Trip Notes: 12 Days in Patagonia for Hiking & Penguins
Mar 22, 2017, 9:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
Trip Notes: 12 Days in Patagonia for Hiking & Penguins
We recently completed a wonderful 12-day trip in Patagonia. This is more of a "trip notes" to help people plan a similar trip, rather than a story and pretty pictures trip report.
* * *
This was our basic itinerary:
Day 0: Fly from USA to Punta Arenas. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 1: Rest up in Morning. Afternoon Magellanic Penguin Tour on Isla Magdalena. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 2: Day trip to Tierra del Fuego to see the King Penguins. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 3: Bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. Bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine.
Days 3~7: W-Hike in Torres Del Paine.
Day 7: Bus from Torres Del Paine to Puerto Natales. Overnight in Puerto Natales.
Day 8: Bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. Bus from El Calafate to El Chalten. Overnight in El Chalten.
Days 9~11: Day hikes from El Chalten.
Day 12: Bus from El Chalten to El Calafate. Fly From El Calafate to Buenos Aires.
* * *
PUNTA ARENAS:
- We love animals and thought the penguins were an amazing experience. We had no intention of spending any time in Punta Arenas, but were “stuck” there for 3 nights before our W-Hike because of award availability. We realized that we could see penguins, and decided to book not one, but two, penguin tours.
- Magellanic Penguin Tour: This is a must for everyone coming to Punta Arenas. Dock to dock was about 4-4.5 hours, with most of that being boat time. We were only allotted one hour on the island, which is the only negative thing we have to say. An hour is sufficient for some people, but enthusiasts and photographers will wish they could spend much more time. The highlight was seeing tons of penguins up close. The island is filled with penguins, and tons of them are right on/near the human trails. We saw everything from infants to a couple “making babies.” We booked the afternoon tour with Comapa. Solo runs the morning tour, which seems to be the same thing. Make sure you book directly with the tour operator, rather than a middleman. Price was 40,000 CLP/person.
- Tierra del Fuego / King Penguins Tour: We’d only recommend this to people who are dying to see king penguins in the wild. They are magnificent and seeing them in the wild was surreal, and we’re glad we had the opportunity. However, 1) there are only about 100 penguins and you can’t really see them up close as you can on Isla Magdalena, and 2) it’s a LONG day to see them. It’s a long boat ride and then a long drive just to get to the penguin colony. About 3 hours each way. Unfortunately, the tour company manages to stretch the whole thing into a 15 hour trip by making a bunch of other stops that we found wholly uninteresting and largely useless. We were picked up at 7am, and didn’t get back to our hotel until 10pm. The tour company was professional and the guide was very good, but the itinerary was simply excessive. Perhaps they think they’d attract more people if they included more on the itinerary, but we’d have preferred to pay the same price for a 7 our trip just to see the penguins and back. We booked with Turismo Selknam, for 50,000 CLP/person. (Again, book directly with the operator.)
- The town itself was unremarkable. The biggest/only highlight seems to be the cemetery, but we’ve seen other Latin American cemeteries and skipped it. There are some cute old buildings. You can walk around the main streets in an hour or two.
- Hotel: We stayed at Hostal Victoria. It was US $75 / night for a double with private bathroom. It was a clean and basic room. The staff was nice. Location was a bit far from the center.
- Food: generally overpriced and mediocre. There was a surplus of overpriced tourist trap restaurants, and very little in the way of budget street food.
- Taxi drivers: They’ll try to gouge the heck out of gringos. Ask the locals what the price should be, and either negotiate or send them away if they refuse to negotiate.
PUERTO NATALES:
- Puerto Natales has an absolutely beautiful setting on the water. We really didn’t spend much time in the city – just a few hours before our W hike and one night after our W hike. We mainly walked around the town, and walked along the waterfront. That was enough. There didn’t seem to be any real attractions We didn’t have a desire to spend any more time there.
- Hotel: We stayed the Francis Drake Hotel for US$74 / night. The room was beautiful, and the location great. The staff was absolutely fantastic. We had a personal matter that needed to be addressed, and the staff spent an hour on the phone helping us sort it out and even walked us into town to help solve the problem. Highly recommended.
- Food: Plenty of cheap places for the backpacker types.
- Taxis: The rides are all flat-rate, so, thankfully, you don’t have to worry about sleazy cab drivers trying to gouge you. Most likely, you’ll only need a taxi in the city if you’re going to/from the bus station and have luggage.
