Efrem

We are flying to Punta Arenas, arriving just after noon January 9th, and are booked on the northbound Navimag cruise leaving Puerto Natales early am on the 12th - boarding the evening of the 11th. We would like to fit it a day trip to Torres del Paine.

There are lots of tours from Puerto Natales, but they leave early in the morning so we'd have to be there the night before. If we wanted to take one on the 10th, we'd have to spend the night of the 9th in Puerto Natales, giving us very little time to see Punta Arenas. However, if we do it on the 11th, the tours are not scheduled to arrive back in town until an hour or less before boarding ends, and schedules in South America are not always observed as religiously as they would be in, say, Switzerland.

What do the experts here recommend? Are a few hours enough time for Punta Arenas? Is Puerto Natales as uninteresting as the guidebooks make it sound, or is it a hidden jewel? If we tell the tour folks that we have to be on board the ferry by 8:30 and have all our stuff with us, will they get us there? Is the 8:30 closing time for boarding really enforced? And what have we forgotten to ask?

Thanks, and muchas gracias!

Viajero

IMO Torres del Paine is so good that I'd go there no matter what, and if that meant 0 hrs to see Punta Arenas then so be it. There is nothing in Punta Arenas that could possibly justify missing Torres del Paine. My suggestion: go on the 9th.

SanDiego1K

^^

Completely and totally agree. I don't remember a thing worth seeing in Punta Natales. And in Punta Arenas, the only things I remember are chocolate shops, which make little chocolate penguins, and the cemetery, where I was fascinated by the little cases for each grave, displaying memorabilita of the person buried within. There was a strong wind blowing the entire time, and it wasn't all that enjoyable to be outside.

Efrem, rent a car and go to Torres del Paine. We hired a driver, but the road was good and it would have been simple to go on our own. We loved seeing the penguin colony enroute.

If memory serves me correctly, it is a 5 or 6 hour drive from Punta Arenas, with Punta Natales being about half way. It is a long, very boring drive thru arid countryside. I can't imagine doing this as a day trip, even from Punta Natales.

Torres del Paine is spectacular; breathtakingly beautiful. Drive up one day and stay overnight. Stop at the glacier. Drive all the way around the peaks. Eat at a lodge. You will not be disappointed.

mrrego

I didn't find Punta Arenas at all interesting. Lots of much more interesting places in the neighborhood--Cape Horn, Ushuaia, but I'd just pass right on thru P.A.

Efrem

Thanks to those who posted here. We'll take the bus to Puerto Natales soon after we land and either take a day tour our first day there or rent a car, depending on how things look on the spot.