Awasi Patagonia Trip Review
Mar 26, 2015, 4:01 pm
Awasi Patagonia
TERCERA BARRANCA Torres Del Paine, CHILE CL
Awasi Patagonia Trip Review (0 Photo)
Awasi Patagonia
This is a bit of a delayed review, Ms. Ridefar and I visited the property in January. We have been to Awasi Atacama previously, so we had high expectations for the hotel in every respect (Awasi Atacama was extremely impressive--certainly on part with many Amans in terms of quality of service).
Getting to Awasi Patagonia is no easy matter in some ways. Getting to Chile is actually pretty straight forward, and we enjoy the fact that from North America time zones are usually not an issue, and that by flying in business on a lie flat seat from Toronto, it is very easy and stress free to get to Santiago. But from Santiago it is another 4 hour flight south on LAN, followed by a 4.5 hour drive from Punta Arenas to Awasi. (Note that the airport at Puerto Natales is currently being upgraded to support B737 class aircraft--that would reduce the drive by more than half).
Check In
Check in was entirely seamless. Rodrigo, the activities manager, met our vehicle at the main lodge, and we were given a quick tour, and a snack, before being shown to our room. Pretty straightforward, and since everything is paid in advance, there is not a lot of paperwork.
Room
All rooms are detached "villa" style cabins done in a very modern style but with rustic materials. The design is very nice, the rooms are well laid out, materials and quality of construction is high. There are no TVs (a good thing), and no phones (a two way radio is provided for safety and emergency purposes). Linens are very high quality, as are bathroom amenities. As I recall, they are locally sourced, not the nearly ubiquitous Occitaine products. Towels were very high quality. Each room also comes with a wood fired hot tub just outside the bathroom door.
The highlight of the rooms however are clearly the windows all along the wall facing the valley, and the simply spectacular views. And when I say spectacular, I do think the main lodge and the rooms probably have the most impressive views of any hotel we have ever stayed at. The view down the valley to the park and to the Torres del Paine is simply unbelievable; the hotel is quite high up the side of the valley so there are unobstructed views for dozens of kilometres down the valley.
Service
Service is completely inidividualized. Each room comes with a guide and a driver which are yours for the duration of your stay. Guiding was high quality and friendly. Housekeeping was completely invisible during our stay--not that hard given that you will be out of your room for extended periods of time doing excursions. Dinig staff and all other staff were exemplary and very friendly. The service may have been a tad slow one night when the dining room was busiest, but was otherwise excellent.
Dining
The food at Awasi Patagonia is exceptional. The chef is a bundle of energy, and clearly puts a lot of effort into his menus and is very creative. We stayed for 6 nights, and only faced the same menu once (first and last night). If the menu doesn't suit on a given night, salads and pastas are always available. But there is a great variety, with very high quality local ingredients where possible. There was lots of seafood on the menu, and lots of local meat (like Guanaco tartare). Everything was presented to a very high standard, the tastes were exceptional, and every course was well done. There wasn't a single meal we had in the dining room that we would have been disappointed with had we ordered it in a high end North American or European restaurant. Wines are included, and the selection of Chilean wine Awasi keeps is varied and interesting. Not all of it is 90+ stuff, but there isn't any that was less than 85 or so by WS standards, and there was lots that we hadn't encountered in North America, so that was a plus. Reserve wines are available.
The only let down in terms of dining were the lunches--a little greater variety would have been appreciated, typically the offering was soup and sandwiches. Also, some sort of sweet would have been appreciated too--we definitely burned the calories doing the hikes in the area.
Location
Really the remoteness of the location is a blessing. Although the hiking trails will have more people on them, while at the Awasi property you feel like you have Patagonia to yourself. And if that isn't sufficiently isolated, a couple of the hikes can take you to areas where there are truly no other people and no signs of civilization at all.
A note on the activities: this is not a location for lazing around. There is no spa (although massages are available). No TV. No theatre. If you don't want to hike (or fish, or horseback ride, or river raft, or...) then you might be a little bored. Hikes vary from fairly easy distances to some pretty challenging routes on the "W" route in the park. Everywhere offers jawdropping scenery and every step is richly rewarded. I would say moderate fitness would be a plus--not that you have to be able to do a triathlon, but if you can hike 15-20 km a day, you will see some amazing scenery that isn't accessible if you aren't prepared to walk to it.