TORRES DEL PAINE & THE W HIKE:
- Booking: Out of necessity, we booked an “independent tour” with a local agency. We planned our entire Patagonia trip one week before our departure, and we were traveling in absolute peak season (Christmas / New Year’s). We’d have preferred to book everything on our own, but EVERYTHING in TdP – every lodge and every campground -- was sold out. It’s a bit of a scam; the local agencies buy out blocks of rooms in the lodges in the hopes of reselling them as part of “packages.” They don’t even resell all their rooms, but I guess they still manage to make enough of a profit. We really wanted to do the W hike, and had no choice but to pay for one of these packages. We paid $1,000 /pp, which included all the lodging, meals, buses to and from the park, and the catamaran. Booked independently, this all would have cost about $430 /pp. So, we got knowingly “ripped off” for the privilege of being about to do the W hike at the last minute. The agency was professional and had good communication with us, and I suppose some people would pay their fee so they don’t have to handle the details themselves. From talking to other hikers, all of this would have been easy to book on one’s own.
- Route: Because we booked a “package,” we didn’t have any choice in our route. People booking themselves have a choice of hiking east-to-west or west-to-east, and further choosing where to stay each night. The internet seems filled with advice and debates ad nauseum about which is THE ideal route. We ended up going east-to-west, but we don’t think it would have made a huge difference either way.
- The Trek: It’s truly a beautiful trail. The internet is filled with detailed photos of the hike, so it seems unnecessary to rehash them here.
- Difficulty: Difficulty will totally depend on the weather conditions, and the conditions can be horrible even in “summer.” We mostly had good weather. But towards the end of our longest day (a 11 hour hike), we got caught in 2-3 hours of nastiness – hail pouring down, 60 mph winds, freezing cold, etc. That was not fun. The trail isn’t maintained very well, and is quite slippery if the weather turns bad. Comparing this to other “famous” treks, I’d rank the W Hike as potentially harder than Kilimanjaro because of the potential for bad conditions.
- Lodges: We spent the first two nights at Refugio Las Torres, the third at Refugio Los Cuernos, and the last at Refugio Paine Grande. Las Torres and Los Cuernos are operated by Fantastico Sur, and Paine Grande is operated by Vertice Patagonia. The two Fantastico Sur refugios were well managed and clean, and the meals were plentiful and decent enough. The view from the rooms at Las Torres was amazing. Paine Grande was a disaster: the employees were really mean people, and the bathrooms were filthy.
- Food: Lots of trip reports I read suggested bringing a lot of snacks because the food at the lodges isn’t filling enough. Following this advice, we brought a lot of protein bars and beef jerky. We barely ate any of that, and found the meals sufficient even though we eat a lot when hiking. Bring some snacks, but don’t go overboard.
- Final Thoughts: The W Hike is beautiful, but it isn’t for everyone. Even if you’re in good shape and an experienced hiker, Glaciers National Park in Argentinian Patagonia may be a more relaxing/fun/romantic experience. If you do the W hike, know what you’re getting into: carrying your own gear, sleeping in either in dorms with 6-8 people or camp, etc.
LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK & EL CHALTEN:
- The Hikes: We had three full days in El Chalten, and did the three popular full-day hikes: Laguna Torre, Laguna de Los Tres, and Loma del Pliegue Tumbado. All were beautiful. If you do Laguna de Los Tres, I’d strongly recommended that you take a shuttle to the El Pilar trailhead (150 pesos) to make the hike an A-B-C hike rather than a more boring and more difficult out-and-back hike.
- Difficulty: These 3 hikes have similar lengths and elevation gains as compared to the hikes on the W trek. But the Argentinian trails are in much better shape than the trails on the W hike, so it will be a little easier. Plus, you’re not carrying your overnight gear. So, overall, the El Chalten hikes are quite a bit easier than the W trek hikes.
- El Chalten Town: The town was nice and pleasant. It’s a rare tourist town that doesn’t seem like a giant tourist trap designed to rip you off in every possible way. Lots of competition – many choices of budget and nice restaurants, several grocery stores, many hotels – keeps prices fair and service good.
- Food: We loved Che Empanadas; they have are about 20 different varieties, all baked freshly when you order. We went there multiple times. The grocery stores make it convenient to make a cheap, healthy lunch for your hike the next day; this is a much better option than buying an overpriced low-quality pre-made lunch from your hotel.
