[TORRES DEL PAINE, CHILE] — If you’re going to Patagonia the Tierra Hotel is the perfect base to explore Torres del Paine national park. It’s one of the best adventure hotels in the park. It’s actually inside the park, with stunning views of the steep granite mountains called The Towers.

Okay, here’s the deal: the Tierra Hotels have an awesome setup, there are several in all the cool places of Chile, all built around the adventure side of travel.

One is in the Atacama Desert in the north, another on the coast near Chiloé and this beautiful hotel, Tierra Patagonia, inside the incredible Torres del Paine national park on the Chilean side of Patagonia. They often pair them together in a package deal so you can experience all the best parts of Chile, with every detail taken care of. It’s brilliant.

I paired my visit to Torres del Paine with what they call the Fire & Ice Tour: almost a week in the Atacama Desert — the driest place on Earth — paired with cool temps of Patagonia. You can read my post about the Atacama Desert trek here. And about the amazing Tierra Atacama sister hotel here.

Each hotel is all-inclusive. And by that I mean ALL-inclusive. You pay one (hefty) price per day, but all your plush rooms, meals and drinks are included, but what is really cool is the “Guide Experience” that comes included.

Each hotel has about 10-15 trained guides (and a dozen nice new vans) whose sole purpose is to maximize your experience in these magical places. There’s usually around 40 rooms in each hotel, so that’s a really low guest-to-guide ratio. Which means a very high smiles-to-miles ratio.

When you arrive, they just ask “What are you in the mood for? Do you want hikes? Do you want relaxation? You want views? You want a horseback ride? Do you want a spa trip and your husband an adventure trip?”

It’s not like some annoying places with limited staff where you have to reserve slots well in advance before you even get there and then get there and everything’s booked. They have a set destination tours, with half-day or full day excursions that you can setup, change or do on the fly.

They’ve already picked out the best things to do, no matter what your mood is, or how it changes. The best sights to see, in easy to gobble half- or full-day tours. The rest is up to what you’re up for. Then you go.

It really is a sweet setup. The groups are small — and can be anywhere from 2 to 9 people depending on the day or popularity of destination — so you’re not stuck with the same dorky group the whole time like on a cruise ship. You can read all about exploring Torres del Paine in my long post here.

People are always coming and going, so there’s new people everyday and you get to mix with a different group on each outing, or pair up again with people you like. The nice drivers drop you off, then guides show you the way and know everything about the adventure you’re on.  From hiking to flora, fauna or geology.  

They all know what they’re doing and teach you things all along the way.  I don’t usually do guides — I usually like to figure it all out myself and get lost — but this is one sweet setup. One day you might want to take the hard trek to the base of The Towers or French Valley. Another you might just want an easy jaunt out to watch condors or amazing waterfalls.

You pile all that together — the incredible decor, the guided trips, the excellent food and booze — and it really is worth every treasured penny, resulting in a trip you’ll never forget.

There are other similar hotel setups — the more expensive Explora, who started it all long ago or the ultimate Awasi, considered the billionaire card, complete with one-to-one guides and private cars — both have sister hotels in each place and you run into them on the trails.  

But I like the aesthetic and vibe of the Tierras; great architecture, not as formal and snooty and totally casual. Of course, there are endless DIY options at lesser price points, with local hotels and hiking hostels outside the park. Or you can take the famed W Route and camp for a week in the upper reaches of the park.

Designed to Disappear

Come for the hotel experience. Come back for the design. You’ve probably seen this hotel featured in all the top travel and design mags. The design is off the charts cool; designed to meld into the landscape and not stick out like an eyesore to others.

When you are on the other side of Lago Sarmiento and looking back, the low profile of the building and the natural reflective colors of the lenga wood make the building nearly invisible.

The whole place is trimmed in a special beech tree — the Lenga — which is from the area, is sturdy as hell, ages with time and totally fits into the dramatic landscape. From afar, the place blends right into the landscape and is hard to pick out — it just looks like a ridge line. Totally cool

The Ever-Changing Views from Tierra Patagonia

The hotel is all about the views. And nearly every room and public space is oriented to the incomparable views of Lago Sermiento and The Towers. With insane winds and changing climate, the views change nearly every few minutes.