Overall
Overall our impressions were very positive, and we would definitely consider a return at some point in the future. The property, the location, and the service were all outstanding; and all exceeded our expectations and even exceeded those of the sister property in Atacama. For active people who enjoy the outdoors and luxury, I can't recommend the property highly enough.
Mar 27, 2015, 11:38 am
Mar 27, 2015, 4:23 pm
My other $0.02 as well: have done a fair number of both luxury active trips and wilderness group non-luxury (tenting) trips, is that if it is active, you want to be with a private guide. I am fine sharing a safari jeep with just about anybody, but I am not fine waiting at the trail head or lunch stop for an hour for somebody slower to turn up.
Couple other things: March should be an amazing time of year with fall colours in Patagonia--Rodrigo at Awasi mentioned it was his favorite time of year. Also, I don't know if they mention it on their website, but you should be able to get 10% off for booking both properties (don't know if using a TA would matter). I would also recommend at least 4 nights at each to get the full impact. We had 6 at each and there was never any problem running out of things to do.
Mar 27, 2015, 10:56 pm
And while I would very much recommend the former, I would encourage those going to the Atacama to try Awasi (our first choice, though booked when we went).
Explora Atacama had some wonderful guides, and a nice hard product, but service was fairly poor - especially in comparison to the warmth we experienced at Explora Rapa Nui - and the food was simply not good at all.
Mar 28, 2015, 8:27 am
while we rapidly proceeded with our private inclusive guide ^. Also the region of Salto Grande is badly burned down. Beware: Driving distance even from Awasi are always big, nothing less than one hour and the main park entrance is a bureaucratic disgrace. Make sure that on your way from Punta Arenas you take the very nice road through the park, it is now open, but Awasi will rather make you go via Cerro Castillo (30 minutes shorter). After Awasi I recommend going to El Calafate at excellent Eolo for the Lago Argentino cruise and the Perito Moreno glacier.Be warned about "Stella Australis" - it is not stellar at all and at best three star plus level. My expectations were low and happily so. The boat is nice, but a huge missed opportunity regarding service (no slippers, no bathrobes, no bedlinen change for four nights....) and F&B where the ambiance is horrible - reminded me of the ferry between Genova and Palermo.. The good thing are the cheerful technical staff and the excellent expedition leader who is also a respected conservationist. I would not do the cruise again, but recommend it for the beauty of the place as a once in a lifetime experience. And nothing more exciting than celebrating my partners 30th birthday at Cape Horn.......
Mar 28, 2015, 9:12 am
Only negative is that the distance from the park means you spend a bit more time in a jeep than you would if you were at Explora. Everything else was phenomenal. Thoroughly recommended.
Mar 28, 2015, 1:57 pm
Mar 28, 2015, 7:03 pm
The cruise is unique indeed because of the scenery and the very expert guiding. The service can be forgotten about and the cabins and beds are comfy.
PM me if you wish to discuss how to best transfer to Eolo and what to do there.
Last edited by behuman; Mar 28, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Mar 29, 2015, 4:27 pm
re cruise, 14 cabin yacht with helicopter >
some weeks take individual reservations
http://www.nomads.cl/main/pagina_information/71
(thanks behuman for info on their scheduled route)
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Mar 29, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Mar 29, 2015, 7:03 pm
some weeks take individual reservations
http://www.nomads.cl/main/pagina_information/71
Mar 29, 2016, 9:09 am
We were travelling in shoulder season (end of March) for Patagonia and wanted to spend 4 nights in the Torres del Paine. We looked at both Explora and Awasi - in the end, Awasi worked out to be nearly double the price of Explora and we couldn't justify the extra cost so went to the Explora. Having read this thread and some tripadvisor reviews, I had some pre-trip concerns about the "group" explorations aspect of Explora but in they end, it turns out they were completely unjustified.
All Explora activities are done as groups (a maximum of 8 people per group but usually no more than 4 or 5) but the groups were well designed to put people of similar fitness / speed together and every day we were able to do exactly what we wanted. We are young, fit and keen hikers and the pace was never too slow.
