And now we have come at last to what many consider to be more than just a park, but the eight wonder of the world, the mighty Torres del Paine.
Beckoning the grandeur of a prehistoric world of giants, the massive granit massifs inspire awe and trembling to hikers that come to their feet. After Antarctica and Greenland, the Southern Patagonia ice fields are the third largest ice mass in the world and give Torres del Paine park another attraction of giants to see and experience.
Because of its world-wide renown, Torres del Paine is accessible and accommodating to travelers and hikers of every ability. You will find a wealth of options from glamping to guided visits to visiting by bus and walking right in.
Unlike other parks nearby, Torres del Paine is also open year-round, so you don’t have to worry about the park being closed for a season or two.
From the previous parks in the series, Agostini and Pali Aike, you are probably starting in Punta Arenas, which is perfect. That is where you will come back to if you’re continuing by bus to Argentina, or flying back to another international airport. However, if you’re going to return on the ferry back north through the fjords of Chile, you will want to return from Torres del Paine only as far as Puerto Natales, which is where that ferry docks.
If you haven’t yet read up on some of the foundations of the entire fifteen-park route, go back and check out my overview post so you can get oriented.
Punta Arenas is not only closes to the park, it also hosts a major international airport to which you can get connections to Puerto Montt, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, and more.
The next closest airport is in Rio Gallegos, Argentina, which isn’t a bad idea to fly there if you want to start this whole series in reverse, and depending on the season, may be a better bargain. Compare flights and prices, and remember you’ll be crossing the border into Chile, then having to go through immigration again when you come back into Argentina if you’re going to use the Rio Gallegos airport to fly back out of.
It’s important that you get your park permit in advance for Torres del Paine, because even though it is open daily, there are quotas as for how many they can let in in order to maintain the conservation and well-being of the air, water, flora, and wildlife.
Park fees for adults visiting from other countries are $34 for a three-day pass, with prices reduced from there fore youth and children. You can purchase your pass at the administration’s official site Pases de Parques.
You can also find out at the same site if there are any park advisories, like if a certain trail is closed or requires a guide.
As mentioned earlier, your best place from which to start the journey is Punta Arenas, which has already been your hub for the previous park visits. Alternatively, you can cut the distance by changing your base to Puerto Natales, which is a little over three hours north. Bus tickets from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales can be reserved here, or we can also provide you private shuttle transportation service to Puerto Natales or all the way to the park entrance or a hotel inside the park.
If you took the ferry from Caleta Tortel and are skipping the previous two parks mentioned, then you have already docked in Puerto Natales and can start your visit from there.
You can find guides in either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales, as well as fully guided tours. Neither are better than the other, and I’m not going to name any because there are too many. However, look for small companies run by just a handful of people, and stay away from large multi-national corporate institutions as they will be less likely to have authentic familiarity with the park and be driven by quotas and such to support their oversized infrastructure instead of focusing on your organic experience.
If you go on an unguided visit, read more below in the Transportation Options section to get to the two stops in the park (Laguna Amarga and Pudeto).
Open All Year
Topography: Evergreen forest, Patagonian steppe, Andean desert
Climate: 30 inches of rain annually, polar freeze at high points.
If you are a bucket list traveler crossing off what the world has come to a consensus on as the greatest of the greats, then for South America, Torres del Paine would certainly be on anyone’s bucket list, rivaling Macchu Pichu and Iguazu Falls.
In a relatively concentrated area, your hiking will get you to breathtaking vistas of towering peaks, topaz lagoons, and rich green forest populated with pumas (warning they attack if you hike at night, so don’t), fox, lamas, and other deer.
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A peculiar attraction to this park is the thrombolytes you can see along the shoreline of Lake Sarmiento, which are primordial circular rocks that look like the back of a turtle and take back the earliest stages of our planet. In the same vein, you might be interested in the prehistoric fossils of the Ichthyosaur marine reptile that were larger than whales (near the Tyndall Glacier).
In some parts of the park you can get up close to glaciers by kayak or in guided tour boats, surrounded by the snow-capped Olguín mountains in the distance. The park also has several waterfalls worth getting captivated by their thundering sound and misting spray that rejuvenates any weary hiker.
