Bus times, as far as they are published
The bus companies in El Calafate do not publish one shared timetable online, so travellers rely on reports. The most recent one we found, on nomadasaurus.com (updated January 2026), describes these departures from the bus terminal:
| Morning buses | Out at 8:30 or 9:00, depending on the company; back at 16:00 |
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| CalTur afternoon bus | Out at 13:00, back at 19:30 |
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| Travel time | About 90 minutes each way |
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Source: nomadasaurus.com, last updated 10 January 2026; the author’s own trip was earlier. Check the current times at the terminal or with your accommodation.
Subtract the drive and the morning bus leaves you four to four and a half hours at the glacier, a little more than the guided tours on this page plan. The French travel guide novo-monde.com counts about three hours on site for the shuttles, so plan for something in between.
At the walkways, without a guide
You do not need a guide to find your way. The walkway network in front of the ice is signposted with colour-coded circuits, one of them laid out for visitors with reduced mobility. There are two car parks, an upper one with access to all circuits and a lower one, and a free shuttle runs between them so you can walk the whole loop in one direction. Expect a lot of stairs on the other circuits.
Walkway layout: novo-monde.com.
The park ticket, by bus or on a tour
Neither option includes it. Older reports, nomadasaurus among them, describe paying in cash when the bus stops at the park gate. The park’s own rate page now lists credit and debit cards and pesos in cash at the southern entrances, plus online sales through ventaweb.apn.gob.ar. Rates and payment rules are on our page about the Perito Moreno entrance fee.
What a guided tour adds
The pickup is the obvious part, and it is not always door to door: one Bross Travel review reports that the bus did not stop at an Airbnb, so give your exact address when you book. The guide talks on the way out and usually at the first viewpoints; one traveller on the Info de Ushuaia tour describes the day as a ride to the park with some commentary and free time on the walkways. If you want more guiding than that, the boat ride or an ice trek adds a different view; those are compared on our sister site’s boat tour comparison.
A rental car is the third way. The drive takes about an hour and twenty minutes, and leaving early gets you to the walkways before the first buses arrive (novo-monde.com).
