You've seen all the amazing images of of this world famous trek in Patagonia and decided - that's where you want to be on your next trip. Congratulations! You've made a great decision you won't regret. You dive in to start planning and come up with a massively confusing amount of information and have no idea where to start. Well, read on!
Sunrise view of the Cordillera Paine from Camping Pehoé
How to easily plan your Patagonia experience
This was our first major multi-day trek over 5 days. We wanted to up our hiking game and this has always been on our list. I would describe ourselves as having average fitness with limited backpacking experience but highly motivated and obsessed about trekking. This trek will push your physical limits but will be so rewarding at the same time. A novice hiker can complete the full O Circuit successfully and vertically-challenged hikers may need some help on some sections of the trail to scramble up some areas.
Now that you've decided this is where you want to go, here are some questions you need to ask yourself to plan successfully.
Are you looking to do this on a budget and on your own agenda?
First of, there are many tour operators selling pre-packaged group trips to Patagonia. If you like being part of a larger group, with everything planned and managed for you, where all you have to do is get up and walk, then these types of packaged trips will suit you well. However, if you like to travel on your own agenda and on your own schedule, or go off-schedule for that matter, while saving a ton of money, then you can easily plan a trip to Patagonia on your own, like we did. Don't worry, you're really never alone on the trail if you're worried about going solo. I have never met a friendlier bunch of hikers ever.
For me, there is a certain satisfaction in researching and booking a trip on your own. While it is time consuming and not for everyone, I love that sense of accomplishment and learning about a place as you dig into planning a new adventure. I also hate committing to a group schedule and agenda, so all our trips are planned the hard way. I have seen organized trips costing $2,500 USD per person and up. This cost us under $1,300 USD for two.
How much time do you have and when do you want to go?
Patagonia is a vast region in South America and unless you have all the time and money in the world to travel, you cannot possibly see it all. My motto for travelling has been "you've got to leave something behind so you have a reason to come back again'. And if you decided you didn't like the trip, well then, there's nothing more to see, is there?
So will you be taking one week or a month for this trip? And do you prefer to hike in warmer or cooler weather? The summer season in Patagonia is short - December through February when the days can get pretty hot if the sun is out (20-25C) but the nights are still cool (5-10C). Summers are famous for the legendary winds while Winters bring calmer weather and snow. Of course, you can get all four seasons in one day at any time in Patagonia. It can also rain the entire week you're there in the Summer so it's almost impossible to predict or get the perfect weather. Just pack the perfect gear! I have a post on that topic you can check out (I knew you'd ask!).
I've also seen many reviews about how much busier the summer season is, but based on what I saw during January-February, there are many other US national parks that are far, far busier as a reference. The campsites have a maximum capacity so that dictates how busy it gets, not including the day hiker sections such as the Miradors. Even the W circuit portion did not feel overly crowded to me. We never had to wait for restrooms or showers but then again, we would try and use them during off-peak times. Laguna de los Tres in the Fitz Roy range was probably 3x busier than the Mirador Torres hike.
Mirador Torres where we had snow showers just as we were heading back down the trail
What are the 'must-see' places and things to do on your agenda?
If Torres del Paine national park is your number one must-do, then you should plan your trip around this anchor. You can choose to do just a few days on the W Circuit or the full O Circuit (Circuito Macizo Paine as it's locally called). We stayed at every camp and took 11 days to complete our trek. What else do you want to see? Glaciers? Other challenging hikes? It's easy to pack it all in, but like I said, you can always come back again for any unfinished business! Popular must-see places in addition to Torres del Paine are the Fitz Roy range in Argentinian Patagonia, Glaciar Perito Moreno near El Calafate and Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world or El Fin del Mundo as it's also known as.
Glaciar Perito Moreno, near El Calafate, Argentina
How much do you want to spend?
This will help guide you on how much you can do on your agenda. Create a rough budget for transportation, food, lodging, permits & fees, and excursions, Once you start your research and get more information, you can fine tune it. For 33 days in Patagonia, we spent just under $6,700 CAD all in for two people. Staying in campsites in Torres del Paine and bringing your own food is the most affordable, while the Refugios and pre-booked meals will set you back a pretty penny. You can make these decisions once you start your trip research to see what you are willing to give and take.
Specifically for the Torres del Paine trek, our cost breakdown excluding food was as follows to give you an example (all USD for 2). We rented tents which were quite expensive, splurged on a Dome tent, brought our own breakfasts and dinner meals and stayed in Puerto Natales before and after our trek.