- Hotel: Hosteria Senderos. This was a very nice place. Rooms were comfortable. The staff was very helpful, particularly for hiking advice and helping us figure out what days to do each hike based on the weather predictions. Breakfast was very complete. Highly recommended.
- Final Thoughts: We enjoyed El Chalten much more than the W Hike. Torres del Paine *might* be a little more beautiful by a hair, but El Chalten offers amazing Patagonia hiking with the convenience of being able to take a shower at night. Of course, different strokes for different folks; people who want a pure rugged experience will prefer Torres del Paine.
MISCELLANEOUS:
- What We Skipped: Notably, we skipped the Perito Moreno Glacier. We had a limited time and chose to do three full hikes in El Chalten instead of spending a day at the glacier. We saw plenty of glaciers up close on the hike, plus we’ve seen other glaciers elsewhere.
- Buses: We took the buses between cities, and they are very comfortable and clean. Nice padded seats that recline. Better than any bus in the USA. There are several different companies running any given route; they were all good, and I’d just pick the bus time that works best for your schedule. We bought the tickets online, ahead of time. Some booking sites were a major pain to use, and required trying out 3-4 different US credit cards to finally get it working.
- Language: The overall level of English is quite good in these parts, which is mainly because you’ll mostly be in touristy places dealing with people who are associated with the tourism industry. If you know zero Spanish, you’ll be fine.
* * *
This was our basic itinerary:
Day 0: Fly from USA to Punta Arenas. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 1: Rest up in Morning. Afternoon Magellanic Penguin Tour on Isla Magdalena. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 2: Day trip to Tierra del Fuego to see the King Penguins. Overnight in Punta Arenas.
Day 3: Bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. Bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine.
Days 3~7: W-Hike in Torres Del Paine.
Day 7: Bus from Torres Del Paine to Puerto Natales. Overnight in Puerto Natales.
Day 8: Bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. Bus from El Calafate to El Chalten. Overnight in El Chalten.
Days 9~11: Day hikes from El Chalten.
Day 12: Bus from El Chalten to El Calafate. Fly From El Calafate to Buenos Aires.
* * *
PUNTA ARENAS:
- We love animals and thought the penguins were an amazing experience. We had no intention of spending any time in Punta Arenas, but were “stuck” there for 3 nights before our W-Hike because of award availability. We realized that we could see penguins, and decided to book not one, but two, penguin tours.
- Magellanic Penguin Tour: This is a must for everyone coming to Punta Arenas. Dock to dock was about 4-4.5 hours, with most of that being boat time. We were only allotted one hour on the island, which is the only negative thing we have to say. An hour is sufficient for some people, but enthusiasts and photographers will wish they could spend much more time. The highlight was seeing tons of penguins up close. The island is filled with penguins, and tons of them are right on/near the human trails. We saw everything from infants to a couple “making babies.” We booked the afternoon tour with Comapa. Solo runs the morning tour, which seems to be the same thing. Make sure you book directly with the tour operator, rather than a middleman. Price was 40,000 CLP/person.
- Tierra del Fuego / King Penguins Tour: We’d only recommend this to people who are dying to see king penguins in the wild. They are magnificent and seeing them in the wild was surreal, and we’re glad we had the opportunity. However, 1) there are only about 100 penguins and you can’t really see them up close as you can on Isla Magdalena, and 2) it’s a LONG day to see them. It’s a long boat ride and then a long drive just to get to the penguin colony. About 3 hours each way. Unfortunately, the tour company manages to stretch the whole thing into a 15 hour trip by making a bunch of other stops that we found wholly uninteresting and largely useless. We were picked up at 7am, and didn’t get back to our hotel until 10pm. The tour company was professional and the guide was very good, but the itinerary was simply excessive. Perhaps they think they’d attract more people if they included more on the itinerary, but we’d have preferred to pay the same price for a 7 our trip just to see the penguins and back. We booked with Turismo Selknam, for 50,000 CLP/person. (Again, book directly with the operator.)
- The town itself was unremarkable. The biggest/only highlight seems to be the cemetery, but we’ve seen other Latin American cemeteries and skipped it. There are some cute old buildings. You can walk around the main streets in an hour or two.
