Aconcagua permits and guides

Do you need a permit to visit Aconcagua?

Only a ticket for the short visit, and a permit for everything longer. The Laguna de Horcones loop takes a day ticket from the park entrance; the Confluencia day hike, the 3-day and 7-day treks and the summit each need their own permit.

The park sells five kinds of access on the Horcones side, the valley used by the Normal Route and by every day tour. The Vacas valley, on the Polish Traverse route, has matching day-trek, trek and ascent permits. Fees depend on the permit, the route, your nationality or residence and, for the summit, whether you climb with a licensed outfitter. Foreigners pay a higher fee than Argentine residents, and Mendoza residents pay the least. Check the current season's rules on the park website before booking: dates, fees and age limits are published for each season.

Do you need a ticket for the Laguna de Horcones walk?

Yes. The loop is ticketed, but it is not part of the trekking permit system: you buy the ticket at the Horcones entrance with your passport or ID, and no trekking permit is needed.

The walk is an easy 2 km loop of about 1.5 hours at around 2,900 m, past the green lagoon to a viewpoint facing the South Face. It is open all year, weather permitting, and it is the only part of the park most day tours visit. Some seasons the park has asked for an online booking in advance, so check the park website before you go. Most group day tours do not include the entrance: the High Andes Aconcagua tour says so on its listing, and in season you pay at the gate if you want to walk the loop.

Puente del Inca, a few kilometres before the entrance, is outside this system: no permit or booking is needed to look at Puente del Inca from the roadside viewpoints. You cannot walk across the arch itself; it has been closed since the mid-2000s.

The most-reviewed Aconcagua day trip from Mendoza, 4.4 from 813 reviews: Uspallata, Puente del Inca and the Aconcagua viewpoint, with the Horcones lagoon walk possible from November to April. The lagoon entrance is paid separately at the gate.

★ 4.4 (813) · 11 hours · Full refund up to 24 h ahead

Explore the High Andes Aconcagua tour →

What permit do you need for the Confluencia hike?

A day-trek permit, bought online and paid before you arrive, for the season window of roughly mid-November to early April. The minimum age is 16, and no guide is required.

The day trek goes from Horcones (about 2,900 m) to Confluencia camp (about 3,400 m) and back: 6 to 8 hours on foot with about 500 m of ascent. The permit is personal and dated, so book it once your day is fixed, and carry your passport for the check-in with the rangers at the entrance. Argentina's national tourism page lists the same basics: advance reservation, payment before arrival, age 16 and up. The park leaflet asks day hikers to be back at Horcones by about 4 pm, so start in the morning.

The private Confluencia camp hike (5.0 from 18 reviews) covers the transport from Mendoza, a mountain guide and lunch, but not the park permit: you buy that yourself, and the operator can tell you how. The hike step by step is in the Confluencia and Plaza Francia guide.

Is a guide required for Aconcagua?

Not for the summit by the Normal Route, and not for the day and 3-day treks. The 7-day trek to Plaza de Mulas must be done with a licensed provider, and most summit climbers, almost all first-timers, go with a licensed outfitter anyway.

A guide isn't legally required for the Normal Route, but most climbers go with a licensed outfitter; the 7-day base-camp trek must be done with one; the day and 3-day treks need no guide. Independent (unassisted) ascents are still listed in recent regulations, but they pay a higher permit fee and meet the same insurance rules. Higher-risk activities, such as the South Face, have been limited to authorised companies under recent rules, and early-sale windows have been sold only through licensed providers. The rules move a little every year, so check the current season's rules on the park website before booking.

Whether you should hire one is a different question. A guide sets the acclimatisation pace, reads the weather, decides the turnaround time on summit day and deals with the rangers and doctors. If you have never been above 5,000 m, go guided. How the summit compares with other big peaks is in Aconcagua vs Kilimanjaro.

How are Aconcagua permits bought and checked?

Online through the park's official system, where your permit is issued in your name, or through a licensed outfitter, which books it for you. Either way, you check in with the rangers at the Horcones entrance before you set off.