Airfare, Santiago to Puerto Natales $141
Bus to & from the park $45
Park passes $98
Paine Grande Ferry 1 way $60
Torres & Vertice Campsites $358
Tent rentals at each site $375
Camping Pehoé dome tent $110
2 nights Puerto Natales $96
Total for 2 $1,283 USD
A sample agenda. This is a fairly popular itinerary for Southern Patagonia and can also be done in reverse if you want to end your trip doing the Torres del Paine trek instead of at the start.
1. Fly into Santiago, Chile. Rest one night. Or spend an extra day exploring the city. Do not make the mistake I did and get empanadas at the corner almacen. I'm not sure what kind of meat I ate that day.
2. Next day, fly into Puerto Natales, Chile. This is the gateway town to the Torres del Paine park and has a great hiker vibe. You will find many outdoor shops and supermarkets to stock up on. Unless there are no flights into here, the alternative is Punta Arenas, which I would not recommend unless you can't avoid it as it requires another bus to get to Puerto Natales and there really isn't much happening in that town for hikers.
3. Take the bus to the park (80km drive) where you will be dropped off at Laguna Amarga for the entrance ticket check. You are no longer required to watch a video about park safety but that can change. From here, you can either take a smaller shuttle bus (extra pesos) to the Welcome Centre or a lesser travelled side trail to start your hike toward Seron for the O Circuit. For W trekkers, head westbound when you get to the Welcome Centre. An alternative route is to return to the original bus you boarded into the park and continue to other stops in the park eg Pudeto where you can catch the ferry to Paine Grande to begin your hike eastbound. Note, the buses consolidate passengers as there are fewer travellers beyond Laguna Amarga. We got off at the stop after Pudeto, at Camping Pehoé where we spent a night prior to the start of the trek then made our way back to Pudeto for the ferry to Paine Grande the next day. At the completion of your trek, take the bus back to Puerto Natales and then fly back home or continue on to your next destination.
4. Visit El Calafate, Argentina which is a fairly short bus ride away (5 hrs) where you can see the 3rd largest glacier in the world, after Greenland and Antartica. Warning - it does pale in comparison after seeing Glaciar Grey on the O Circuit. There's something to be said about having to slog through a very long hike and over a mountain pass makes Glaciar Grey very special. El Calafate is not for everyone - its a very touristy, gentrified town but I loved it. Monster-sized lavender plants line the main street and there are big, fluffy roses growing in every corner. Get your Calafate jam and chocolates here! Good empanadas can be found at Don Luis Panaderia. We liked the location at 9 de Julio for its quiet ambiance.
5. Catch the bus from El Calafate to El Chalten (3 hrs) and spend at least 2 nights here, hiking the Fitz Roy trails.
6. Return to El Calafate where you can head back home via Buenos Aires or continue your journey south to Ushuaia by plane.
7. In Ushuaia, visit the Tierra del Fuego national park, sail the Beagle Channel, see the penguins, sea lions and whales and just soak in the atmosphere here at the end of the world before you fly back home. The best empanadas in all of Southern Patagonia can be found here too - made to order for you at Empanada Un Buen Lugar. If you are returning via Santiago, then consider the long-haul bus to Punta Arenas to see the king penguins here as well before flying back to Santiago.
Tools to help you plan
I used a simple travel template from Apple Numbers that I modified to keep all the reservations, budgets, itinerary, packing lists and notes in one place. I will happily email it to you if you like.
In addition, once the trip was finalized, I imported all the reservations into once place in my Tripit app using the free version so all the important details were in one place and easily accessible offline. I did not use the Pro version.
A GPS hiking app such as AllTrails is also helpful for seeing the technical information about the hike such as distances, elevation gain, and approximate time to complete the section if you like to geek out on that like I do (and answer the most annoying question, are we there yet?). The reviews of the trail also provide good information on what to expect and if you get the Pro version, you can navigate offline if you download the maps ahead of time. At a critical junction from Paine Grande to Italiano, en route to Frances, the signage on the ground wasn't great. I doubted the app data and ended up taking the longer, albeit more scenic trail. While I can't vouch if it was truly more scenic, I probably would have taken the shorter route if I followed the directions.
Google maps has a lot of information in it when you zoom in. Look for the camera icon for interesting places on your route. You can also download an offline map of the area on your phone so you can use it without needing cellular data.
Ready to get cracking?
