance fees in Patagonia?
Yes, and the age at which they start paying is different in each country. In Argentine national parks children under 6 are free, but from 6 upwards there is no child category at all: a foreign child pays the full general rate, ARS 50,000 at Los Glaciares and ARS 40,000 at Tierra del Fuego. In Chilean national parks children under 12 are free, and 12 to 17 pay a reduced one-day rate, though the multi-day Torres del Paine pass costs the same for a 12-year-old as for an adult. A family crossing the border can move from two free children to two full-price children without any change in what they are doing.
Can you take a stroller to the Perito Moreno Glacier?
On part of it. The walkway network has five colour-coded circuits and they are not equally usable. The white circuit is step-free, with ramps and a lift to the first balcony facing the ice, and there is a free internal shuttle from the lower car park to the walkway entrance that removes the uphill walk. The red circuit is the one to avoid with a stroller: it descends to the lowest viewpoint by a long flight of stairs, signed at around 520 steps, and those steps have to be climbed again on the way back. Families generally use the white and yellow circuits, or carry small children in a carrier rather than pushing them.
Can children do the ice trekking at Perito Moreno?
Only the minitrekking, and only from age 8. The published band is 8 to 65 years for minitrekking, roughly 10 hours door to door with an hour and a half actually on the ice. Big Ice has a published floor of 18, so it is closed to children regardless of fitness or experience. Both are operated by the concession holder inside the park and both are paid separately from the park entrance fee.
What is the hardest part of a Patagonia trip with children?
The driving, by a wide margin. El Calafate to the Perito Moreno car park is 80 km and 1.5 to 2 hours each way, which is manageable. El Calafate to El Chaltén is 220 km and 3 to 4 hours each way, so the day contains six to eight hours in a vehicle. The cross-border day from El Calafate to Torres del Paine is about 700 km return with two border posts cleared twice, 3.5 to 4 hours each way and 14 to 16 hours door to door. Treat any single leg over about three hours as something a family does once per trip, and build in a spare day, because wind cancels days here without warning.
Are there food restrictions when crossing from Argentina into Chile?
Yes, and families carrying snacks are the group most likely to be caught by it. Chile does not allow fresh fruit, meat, dairy, honey or seeds to be brought in, and the declaration has to be made online before the crossing. Travel with sealed, processed food or buy on the Chilean side. Both countries also enforce a passport valid for at least six months from entry, and every child needs their own passport — children named on a parent's document are not accepted.
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Patagonia Day Trips may earn a commission from bookings made through partner links, at no extra cost to you. Park fees, age bands and opening rules are set by the authorities and operators — CONAF and the Administración de Parques Nacionales, and the individual concession holders — and change by resolution, so treat every figure here as a dated snapshot and confirm before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.