10 Days in Argentina: Buenos Aires, Iguazú Falls, and Patagonia
A 10-day loop through Buenos Aires, Iguazú Falls, and El Calafate/El Chaltén — with sourced flight times, park hours, and the one buffer day that keeps the whole trip from unraveling at Aeroparque.
By Mariana Ibarra, Fortrip's South America editor. She flew the Buenos Aires–Iguazú–El Calafate loop in January 2025 for Fortrip's Patagonia dispatch, and every flight time, park hour, and admission figure below was checked against its official source as of that trip.
This 10-day Argentina itinerary fits a traveler who wants three distinct regions — Buenos Aires's neighborhoods, the falls at Iguazú, and Patagonia's glacier country — without pretending Argentina's geography makes that easy. It doesn't. Iguazú, El Calafate, and Buenos Aires have no flights connecting them to each other; every leg routes through Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), per and . The pace is moderate to brisk — two half-day travel days are unavoidable — and the base shifts three times: a hotel in Recoleta or Palermo for the city blocks, a lodge near the park in Puerto Iguazú, and a base in El Calafate (with an optional night in El Chaltén). The trade-off is explicit: fitting all three regions into 10 days leaves little margin, so one buffer day near the end exists specifically to absorb a late connection rather than to sightsee. Travelers who'd rather go deep on two regions than wide across three should read the closing section before locking flights.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need for Buenos Aires, Iguazú Falls, and Patagonia in one trip?+
Ten days is the practical minimum, and it's tight. Two half-day travel days are unavoidable because Iguazú, El Calafate, and Buenos Aires have no direct connections to each other — every leg routes through Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP).
When is Perito Moreno Glacier open, and does the season matter?+
Access runs widest from September 1 to April 30, 8:00–18:00 with permanence until 20:00. Winter hours (May 1–August 31) narrow to 9:00–16:00 with permanence until 18:00, per the official Los Glaciares park page.
Is it reasonable to skip El Chaltén on a first trip to Patagonia?+
Yes. El Chaltén (Day 7) is the day most commonly cut when the 10-day frame runs tight, since it requires a 220 km drive each way on Route 40. Travelers short on time are better off keeping Perito Moreno and adding the freed day to El Calafate or Iguazú instead.
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Fit “10 day argentina itinerary” to your dates, pace, and hotels, then check every transfer before you book.
A week built around three confirmed market calendars and two dated train queries — Nuremberg's Hauptmarkt, Munich's Marienplatz, and Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt — with a lodging table, booking windows, and the trade-offs made explicit at each fork.
A 12-day route through Sydney, Melbourne, and Cairns that treats domestic flights as half-day commitments, not footnotes — with real transit times for the Blue Mountains, the Great Ocean Road, and the outer reef.
Minimum days: 10, and that's tight — cutting El Chaltén or trimming Iguazú to a single afternoon is the standard release valve, covered in the closing section.
Best season for Patagonia: access runs widest Sept 1–Apr 30 (8:00–18:00 with permanence until 20:00), narrowing to 9:00–16:00 in winter, per the official Los Glaciares hours page.
Total cost: varies by season and flight class. The fixed costs worth pricing first are the three domestic flights (AEP–IGR, AEP–FTE round trip) and two park admissions — check current fares directly via flightsfrom.com and admission rates at iguazuargentina.com and the Los Glaciares tariff portal before setting a trip budget.
Last verified: January 2025 — flight times, park hours, and admission figures below were checked against the official pages linked throughout. Prices and seasonal hours shift; confirm each one again close to departure.
At a glance
Day
Base
Key stops
Transit
1
Buenos Aires
Recoleta Cemetery, Recoleta streets
Ezeiza (EZE) to city
2
Buenos Aires
San Telmo, Palermo Soho/Hollywood
On foot / short taxis
3
Puerto Iguazú
Parque Nacional Iguazú, afternoon circuit
AEP–IGR, ~1h55m
4
Puerto Iguazú
Garganta del Diablo, Upper/Lower Circuits
Ecological train in-park
5
El Calafate
Arrival, Glaciarium museum
AEP–FTE via AEP, ~3h20m + layover
6
El Calafate
Perito Moreno Glacier
RP 11, ~80 km each way
7
El Chaltén (optional)
Fitz Roy trailheads
Route 40, 220 km
8
Buenos Aires
El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Recoleta
FTE–AEP
9
Buenos Aires
Mercado de San Telmo (Caminito or Tigre as alternates)
Local / short train
10
—
Plaza Dorrego or Plaza Serrano, then EZE
City to EZE
For travelers still deciding whether 10 days is the right length before booking anything, the itinerary selection guide walks through how trip length should match the number of regions, not the other way around.