- Hotel: We stayed at Hostal Victoria. It was US $75 / night for a double with private bathroom. It was a clean and basic room. The staff was nice. Location was a bit far from the center.
- Food: generally overpriced and mediocre. There was a surplus of overpriced tourist trap restaurants, and very little in the way of budget street food.
- Taxi drivers: They’ll try to gouge the heck out of gringos. Ask the locals what the price should be, and either negotiate or send them away if they refuse to negotiate.
PUERTO NATALES:
- Puerto Natales has an absolutely beautiful setting on the water. We really didn’t spend much time in the city – just a few hours before our W hike and one night after our W hike. We mainly walked around the town, and walked along the waterfront. That was enough. There didn’t seem to be any real attractions We didn’t have a desire to spend any more time there.
- Hotel: We stayed the Francis Drake Hotel for US$74 / night. The room was beautiful, and the location great. The staff was absolutely fantastic. We had a personal matter that needed to be addressed, and the staff spent an hour on the phone helping us sort it out and even walked us into town to help solve the problem. Highly recommended.
- Food: Plenty of cheap places for the backpacker types.
- Taxis: The rides are all flat-rate, so, thankfully, you don’t have to worry about sleazy cab drivers trying to gouge you. Most likely, you’ll only need a taxi in the city if you’re going to/from the bus station and have luggage.
TORRES DEL PAINE & THE W HIKE:
- Booking: Out of necessity, we booked an “independent tour” with a local agency. We planned our entire Patagonia trip one week before our departure, and we were traveling in absolute peak season (Christmas / New Year’s). We’d have preferred to book everything on our own, but EVERYTHING in TdP – every lodge and every campground -- was sold out. It’s a bit of a scam; the local agencies buy out blocks of rooms in the lodges in the hopes of reselling them as part of “packages.” They don’t even resell all their rooms, but I guess they still manage to make enough of a profit. We really wanted to do the W hike, and had no choice but to pay for one of these packages. We paid $1,000 /pp, which included all the lodging, meals, buses to and from the park, and the catamaran. Booked independently, this all would have cost about $430 /pp. So, we got knowingly “ripped off” for the privilege of being about to do the W hike at the last minute. The agency was professional and had good communication with us, and I suppose some people would pay their fee so they don’t have to handle the details themselves. From talking to other hikers, all of this would have been easy to book on one’s own.
- Route: Because we booked a “package,” we didn’t have any choice in our route. People booking themselves have a choice of hiking east-to-west or west-to-east, and further choosing where to stay each night. The internet seems filled with advice and debates ad nauseum about which is THE ideal route. We ended up going east-to-west, but we don’t think it would have made a huge difference either way.
- The Trek: It’s truly a beautiful trail. The internet is filled with detailed photos of the hike, so it seems unnecessary to rehash them here.
- Difficulty: Difficulty will totally depend on the weather conditions, and the conditions can be horrible even in “summer.” We mostly had good weather. But towards the end of our longest day (a 11 hour hike), we got caught in 2-3 hours of nastiness – hail pouring down, 60 mph winds, freezing cold, etc. That was not fun. The trail isn’t maintained very well, and is quite slippery if the weather turns bad. Comparing this to other “famous” treks, I’d rank the W Hike as potentially harder than Kilimanjaro because of the potential for bad conditions.
- Lodges: We spent the first two nights at Refugio Las Torres, the third at Refugio Los Cuernos, and the last at Refugio Paine Grande. Las Torres and Los Cuernos are operated by Fantastico Sur, and Paine Grande is operated by Vertice Patagonia. The two Fantastico Sur refugios were well managed and clean, and the meals were plentiful and decent enough. The view from the rooms at Las Torres was amazing. Paine Grande was a disaster: the employees were really mean people, and the bathrooms were filthy.
- Food: Lots of trip reports I read suggested bringing a lot of snacks because the food at the lodges isn’t filling enough. Following this advice, we brought a lot of protein bars and beef jerky. We barely ate any of that, and found the meals sufficient even though we eat a lot when hiking. Bring some snacks, but don’t go overboard.
- Final Thoughts: The W Hike is beautiful, but it isn’t for everyone. Even if you’re in good shape and an experienced hiker, Glaciers National Park in Argentinian Patagonia may be a more relaxing/fun/romantic experience. If you do the W hike, know what you’re getting into: carrying your own gear, sleeping in either in dorms with 6-8 people or camp, etc.