We took the early morning (0550) flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas (arrival 0930) where we were picked up (private (but included) transfer) by Explora. We arrived at the hotel shortly before 1400 where we had lunch. There was then a guide available to take the two of us on a short hike (about 5km with 250m or so of ascent) to explore the park. We then had time to relax in the beautiful outdoor jacuzzis with views over one of the lakes - not quite Awasi's hot tub in your room but we were the only people using the entire Spa (pool, jacuzzi, sauna, spa) complex both times we visited.
The following day, we did the Glacier Grey excursion - a short car ride (10 minutes), a boat trip across Lake Pehoe, a 12km walk with spectacular views of lakes, icebergs and the grey glacier and finally another boat trip to take us up close to the glacier and back the length of lago grey. A final 30 minute walk and the explora van picked us up for a 30 minute drive back to the hotel (different finish point to start point). This day really demonstrates the strengths of Explora - its location inside the park makes the drives at either end very short and the group structure enables one way walks as you don't have to get back to your vehicle (drivers and guides are separate). This hike is part of the famous W circuit and something that we really wanted to do - it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. It is worth noting that Awasi had said they would only be able to offer this for additional cost (USD110pp) when we asked and given the location of the Awasi, it would have been a very very long day with an extra hour or so of driving either end.
We are experienced horse riders so on the second full day, organised a full day of riding (two half day rides) out of the Quincho (gaucho ranch) owned by Explora. This was made extra special as that day, there was a traditional asado (traditional patagonian barbeque with whole lambs and large cuts of beef cooked over a fire) organised by Explora at the Quincho for lunch - a great patagonian experience and definitely helped by good wine and nice salads etc to accompany the meat. The Quincho barbeque experience was available for all guests who wanted to go and was held on 2 of the 3 days we were there. The riding was fast paced (lots of cantering and galloping across the pampas) and the horses well mannered but still lively. It was certainly the best riding we have had whilst on holiday and very different to the standard walking / trotting horse treks offered almost everywhere else. With us on our ride, were another young couple who also rode well who had stayed at Awasi Atacama and indicated that the riding there had been much more sedate. If riding is important to you, the Explora offering is magical and I think would be tough to beat.
On our last day, we did the Base Torres trek - probably the most famous hike in the Torres del Paine NP - around 20km and over 800m of vertical ascent. Our group was certainly not slow but we did meet very interesting people and really enjoyed the hike and the cold beers provided at the bottom!
On the basis of the above, it would seem difficult not to absolutely love Explora Patagonia but to me, there is one key flaw - the food. Unfortunately, Explora's food is still living in the 90s and is just not up to the standard of similar luxury properties. Dinners consisted of two choices of starter (one always soup) and two mains (one often vegitarian) and the food ranged from good but simple to downright poor. Lunches were also dull - very basic sandwiches and boring soups while breakfast was fine but should offer a cook to order option at this level I think. We mentioned this to various staff including the manager whilst at the hotel and were consistently told that the food was being worked on but there is a lot of work to do.
The rooms (we had the cheapest Salto Chico category) were nice but not particularly large and the bathroom was incredibly cramped. The common areas of the hotel are in good condition and the windows in the main areas give you an amazing view of the main Cuernos mountains - the classic picture of Torres del Paine. If you are lucky with the weather, there would also be an amazing sunset view but the clouds came in just at the wrong moment every evening we were there.
Behuman mentioned the effect of the 2011 fire - it burned a large section of the park - broadly all around Lago Grey and around the Explora. This did destroy much of the forest which I understand covered the slopes in these regions but the area is far from unattractive now - there is no evidence of burnt patches other than some burned trees (which look very dramatic) and the more open ground does ensure that you have amazing views rather than being within forest. Don't let it worry you as it won't spoil your trip.
So, was Explora the right place for us? Yes - the explorations were fantastic and we went away with amazing memories. I am not sure we could have had some of the experiences we did (especially Glacier Grey and the horse riding with the asado) at Awasi. The food was a let down but not enough to ruin our holiday - although I was glad we hadn't been staying with Explora on Easter Island as 8 nights of that style of food might have been too much!