[PATAGONIA, CHILE] — Going to Torres del Paine in Patagonia was always  one of my lifelong goals, well, at least for the last 25 years. Then, I finally bit the bullet and decided to go, paired with a visit to the Atacama Desert in the northern half of Chile — the driest place on the planet (you can see that part of the trip here). These are some of the best hikes in Torres del Paine.

Patagonia is a region that actually straddles both Chile and Argentina at the very tip of South America and I could never figure it out or decide which side to go to.  I finally just picked Chile and didn’t get a chance to see the Argentina side, which I’m saving for my next visit.

Where is it? Look at a map, find South America, then take a right and go aallll the way to the bottom. It’s there. Patagonia. End of the earth.

I just went to Torres del Paine national park, but there are several sub-regions to go to… and new tens of millions acre parks recently opened all across Patagonia, leaving more to explore in the future.

How to Get There

To get there, you fly to Santiago then take another 3 1/2 hour flight down to eerie, end-of-the-world feeling Punta Arenas — a stunning flight straight over the snow-capped Andes, get a window seat — to the bottom of the continent, right above Tierra del Fuego, the place we all studied in grade school.

You literally do feel like you’re at the end of the earth there, what I imagine far northern Alaska to be. The place where explorers load up on provisions and set off in boats into the great unknown.  From Punta, the hotel van picks you up for the five and a half hour drive back north — yes five and and a half hours — through endless Sheep Country, nothing but sheep, dotting along the coast and inland vast flat savannas until you take a sharp right and climb up to the high plains before Torres del Paine national park.

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When To Go

Being south of the equator, the seasons are switched, so our Winter is their Summer. Chile is thousands of miles long but thin, so you’re never far from the ocean.  Just by luck, not by plan, I picked to travel in the Springtime, which was at the end of November there, which many people say is the best time of year to go. The high altitude of Torres del Paine has its own microclimate, so you can actually go there in all but a few months a year.

The view of The Horns (Los Cuernos) from Lago Azul, the same views you see on a lot of guidebooks. It is jaw dropping. What’s eerie is that it all looks so calm, but the winds were gusting 50-70mph when I took this. If you stay at the Explora Patagonia lodge, this is your view, which I think is superior to the Tierra Patagonia hotel I stayed at.  But the Explora has been there for 30 years, I liked the architecture and cheaper price of the Tierra.The wind, like everywhere in Patagonia, is ever-present and A Thing to Deal With. In some places, often a constant 100mph/hour. Everything you read says “bring windproof clothes”… I never heard of such a thing. But the place is built for it.

Torres del Paine — The Most Magical Place on Earth

Torres del Paine is the main national park in Chilean Patagonia, although there are a half dozen other parks to explore. But TdP is the Crown Jewel, famous around the world with some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever seen. So many amazing and jaw-dropping vistas you’ve ever seen.

You can backpack and camp in the park, many follow the famous and arduous W Circuit that last for multiple days, zigzagging throughout all the park’s highlights.  There are also some budget hotels outside the park, some raffish, some nicer, but the coolest thing to do is stay at one of the three luxury adventure hotels scattered along the edges of the park.

Where To Stay

There are three main luxury adventure hotels right on the edges of the park, the only ones — the Explora, the Tierra and the Awasi. Each has their own secluded section of the park, with uninterrupted views. I chose the Tierra, which had great reviews, a stunning design and was less expensive than the others. (However, still expensive.)

The Tierra hotel is all-inclusive — meals, booze, guides, transportation, all included no nickel and dime-ing you for what you want to do.  If you want to sit in the lodge and just look out, the same price as going on two guided tours a day.

The lobby of the hotel is centered around this huge “adventure map”, the main guide hefe greets you and asks about your interests and desire for adventure. He then makes a number of suggestions to help plan out your stay.

They are great at guiding you to what you want to do, managing your time in the most efficient way to maximize your time here. Adjusting to what you want to do and se. Even suggesting some ALT plans that you can slip in if you’re up for it.

Tierra vans take you out and into the park, often with a driver and guide, usually set up to feed you in some remarkable place. Groups are small, whatever fits into a 13 passenger Dodge van, but are usually 6-8 people from the hotel. You meet some cool people, you also might get stuck with a couple of high maintenance ones, but you deal, enjoy it, then come back for a celebratory cocktail at the cool bar, recounting the day.

Tours are broken out into half-day and full-day excursions, some are easy as a van taking small groups somewhere cool, setting up lunch or breakfast. Others are more strenuous. You pick what you want to do.  What’s great is if you’re with a spouse or group, everyone can do their own thing, joining others in small group excursions, then meeting back to share stories in the restaurant at night.  You don’t really eat anywhere else.

Here are my favorite hikes during my too-short stay.  I wish I was there longer, but that leaves more to go back to.

Guanacos, Waterfalls and Distant Views of The Towers

On my first day arriving at Tierra Patagonia, I was itching to get out and see this magical place. The adventure concierge suggested an easy first day excursion — all the guides are included in your all-inclusive stay — to a nearby lake with views of The Towers, the signature mountain range that dominates the views from the hotel.

Lots and lots of glory without much effort. It’s the perfect first day hike. I saw more wildlife on that trail than any other — herds of guanaco, rheas, ducks and birds of all shapes and sizes. And nobody, literally nobody, else on the trail.

It is awesome, especially towards sunset. You get to see the backside of the Towers, fronted by a stunning lake. Breathtaking…..but then again, the whole place is breathtaking….

 

Seven Hours to The Towers

 

Windsurfing to See Los Cuernos — The Horns

Chasing Glaciers on Lago Grey

 

More Information on Tierra Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park

Here’s a post I did about Tierra Patagonia’s amazing sister hotel in the super dry Atacama Desert in Norther Chile. And all the cool things you can do in Atacama, the driest place on earth. And if you like remote adventures, you should read my post on Argentina’s amazing undiscovered Salta province.

Here Torres del Paine is listed by Conde Nast Traveller as one of the Top 50 Most Beautiful Places on Earth.

Here’s a great NYTimes article from Ondine Cohane on Torres del Paine national park. And another great NYTimes article about the other parks in Chilean Patagonia. And another NYT article on roughing it a little more at Hosteria Pehoe.

This is just a fantastic roundup of all the higher end hotels in Patagonia, you really can see them all in nearly side by side.  I love Tablet so much.

Here is the official website of the Torres del Paine national park.

— Last Visited December 2013; Post Updated January 2020 —