Step #1: Research flight and bus schedules
After you've asked yourself those questions to ground your planning, the next key factor is the big flight from your home base to South America. What will it cost me? Do I fly in and out of Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina? Here are some tips on transportation:
Tip 1. It will cost less to book a return trip in and out of the same city back to your home country. If you want flexibility to fly into Chile and out of Argentina, then factor that into your transportation costs.
Tip 2. Once you're in South America, flying between Chile and Argentina is expensive as there are a lot of taxes and fees. You will find it much cheaper to travel by bus to cross the border. The bus systems are quite efficient and affordable. Don't get scared by the long-haul rides. We took an 11-hour bus from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas and it went by fairly quickly and comfortably. They include many stops and there is a short ferry ride across the Strait of Magellan! You can research schedules and prices at Bus Sur, Chaltén Travel and Caltur which are the popular bus operators. For local flights, we used JetSmart and Aerolinas Argentinas but use an aggregator like Skyscanner to search for a good range of fares.
Tip 3. Bus and flight schedules are not always daily and sometimes also seasonal so check key routes before you book anything. The schedules aren't available online until 2-3 months in advance.
Tip 4. Fly into Puerto Natales if you can instead of Punta Arenas. PN is only one bus ride away from the park and is geared more toward backpackers in terms of outdoor shops. Jetsmart makes a pit-stop in Puerto Montt so you might be able to take advantage of that and include a stop-over here in your itinerary.
Tip 5. Book an extra buffer day on your arrival into Santiago, Chile or Buenos Aires, Argentina and again into Puerto Natales in case of any missed flights. The last thing you want is to miss and rebook your camping reservation as changes are not allowed 30-45 days prior to the start of your trek. Take a moment to aclimatize. Soak in the culture of the country. We spent a full day in Santiago before heading down to Puerto Natales and enjoyed it. Luckily we did not have any luggage or flight delays but you'll be grateful for the buffer even just to decompress. Taking the stress out of connecting flights will leave you in a better frame of mind.
Bird's eye view of Torres del Paine national park from our flight to Puerto Natales. Sit on the left side of the plane for this view.
Step #2: Make your reservations at Torres del Paine National Park first!
Demand is especially high for the accommodations on the W and O trek, so book as far in advance as possible. The bookings open up in June/July for the upcoming season (November-March). If you are not able to book this far in advance, then you can consider a tour operator as they usually have an allotment of space reserved. Don't forget, you can cancel without penalty up to 45 days in advance. Check the cancellation policy before you book.
There are two park operators, Vertice and Las Torres who manage the different campgrounds on the W and O Circuit. The free park campgrounds operated by CONAF are currently closed. There was construction happening at Paso campground when we passed by it so hopefully that is a positive sign. Another low cost option is to book and coordinate your own trek through a consolidator like Booking Patagonia who will charge approximately 15% booking fees (at the time of our research) for the convenience of one-stop shopping. There are no restrictions such as what direction you can hike or which sites you must stay at for the W Circuit. The O Circuit requires you to travel counter-clockwise between Seron and Grey. Familiarize yourself with a map of the Circuit and distances between camps to decide which campgrounds you will want to book. Note, no paper maps are provided at the park, so you will either have to buy one there or download a digital copy on your phone.
You will also have to decide if you will stay in a tent or Refugio. You can compare the costs and decide what you are willing to do. If you choose to tent camp, I would highly recommend you rent their tents as well if possible. The days are tiring, and inevitably you will get rain so it may be worthwhile to avoid having to carry the extra weight, set up and tear down a tent, and deal with heavy, wet gear if it rains. Plus it will get you out and on the trail faster in the morning. We rented a bare-bones tent only and brought our own sleeping bag and pad. Many of the sites kept their foam sleeping pad in the tent anyway so that was a nice bonus. Did I convince you yet?
You can add-on meals after you make your booking so no need to decide that right away. Keep in mind, a pre-booked daily breakfast, lunch to go and dinner can set you back almost $70-80 USD each day. There are limited meals so you should decide relatively soon after you book if you didn't already. If you like to start hiking early, you will have to wait around until they begin the breakfast service, usually around 7:30 or 8am.
There are two main starting points of the trek for both the W and O Circuits. Paine Grande in the west and Central in the east. If you are doing the O, you can start at either end but must travel in a counter-clockwise direction. We chose to start at Paine Grande and make our way around. The toughest section is the John Garner pass, between Perros and Grey campsites so we wanted to have the lightest pack possible by the time we reached this sector (we carried our own food). We also wanted to start on the busier sectors in case we had to bail out early, seeing as it was our first major multi-day trek and also preferred to end the trek on a quieter note.