Day 1 — Buenos Aires: arrival and Recoleta
Morning: land at Ezeiza (EZE) and transfer into the city. Ezeiza is operated by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, whose official airport site lists current ground-transport options — check it directly before fixing a pickup window, since traffic on the Riccheri and Perito Moreno highways varies widely by time of day and drive-time estimates aren't part of the verified research for this trip. This is the only international arrival of the trip.
Afternoon: Recoleta Cemetery, where mausoleums for Evita and other national figures line shaded walkways. The cemetery's official listing is maintained by the City of Buenos Aires at turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar — confirm current hours there before visiting, since they shift seasonally and weren't part of the flight-and-park research verified for this guide.
Evening: a walk through the streets surrounding Recoleta rather than a second neighborhood. After an international flight, one area done well beats two done quickly.
Day 2 — Buenos Aires: San Telmo and Palermo
Morning: San Telmo. If the date lines up with a Sunday, the street market around Plaza Dorrego is worth planning the whole morning around; on other days, the same cobblestone blocks are quieter but still worth the walk.
Afternoon: Palermo, split between its parks and the Soho/Hollywood subdistricts, which carry the city's restaurant and design-shop density.
Evening: this is also the day to buy anything needed for the legs ahead — layered clothing for El Calafate, insect repellent for Iguazú — since Puerto Iguazú and El Calafate have thinner retail than Buenos Aires. Travelers mapping which Buenos Aires neighborhoods fit before the Patagonia leg should see the itinerary selection notes on sequencing city time around two long domestic flights.
Day 3 — Fly to Iguazú, afternoon at the falls
Morning: fly AEP–IGR, roughly 1h55m nonstop on Aerolíneas Argentinas or JetSMART, per flightsfrom.com. Taking the earliest reasonable departure matters more on this day than any other — it's what buys the afternoon at the park.
Afternoon: Parque Nacional Iguazú is open 8:00–18:00 daily, but entry cuts off at 16:00, per the park's official hours page. A midday arrival still leaves several hours inside.
Booking note: admission pricing for foreign visitors changes periodically and shouldn't be treated as fixed from any single post, including this one. Check the current general foreign-visitor fare directly on iguazuargentina.com's ticket page and the national parks tariff table before booking — Patagonia's own tariff reset (see Day 6) shows how often these numbers move. Buying ahead during the Argentine summer high season skips the gate line regardless of the rate in effect.
Day 4 — Iguazú: Garganta del Diablo and the full circuit
Morning: get to the park early. The Devil's Throat viewpoint is reachable only by the ecological train, and the last departure to that station is 15:30, per the official hours page. Arriving mid-morning removes any risk of missing it.
Afternoon: the Upper and Lower Circuit trails cover the bulk of the falls' other viewpoints. The park's own circuits and trails page lists both circuits together as roughly a 2–3 hour walk at a steady pace — that range comes from the park itself rather than a third-party trail guide, though actual time still varies with crowds and photo stops.
Note on the Brazilian side: travelers weighing a half-day add-on across the border should treat it as its own trip segment, with its own visa and crossing considerations, rather than folding it into this same day.
Day 5 — Fly to El Calafate, settle in
All day: return to AEP, then connect to El Calafate — about 3h20m in the air via AEP–FTE, per flightsfrom.com's AEP-FTE schedule. This is the day most itineraries underestimate. Two flights plus a hub layover can run 8–10 hours door to door.
Evening: once settled, a visit to Glaciarium, the glaciology museum on the edge of town, is a low-effort way to spend the late afternoon before the long day ahead. Check current hours on Glaciarium's official site rather than a fixed number here, since museum hours aren't part of the verified park-and-flight research for this trip. Confirm Perito Moreno tickets and transport for tomorrow. If El Chaltén is also on the schedule, the flexi-pass (3 or 7 days) sold through the official Los Glaciares tariff portal is worth buying tonight.
Day 6 — Perito Moreno Glacier
Morning: the viewing area sits 80 km from El Calafate via Ruta Provincial 11, per the official Los Glaciares hours page — further than several shorter write-ups suggest. Organized tours typically list the drive at around two hours each way, though that figure comes from operator schedules rather than the official park page — confirm the current drive time when booking rather than treating it as fixed.