LOS GLACIARES NATIONAL PARK & EL CHALTEN:
- The Hikes: We had three full days in El Chalten, and did the three popular full-day hikes: Laguna Torre, Laguna de Los Tres, and Loma del Pliegue Tumbado. All were beautiful. If you do Laguna de Los Tres, I’d strongly recommended that you take a shuttle to the El Pilar trailhead (150 pesos) to make the hike an A-B-C hike rather than a more boring and more difficult out-and-back hike.
- Difficulty: These 3 hikes have similar lengths and elevation gains as compared to the hikes on the W trek. But the Argentinian trails are in much better shape than the trails on the W hike, so it will be a little easier. Plus, you’re not carrying your overnight gear. So, overall, the El Chalten hikes are quite a bit easier than the W trek hikes.
- El Chalten Town: The town was nice and pleasant. It’s a rare tourist town that doesn’t seem like a giant tourist trap designed to rip you off in every possible way. Lots of competition – many choices of budget and nice restaurants, several grocery stores, many hotels – keeps prices fair and service good.
- Food: We loved Che Empanadas; they have are about 20 different varieties, all baked freshly when you order. We went there multiple times. The grocery stores make it convenient to make a cheap, healthy lunch for your hike the next day; this is a much better option than buying an overpriced low-quality pre-made lunch from your hotel.
- Hotel: Hosteria Senderos. This was a very nice place. Rooms were comfortable. The staff was very helpful, particularly for hiking advice and helping us figure out what days to do each hike based on the weather predictions. Breakfast was very complete. Highly recommended.
- Final Thoughts: We enjoyed El Chalten much more than the W Hike. Torres del Paine *might* be a little more beautiful by a hair, but El Chalten offers amazing Patagonia hiking with the convenience of being able to take a shower at night. Of course, different strokes for different folks; people who want a pure rugged experience will prefer Torres del Paine.
MISCELLANEOUS:
- What We Skipped: Notably, we skipped the Perito Moreno Glacier. We had a limited time and chose to do three full hikes in El Chalten instead of spending a day at the glacier. We saw plenty of glaciers up close on the hike, plus we’ve seen other glaciers elsewhere.
- Buses: We took the buses between cities, and they are very comfortable and clean. Nice padded seats that recline. Better than any bus in the USA. There are several different companies running any given route; they were all good, and I’d just pick the bus time that works best for your schedule. We bought the tickets online, ahead of time. Some booking sites were a major pain to use, and required trying out 3-4 different US credit cards to finally get it working.
- Language: The overall level of English is quite good in these parts, which is mainly because you’ll mostly be in touristy places dealing with people who are associated with the tourism industry. If you know zero Spanish, you’ll be fine.
Mar 23, 2017, 10:40 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
Thanks! We booked with Chile Nativo. They were only one of two who even responded to us. Most companies (including the ones who run the lodges -- Fantascio Sur and Vertice Patagonia) didn't respond to our emails, and didn't even answer phone calls when we attempted to call them internationally. I guess they had enough to deal with in mid-December and didn't need any more business.
Mar 23, 2017, 12:05 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
We used AA awards for NA-SA:
- Outbound was LAX-MIA on AA followed by MIA-SCL-PUQ on LAN. (PUQ = Punta Arenas.) I think we were very lucky to get SCL-PUQ at the last minute; LAN showed no availability on any other last-minute days.
- The return was EZE-SCL-CUN-MIA on LAN followed by MIA-LAX on AA. Absolutely horrible routing, and we had a family member check multiple times a day for better routings but nothing cleared.
As you probably know, there are no free stopovers with AA awards, so we bought cash tickets from FTE-AEP on AR for $275/pp, which seemed to make the most economic sense. (FTE = El Calafate.) LAN happened to cost a bit more, and the times were worse. AR in Y was satisfactory. 1 free bag was included even on the domestic flight.
Mar 23, 2017, 1:28 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: EWR
Programs: UA Gold, BA, HHonors, Avis
Posts: 192
Good point. This is FlyerTalk, not HikerTalk.
We used AA awards for NA-SA:
- Outbound was LAX-MIA on AA followed by MIA-SCL-PUQ on LAN. (PUQ = Punta Arenas.) I think we were very lucky to get SCL-PUQ at the last minute; LAN showed no availability on any other last-minute days.