In total there are a whopping 14 ecosystems inside the park, from ice to desert and everything in between. You’ll be more likely to see puma around Lake Sarmiento, especially if you are also around guanaco, which is the puma’s main prey. Birders come to see condor, eagles, flamingos, woodpeckers, and other endemic small birds.
|
Name
|
Distance
|
Hiking Time (round-trip)
|
Difficulty
|
Features
|
Open
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Playa Grey
|
5 km
|
2.5 hours
|
Easy
|
Hanging bridge, Pingo River, views of glacier
|
All year
|
|
Mirador Ferrier
|
6 km
|
3.5 hours
|
Difficult
|
Best lookout (views of icefields and two lakes)
|
All year
|
|
Pingo waterfall
|
22 km
|
8 hours
|
Medium
|
Pingo river, forest, waterfall
|
All year
|
|
Mirador Cóndor
|
4 km
|
2 hours
|
Medium
|
views of Lake Pehoé and Paine massif
|
All year
|
|
Salto Grande/Mirador Cuernos
|
6 km
|
2.5 hours
|
Medium
|
waterfall, lake, viewpoint of Paine massif
|
All year
|
|
Valle Francés
|
16 km
|
8 hours
|
Medium
|
two lakes, French Valley
|
Nov-Apr
|
|
Gray Glacier
|
24 km
|
10 hours
|
Medium
|
Lake Pehoé, glacier/icebergs. *can hire a boat back*
|
Sep-Apr
|
|
Sarmiento - Amarga
|
11 km
|
3 hours
|
Medium
|
wildlife, cave painting, lake
|
All year
|
|
Base Las Torres
|
19 km
|
9 hours
|
Difficult
|
Asencio Valley, forest, base of Torres del Paine massif
|
All year
|
|
Lazo - Weber
|
13 km
|
5 hours
|
Medium
|
Laguna Verde, lenga forest, Lake Toro
|
Sep-Apr
|
The much talked about trails called the “O circuit” and the “W circuit” are hikes that take 5-8 days, so they are not included in the above table. These usually require a guide or are arranged through a private tour operator.
No direct buses go from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine. Instead, you transfer to a second bus in Puerto Natales.
Buses leave Punta Arenas multiple times across the day from 7 am to 7 p.m., ranging from three to five hours before they arrive in Puerto Natales.
Buses from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine are fewer in number, but they take two hours to get to Laguna Amarga, or you can reserve the three-hour trip to Estancia Pudeto. Note these buses don’t operate in the depth of winter (July-August).
When you’re ready to come back, you can reserve from bus tickets from Laguna Amarga to Puerto Natales or from Estancia Pudeto to Puerto Natales.
We can arrange private drivers to take you or your group from Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine (either to Estancia Pudeto or Laguna Armaga). Please note these provide transportation only and are not tours.
Some of the major hotels also have their own transportation service if you are lodging there. However, their fee is not included in your room rate. These include Hotel del Paine and Patagonia Camp.
If at all possible, avoid the months of January and February as those are months the park is most packed with people, rooms and camping spaces will be hard to find, and you will get less care from strung-out service providers.
While Punta Arenas is more central to various destinations, when Torres del Paine is your only destination in the area, it’s better to plan basing yourself in Puerto Natales, and if you can take the ferry directly there and back from Caleta Tortel (a 41-hour eye-popping trip through the largest park, Bernardo O’Higgins).
You are going to save money by lodging in Puerto Natales instead of lodging directly in the park, unless of course you’re camping. But if you want to be right in the middle of the action and you’re fine paying more for the privilege, then by all means lodging in the park will give you a full-service experience. Not only will you save time getting to the trails, the hotels usually have their own tour services and guides for any and all of the trails, boat trips, horsebacking, cycle riding and more. Just make sure you plan on a minimum of 2 hours to get to your hotel from Puerto Natales either by bus or private shuttle (or with the hotel’s own transportation service if they have it).
As Torres del Paine has a lot of things to see, give yourself a minimum of two days/nights in the park itself, and pick the trails according to the features and sights that interest you most.
There is a downside to Torres del Paine, which is it takes a lot of time and money to get there. It’s not just at the southern end of the continent, it’s tucked inside a landscape that is very inaccessible, which is why it’s also cool.
But this is all to say that if you don’t have time or options but do have a big budget and don’t mind flying a long way, then I would recommend not just coming here but to region in general, Tierra del Fuego, which includes visiting Ushuaia (Argentina) or Puerto Williams and Cabo de Hornos (Chile) as a combined package of experiences.
For those, however, with less budget and wanting to explore less touristed parts of Patagonia, I wouldn’t suggest Torres del Paine at all. There are many other parks previously covered in this series that are stunning in their own right and vastly underrated and undervisited. Consider them.
Whichever you choose, you will be as overwhelmed with joy and wonder as I have been encountering the unmatchable beauty of this sacred land. See it. Tell stories about it. And then, come and visit it again and again.
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