We just completed this tour on Monday, and are staying a few extra days to go Colonnia in Uruguay ( ferry ride from Buenos Aires) , and Iguazu Falls, Argentina side (1.5 hour plane ride ). Numerous posters have discussed the mechanics of this tour, and the timings. If people want me to post the day to day itinerary, I will be happy to.
Impressions- No one can complain that there is too much free time on this tour because there is NONE. No one can complain that Tauck doesn’t cover enough meals on this tour because every meal is covered and you will absolutely go home with a “Tauck ten “ on board. The food was good. The wine was flowing ( with isolated exceptions). For me and my husband, this was an exhausting tour. Really early mornings, which meant really early breakfasts, lunch not until 2 on many days and then dinners after 7:30 - 8 , and not ending until 10or so. For late eaters this was fine, but that is not us, so this was really rough. One can say - just skip dinners. But- dinners were social and fun in wonderful atmospheres, and you don’t want to miss them. The wines were amazing. Do not overpack. You have hot and cold weather and need to be ready for rain. You do not need to dress for dinner.
The sights - beautiful and vast, however, our biggest”WOW” moment was on our own at Iguazu falls. This is probably because we have been to Antarctica, Greenland , New Zealand , etc, and seen many mountain ranges and many glaciers ( albeit none as large as Perito Moreno or Uppsala) . However, Iguazu is just breathtaking. Take the time and go. The Melia on the Argentina side is beautiful and is in the park so you can access the paths directly. Get the rooms with the falls view. You will not regret it. Skip Colonnia. There was a lot of hoorah going through passport control back and forth between Argentina and Uruguay, and the walking tour the hotel ( Sofitel) arranged was expensive and ridiculously brief. It is St. Augustine, Florida on a bit of a larger scale and less commercial. We did a tour of Valparaiso, from Santiago , and a city tour of Santiago before the tour started. We organized them through the concierge at the Ritz. We were glad we did, and have no idea why Tauck does not include anything in Santiago at the start of the tour.
Cudos to Silvana, our tour director. We cannot say enough good things about her. She was absolutely one of the best. Totally loveable and informative, organized and caring. The people on our tour were interesting and well traveled. There were at least 4 couples that had travelled extensively with Tauck ( 40+, 30+, 16+, and 15+ ( x2) tours ), and independently. Interestingly, there were also a number of people for whom this was their first Tauck tour.
There were great things every day on this tour, it was just exhausting for us. We think it was the late dinners that really killed us.
