We returned home from Chile. A lot of our trip was done in a 3*/4* manner rather than 5* but I think Singular Patagonia warrants a comment here. They don't have a minimum stay and do not force you into all inclusive excursions. Their clientele is typically a bit older than other luxury options, with briefer stays. Often guests will do 1 day in Torres del paine and one day on boat cruise to glaciers. For us it was some R&R after 5 days hiking in the park staying in more modest accommodation (Konkashken lodge, decent food, friendly host, not luxury but recommended ). Awasi location was not ideal for us, too far from the most photogenic areas of the park. At their prices we'd need it to be perfect so passed. No regrets as we spent about 12hrs/day doing hiking/photography, luxury would have been a waste. Depending on the status of a river crossing in can be quite far from the park. Tierra also far. Explorara has an ideal location. But there was no way we were going to sign up for group hiking activities at that price point, let alone deal with poor food reviews. Don't need a guide for marked trails and groups would definitely have slowed us down considerably.


The location is outside P Natalas along the water. It is pretty, in a moody fjord type of way. The design of the repurposed cold storage facilities into a hotel is extremely impressive. The hard product in the rooms themselves is a little bit more limited and stark. Service and spoken english were quite good, which was more limited in general around Chile than we expected even in tourist destinations. . Service/concierge was of a high Chilean standard. Probably better than Ritz Carlton in the city for example, neither of a world class quality. Restaurant is in a very nice large room with a grand fireplace. Food was pretty good again by Chilean standards at both dinner and breakfast. Nice sauna/steam room with views out to the water and a small pool.

We did one excursion with them over 2 nights. It was to Sierra Bagualas. A bit off the beaten path hiking destination with some interesting archaeology. You cannot visit this region without a guide and I wanted a break from driving around the park so we decided to do it. We had this on a private basis without surcharge (only 2 groups have done this more active/off the beaten path activity in the last 5 years. ) The lunch provided was excellent. Guide was ex-Awasi, a common theme (pay probably about the same but these guides get to go home at 6pm instead of being stuck in Awasi) so i would expect the service/experience from guides to be similar in other excursions. Of course most of the common excursions are group based at Singular, not something we'd be interested in. I think it probably goes without saying on this forum, but I don't recommend doing the actual W circuit.

I think if one wanted a short trip to Torres del paine, perhaps in the setting of a longer trip to Argentina or Antartica Singular would be a good luxury option. I also thought it was a good option paired with more budget accommodations in the park (where value is quite poor) or of course if other luxury properties were full.
With no budgetary constraints, i would say that 3 days Explora, perhaps with 1 private excursion added, followed by 3 days Awasi, would be the ideal Chilean patagonia trip.

For those interested, we also stayed in Hotel Desertica in Atacama, whose hardproduct looks errily similar to Awasi Atacama. Going self guided in Atacama is definitely doable but also an experience in Chilean bureaucracy. Again the Awasi product looked best of luxury options, but didn't feel like spending that much on a poor hard product. Nor is it advisable to drink heavily in Atacama with altitude so that aspect of all inclusive is wasted. Between the two Chilean destinations, our comfortable self guided option instead of Chilean luxury probably saved us enough to pay for a short luxury safari.