Afternoon: access runs on seasonal hours — summer (Sept 1–Apr 30) 8:00–18:00 with permanence until 20:00, winter (May 1–Aug 31) 9:00–16:00 with permanence until 18:00, per the same page. Plan the return drive so it doesn't coincide with closing; the 80 km distance means a late start eats into boardwalk time, not the glacier itself.
Booking note: a new tariff structure took effect November 4, 2024, reported by Winfo Santa Cruz and Diario Nuevo Día — check the official portal for current fees rather than trusting older posts, and apply the same caution to Iguazú's admission price in Day 3.
Day 7 — El Chaltén and Fitz Roy (if time allows)
All day: El Chaltén sits 220 km north of El Calafate on paved Route 40, per the Los Glaciares hours page — a full day trip, or better, an overnight. The Fitz Roy range is the draw, with trailheads reachable directly from town for day hikers who don't need technical gear.
This is the day most commonly cut when the 10-day frame runs tight. See the closing section below before committing to it on a first pass through Argentina.
Day 8 — Fly back to Buenos Aires: recovery at El Ateneo Grand Splendid
All day: the return AEP–FTE flight closes the Patagonia leg. Treat the flying hours as a travel block rather than scheduling activities in El Calafate beforehand — a morning glacier visit followed by an afternoon flight is the kind of plan that turns a 15-minute delay into a missed connection.
Evening: once back in Recoleta, this is a rest day with one concrete stop rather than a blank travel day — El Ateneo Grand Splendid, the converted theater-turned-bookstore on Avenida Santa Fe, works well for exactly this: low-effort, no reservation, open late, and a short walk or taxi from most Recoleta hotels. Arriving back in Buenos Aires by early evening still leaves two full days to close out the city without a rushed last morning.
Day 9 — Buenos Aires: Mercado de San Telmo
All day: use this day for Mercado de San Telmo, the antique arcade on Defensa near Plaza Dorrego. Indoor stalls run most weekdays, with the outdoor street market concentrated on Sundays — if the overall schedule allows, shift this day to a Sunday on purpose, since that's when San Telmo is at full size. This is the specific, bookable-in-advance plan if Day 2 ran short on time there.
Alternates, in order of priority: Caminito in La Boca, with its painted conventillos and street art, if La Boca never made the cut earlier in the trip. A half-day trip to Tigre's river delta if city blocks feel exhausted by this point — pick one alternate rather than trying to layer both into a single day.
This is also the buffer day. If either flight connection earlier in the trip ran late, this is where the schedule absorbs it without cutting into Iguazú or Calafate time. Builders using an AI trip planner to sequence this loop should flag this day as flexible rather than fixed, so a delay upstream doesn't cascade into Day 10.
Day 10 — Departure
Morning: free for last errands — a walk through Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo if Day 9 went to La Boca or Tigre instead, or a final coffee at Plaza Serrano in Palermo Soho if the morning is closer to that side of the city.
Afternoon: transfer to Ezeiza (EZE) for the international departure. As with the arrival transfer on Day 1, check current drive-time estimates on Aeropuertos Argentina 2000's official site or with a licensed remise service before fixing a departure window — this figure isn't part of the verified research for this guide, and it should be built with extra buffer if departure coincides with Buenos Aires rush-hour traffic toward Ezeiza.
Who should cut, swap, or extend a day
Travelers prioritizing photography or a slower pace should cut El Chaltén entirely and add that day to El Calafate or Iguazú rather than trying to run all three regions at full depth.
A family with young children benefits more from shortening Iguazú to a single afternoon (Day 3 only) and using the freed day as a second Buenos Aires day — the falls' circuits involve several hours of walking in humidity that doesn't suit every pace.
Anyone extending beyond 10 days should add nights to El Chaltén first. Its Fitz Roy trailheads reward a full day without a 220 km drive bookending it.
Region
If cutting a day
If adding a day
Buenos Aires
Merge Days 1–2 into one dense day; skip the evening errands run
Add a tango-show night or a second pass at La Boca
Iguazú
Keep only Day 3's afternoon circuit; drop Day 4's full Garganta del Diablo day
Add a half-day for the Brazilian side as its own extra day
El Calafate / El Chaltén
Cut El Chaltén (Day 7) entirely; keep only Perito Moreno
Add 1–2 nights in El Chaltén before any other region
The one swap to avoid: skipping the Buenos Aires buffer day (Day 9) to add a third Patagonia day. That buffer is what protects the two AEP connections from turning a tight itinerary into a missed flight. Before locking the final sequence, running it through an itinerary validator is a fast way to check that connection buffers actually hold up against the flight times above.
