For adventure travelers, the Backroads catalog is like Sears and Spiegel rolled into one. This
Berkeley, Calif.-based “action vacation” company offers the practical, the high-end, the dream trips and the rugged journeys, and each one can be done by staying in casual lodging or as a “premiere inn trip.” The granddaddy of them all is nine days and eight nights in Patagonia, a walking and hiking tour from Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park, a World Heritage Site, to Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. Along the way, eat a traditional Argentinean barbecue, hike to Laguna Azul, take a horseback ride through the pampas, view the 3-mile-wide Perito Moreno Glacier and strap on crampons to hike alongside icebergs. The premiere level affords overnights on the shores of Lake Viedma and next to the glacier, as well as Explora resort in Torres del Paine, what Travel + Leisure calls one of South America’s best hotels, a low-impact building with stunning views of Lake Grey and the craggy Chilean peaks behind it. Cost: $6,498 per person (double occupancy), airfare not included. Call 800-462-2848 or visit backroads.com.