- The return was EZE-SCL-CUN-MIA on LAN followed by MIA-LAX on AA. Absolutely horrible routing, and we had a family member check multiple times a day for better routings but nothing cleared.
As you probably know, there are no free stopovers with AA awards, so we bought cash tickets from FTE-AEP on AR for $275/pp, which seemed to make the most economic sense. (FTE = El Calafate.) LAN happened to cost a bit more, and the times were worse. AR in Y was satisfactory. 1 free bag was included even on the domestic flight.
We used AA awards for NA-SA:
- Outbound was LAX-MIA on AA followed by MIA-SCL-PUQ on LAN. (PUQ = Punta Arenas.) I think we were very lucky to get SCL-PUQ at the last minute; LAN showed no availability on any other last-minute days.
- The return was EZE-SCL-CUN-MIA on LAN followed by MIA-LAX on AA. Absolutely horrible routing, and we had a family member check multiple times a day for better routings but nothing cleared.
As you probably know, there are no free stopovers with AA awards, so we bought cash tickets from FTE-AEP on AR for $275/pp, which seemed to make the most economic sense. (FTE = El Calafate.) LAN happened to cost a bit more, and the times were worse. AR in Y was satisfactory. 1 free bag was included even on the domestic flight.
Mar 23, 2017, 1:37 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
Btw, I should have mentioned that we did a 3 night stopover in BA ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/argen...es-report.html ), so FTE-AEP wasn't on the same day as EZE-SCL-CUN-MIA-LAX. But that was still a pretty horrible flying experience.
Mar 23, 2017, 7:19 pm
#8
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 333
Thank you. The W has been on my radar for awhile as one of those to-do hikes. It sounds like, however, we'll probably need to be in better shape before we do this. We did the Milford Track in November and loved it so definitely looking for other interesting tracks.
ETA: Can't we just have one penguin pic?
ETA: Can't we just have one penguin pic?
Mar 26, 2017, 11:02 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
If you're trying to get yourself ready for a hike like the W where the possibly hardest part is carrying your gear, get used to doing physical activity with weight on your back. Even if you don't have the time for regular "training hikes," bring your trekking backpack to the gym and put weights inside and get on the Stairmaster or the treadmill at maximum incline. You'll look silly, but who cares?
ETA: Can't we just have one penguin pic?
Last edited by LAX_Esq; Mar 26, 2017 at 11:13 am
Mar 26, 2017, 4:43 pm
#12
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: ORD
Programs: AA EXP, WoH Globalist
Posts: 104
Thanks for sharing! Your notes brought back memories from my time in Patagonia a couple years back -- truly one of the most memorable vacations I've had.
One thing to note: If you're looking for a more relaxing/romantic experience and have money to burn, there are a number of luxury lodges in the TdP National Park that will do day hikes along this route. I did an ~8hr day hike out to Torres del Paine and it was fantastic.
Obviously if you're an experienced hiker and/or looking for a true hiking experience this probably isn't what you're after, but it's a nice way to experience some of the region's beauty in a more "full-service" atmosphere.
One thing to note: If you're looking for a more relaxing/romantic experience and have money to burn, there are a number of luxury lodges in the TdP National Park that will do day hikes along this route. I did an ~8hr day hike out to Torres del Paine and it was fantastic.
Obviously if you're an experienced hiker and/or looking for a true hiking experience this probably isn't what you're after, but it's a nice way to experience some of the region's beauty in a more "full-service" atmosphere.
Mar 27, 2017, 1:54 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
One thing to note: If you're looking for a more relaxing/romantic experience and have money to burn, there are a number of luxury lodges in the TdP National Park that will do day hikes along this route. I did an ~8hr day hike out to Torres del Paine and it was fantastic.
Obviously if you're an experienced hiker and/or looking for a true hiking experience this probably isn't what you're after, but it's a nice way to experience some of the region's beauty in a more "full-service" atmosphere.
Obviously if you're an experienced hiker and/or looking for a true hiking experience this probably isn't what you're after, but it's a nice way to experience some of the region's beauty in a more "full-service" atmosphere.
The problem with the luxury lodge option is that TdP just isn't conducive to day hiking. Because of how the park is set up, you can't see all the other highlights of the W trek without moving around between the refugios/campgrounds every night.
On this basis, if you want a luxury experience but are into doing a series of full-day treks, I'd say that Glaciers National Park is a better option. Again, this is all personal preference!