Punta Arenas

We arrived into PUQ at just before midnight and while Uber does not work in Punta Arenas it was easy to get a taxi outside the airport. I did notice that most of the cars seemed to have large, fuel?, tanks in their trunks taking up a significant amount of the room. As a result if you have a lot of luggage you may need to take more than one taxi or pile some bags on your lap.



This day was arguably the most ambitious and tiring one of the trip as only a few hours after our arrival into PUQ we would be departing for a day long whale watching tour. Despite the fact that we would need to be at the travel agency at 4AM we decided to book a night at the Hotel Albatros with the hopes of getting a few hours of sleep in. In my very tired state I forgot to take pictures here, but the place is pretty nice although situated by a few loud night clubs. The desk agent/owner was very accommodating in allowing us to keep the room for the day so we could relax after returning from our tour for a small fee.

Whale Watching

After getting up a few short hours later we walked over to the office of Solo Expediciones for our full day whale watching tour. Shortly after 04:00 we left the city and began a ~1hr drive to our boat.


I never managed to get a picture of a full breach, but still walked away with a few nice shots... I think...







After our full day out on the water we returned to Punta Arenas for dinner and a walk around the town before catching a night bus up to Puerto Natales.



More ceviche

PUQ is quite small so it wasn't hard to locate the Bus Sur bus station. After checking in we had our bags tagged, loaded into the bus, and we headed onboard. This was the shorter of the two bus rides involved in the trip and the 3 hour journey was not that painful. Tickets cost $10/pax. Again, not that many photos here--sorry... I've really got to get better at this...


One thing to note is that if your bus arrives at night like ours did the bus station will quickly end up deserted. In the time it took me to figure out that Uber didn't work in PNT the entire bus station had emptied out, taxies had left, bus had left, and lights had been turned off (you get dropped off outside, the terminal is already closed). Luckily I was able to find a phone number of a taxi company to call and pieced together some broken Spanish to get us a taxi.

Puerto Natales
We simply used Puerto Natales as a stopping point before continuing on to Torres Del Paine National Park and as such only spent on night at the Hotel Costaustralis which was adequate for such a short stay. The rooms were large and clean with the only downside being the whirring noise coming from the high winds outside. Being right on the water in an area prone to such high winds it would be nice if they invested more in soundproofing, but alas they do not appear to have.

The next morning we picked up our rental car from EuropCar and left for the park. If you want an automatic it is advised to book in advanced as they apparently sell out quickly. There is also a bus to and from the park that probably would have been a better choice for us so if you don't plan on driving around the park I would seriously consider that option.

The drive into the park is very scenic, but the road is completely covered with potholes and has multiple sections of gravel. While the views are nice, the driving conditions are not ideal so the bus might be a good option to remove some of the stress of the potholes.

Torres Del Paine National Park
We stayed at Hotel Lago Grey inside the park which is one of only a few full service hotels located within the park boundaries. Hotel Lago Grey is not cheap at about $500/night during high season, but it is the cheapest of the hotels within the park. I guess that's the premium you pay to be in the park.

Our room had two twin beds as well as a floor to ceiling window that unfortunately was blocked by a large mound of dirt. If you can, try and get a room on the second floor, the view will be much nicer. The hotel also provides WiFi free of charge to guests staying at the hotel and although it is satellite it was more than fine for checking email, web browsing, etc. Lunch and dinner are not included in the nightly rate an instead is about $30-40/per person/per meal. It isn't anything spectacular and certainly wouldn't commend such a high price in a city, but its the middle of nowhere and they are your only option... all things considered it wasn't bad.














Tours are also not included, but being in such a central location it is easy to venture out on a few nearby trails without a guide. However, we did opt to take a full day guided tour around the park as well as a ride on the hotel's boat, the Grey III, to see Grey Glacier. The tours fit the theme of not being cheap, but if you are going to go through all the effort to get to the park they are probably worth it (at least they are in my opinion).

The park itself is absolutely stunning


Guanacos relaxing















Flamingos!