So Many Adventures in Torres del Paine National Park

What’s awesome about the Tierra Hotels in Chile is that have a small army of experienced guides included in your stay. Each day, you pick a different place to go, whatever you’re in the mood for. A big hike. A lazy stroll. Or just some easy sightseeing. And then they take you there.

They know exactly where to go, when to avoid crowds and the best time of day to get great pics. And teach you along the way.

You don’t waste valuable time getting lost. You don’t have to figure things out. They ask what you’re interested in and take you there. Surprising you all along the way.

I’d never stayed at a place like this before, normally I prefer to get lost on my own. But I tell ya, this changed my whole way of thinking. I got more out of my stay than any other place I’ve been. What a great experience.

The Guides. They made the trip. They don’t just lead you on a donkey ride, they care about you, learn about what you like and your interests, and even with others in the group, know what you’re interested in and talk one-to-one to you. “Pssst, Dan, there’s going to be an awesome picture coming up around the bend….get your big camera ready…”  

Inside Tierra Patagonia

The Tierra hotels are small — like 40 rooms are so — so the feeling is more like a small lodge and rather intimate. You can be by yourself or meet interesting folks — and man, when you’re at the end of the world in a very nice place, the people you meet are just like you, people who like to go to the ends of the world to find cool places.  

I met incredible people all week and the notes we all shared — Where have you been? Where should I go? Got any cool places in Buenos Aires? — are alone worth the price of admission. You go on hikes, then often agree to hook up later and share a great dinner… or do you own thing.

Just like the outside, the inside is lined completely with lenga wood. Soft and subtle, organic shapes everywhere. The wind may be howling outside — it can get up to 100mph winds outside — but inside it’s cozy and warm. Feels like you’re staying inside a violin.

Like the design of the outside, the building feels like it disappears from the inside, too. Clear glass everywhere, always focused on the views outside.

The Rooms at Tierra Patagonia

— Last visited November 2013; Post Updated July 2024 —

How to Get to Tierra Patagonia

You arrive in Punta Arenas on the Magellan Straight, the water-cut that slices the tip of Chile’s finger off like a mandolin slicer. It has an end-of-the-earth sort of feel to it, with sharp sun rays, blustery winds and an Alaska-like hardiness.

The Tierra van picks you up at your hotel, prepped with roadies, and takes the extremely scenic five hour drive north. Through endless miles of gorgeous sheep country.

More Information on Torres del Paine and Tierra Patagonia

Okay, after all that drooling. Here’s where you find out more.

You can read all about exploring Torres del Paine in my long post here. Here’s my post on Tierra Atacama. And my post on the Atacama Desert.

http://www.tierrapatagonia.com

This is not a cheap trip — plan around a thousand dollars a day, but might be more now. But combined with a visit to the Tierra in the Atacama Desert, all transfers, hotel nights in Santiago and Punta Arenas, just about everything is included in that amount except airfare. Which sounds like a lot, but when you work it out and compare to a routine trip to Hawaii or DisneyWorld, where they nickel and dime you left and right, with inflated price, twenty dollar drinks and breakfast is $35 — this place is the best dollar-for-bang trip you’ll ever take.  And it happens to be at the end of the world, with things you’ve never seen and an experience that you’ll talk about for a lifetime.

Plan on ten days, here’s how it works out: Land in Santiago and overnight in a cool hotel, fly to Atacama, three nights, fly all day down to Punta Arenas (optional overnight) then a four hour drive north (taken care of by Tierra) and four nights in Patagonia, then back to Santiago for an overnight. I paid for it all upfront, ate and drank life a fish/bear and toured all I wanted and never spent an extra dollar. The only thing you add are extra tips, but really tips are included.

Here’s a great article in Forbes, and Conde Nast Traveler, and Travel & Leisure.  Here’s the TripAdvisor review. Here are two awesome articles from Departures magazine.  A Patagonia Guide. and another on ranking the different hotels. 

Okay, I’ll shut up now…. just go there and write back….