• Online: the park's own booking system issues named permits. You fill in your details, upload your insurance where required and pay before you arrive.
• Through an outfitter: licensed providers book permits for their clients and handle the paperwork. Ask whether the permit is part of the package or an extra.
• Named and personal: a permit in your name cannot be passed to someone else and is not refunded if you do not use it. Reports say an unused ascent permit can move to a later season if you renew the evacuation insurance: confirm with the park.
• Check-in: at the ranger post at Horcones (or Vacas) you show your permit, passport and, for treks and ascents, your insurance.
• Waste bags: overnight trekkers and climbers receive numbered waste bags, which must come back out with you; fires are not allowed.
• Stay inside the permit: trekkers may not go above 4,300 m or overstay their days, and rangers can sanction both.

Older guidebooks tell you to collect permits in person at an office in Mendoza city. That has been replaced by the online system; you do not need to visit an office first.

What insurance and medical checks do climbers need?

Climbers and long-trek hikers need insurance that covers rescue and helicopter evacuation at altitude, with a policy number, in Spanish or English. On the Normal Route, park doctors check every overnight trekker and climber at Confluencia and at Plaza de Mulas.

The park sets the minimum altitude the policy must cover each season, so read the current rules before you buy one, and make sure the wording names mountain rescue and helicopter evacuation. Ordinary travel insurance often stops at a few thousand metres or excludes mountaineering. Day hikers to Confluencia are not asked for the same policy, but personal accident cover is sensible; the private Confluencia tour includes it.

The medical checks are short: oxygen saturation, heart rate, blood pressure and a listen to your lungs. They exist to catch altitude illness early, and the doctors can stop you going higher. That is a safety net, not an exam: acclimatise slowly, drink plenty and follow their advice. The UIAA mountain medicine notes on Aconcagua explain what they look for.

How expensive is it to climb Aconcagua?

It depends mostly on whether you go with an outfitter, your nationality and how long you stay. You pay for flights, the park permit, the outfitter package, mules, rescue insurance, gear, hotels in Mendoza and tips.

• Flights to Mendoza, usually via Buenos Aires or Santiago de Chile.
• The park permit: set by permit type, route and visitor category; foreigners pay more than Argentine residents, and independent climbers pay more than those with a licensed outfitter.
• The outfitter package: guides, transport, base-camp services, meals and tents; a private expedition costs more than a group one, and a longer plan costs more than a short one.
• Mules to carry loads to base camp and back; outfitters set a weight allowance per climber.
• Porters above base camp, if you want your loads carried between high camps; usually an extra.
• Rescue and evacuation insurance that meets the park's altitude rule.
• Gear: buying a full cold-weather kit costs far more than renting boots, down suits and crampons in Mendoza.
• Hotels and meals in Mendoza before and after, plus any extra days if the weather holds you up.
• Tips for guides, cooks and muleteers.

What makes it cost less: joining a group, a logistics-only package instead of a fully guided one, renting gear, and buying the permit during an early-sale window when one runs. What makes it cost more: a private guide, porters, a longer schedule, and travelling from far away at short notice. A day tour or the Confluencia hike costs a small fraction of any of this.

What does an outfitter provide on the mountain?

Mules to base camp, a staffed base camp with meals, toilets and communications, group tents and cooking gear, and guides who plan the acclimatisation and lead the climb. You bring your personal and climbing gear.

A full guided package covers the transport from Mendoza, hotel nights on the approach, the mule loads, meals at base camp and on the mountain, the high camps and the guides; some include the park permit. A logistics-only package covers the mules and base-camp services and leaves the climbing to you. Personal porters above Plaza de Mulas are almost always an extra. The Normal Route expedition on GetYourGuide includes guides and their expenses, meals, tents, cooking gear, mules and transport, and excludes climbing gear, travel insurance, porters above Plaza de Mulas and tips; it does not say whether the permit is included, so ask before you book.

If you only want a day in the park, none of this applies: the high mountain day tour (4.8 from 473 reviews) is a guided drive on Route 7 with the Aconcagua viewpoint, and the homepage compares every option.

Frequently asked questions