We booked the following route, spending the night before the start of the hike at Camping Pehoé and hiking at extra 18km from Paine Grande at the end for the Q Circuit finisher ending at the Park Administration office:
Paine Grande - Frances - Cuernos - Chileno - Central - Seron - Dickson - Los Perros - Grey - Paine Grande - Park Administration (bonus 19km hike!)
I would highly recommend starting or ending your trek at Camping Pehoé. It is a stunning location and there is a fun (aka windy) short hike to Mirador Condor. There are alternative accommodations as well nearby eg, Explora hotel with its network of boardwalks that is open to the public and Hosteria Pehoé which sits on its own island if you prefer a real bed.
View of Lago Pehoé looking down from Mirador Condor
Walking the extra 19km for the Q Circuit is not for everyone. While it was cool to check the box and have that section of the trail to ourselves - we saw only 2 other people that day - once you cleared the first 2-3 km, the landscape was not as dramatic as what you just hiked the past few days. The vistas are more stunning in my opinion from Camping Pehoé or Mirador Cuernos, near Pudeto. You may want to save your legs for Fitz Roy if you are heading that way. But if you want to feel the isolation and rawness of Patagonia for a moment in time, then you will love having this all to yourself. This sector is one way southbound only but we saw a hiker heading north to avoid the busy ferry crossing at Pudeto.
View on the Q sector trek looking back at Paine Grande (km 2)
View of the Cordillera as you cross the grassy plains of the Q trek toward Park Administration
Step #3: Bringing it all together - logistics, where to stay etc.
By now, you should have a firm idea of your budget and itinerary as the heavy lifting is done. Now that your dates are finalized, you should book all your flights. The best fares can be gotten when you book early as I only saw them go up, never down! Fares also fluctuate based on the day of travel eg weekends vs. middle of the week. I also booked the bus trips early for some key routes as I wanted to be sure I got the best seats for the views. This would be the bus from El Calafate to El Chalten where you get a spectacular approach view of the Fitz Roy range from the front of the bus. On the flight from Santiago to Puerto Natales, sit on the left side of the plane away from the wing. If the clouds cooperate, you may get lucky and see the Torres del Paine Cordillera from up above!
Fitz Roy range seen from the front seat of the bus
You can start to book your other accommodations as well, keeping in mind that places in Puerto Natales and El Chalten go quickly as demand is high. Our guiding principles on deciding where to stay were:
Do we want a private room or hostel?
How close is it to the bus terminal to avoid taxi/shuttle costs and save on time?
Does the property have a flexible cancellation policy?
Can they store excess luggage if necessary or provide early check-ins?
I found booking.com to have a good variety of options, but book on your mobile device for extra savings. AirBnB is also a good source to look for places to stay. Some of the places we stayed at and would highly recommend are here:
Puerto Natales: Converted Shipping Container apartment
El Chalten: Traditional Patagonian cabin
Start your adventure!
Now that you've done all the hard work, you can start to dream and count down the days. Our trip went as smooth as silk with all the time I took preparing for it and a bit of luck on our side with no transport delays and travel malfunctions. Here are some final thoughts on preparing for the big day.
Hola anyone?
I took up Spanish on Duolingo, it maybe helped me about 15% of the time but Google Translate is your best friend. We had to rely also on the translation from fellow travellers. Hola and Buen Dia are the two most popular phrases you will hear and say on the trek. I also learnt 'Permiso, por favor' if you want to nicely pass slower trekkers. Who am I kidding, we were the slow pokes so just be aware and let others pass you. There's no rush.
Get those legs pumping!
Working on your fitness regiment is also highly recommended. If you live in a low altitude location like we do, have no fear. You don't need mountains to train. Focus on a daily regiment of leg and core exercises such as split squats etc and long-distance walks to get your muscles conditioned so you can minimize the unavoidable aches and pain when you hit the trail in the beginning. Get comfortable hiking 10-20km distances. Daily stretching especially hero pose and full squats are essential on the trek as well.
Lighten up that backpack!
We saw so many people with heavy packs. And they only get heavier as you journey on your trek. Do what you can to lighten it up. Take that deodorant and full size toiletries out! Cut your clothing pile in half! Invest in anti-stink synthetic base layers. We wore the same outfit every day, but washed our underwear daily. Dedicated clothes for sleeping in. The best pair of socks you can get to take care of your feet. I alternated between Silverlight and Darn Tough. Never needed washing! No blisters! If you're interested in what we took, here is my lighter pack list.
Pesos, pesos, pesos
For foreign currency, we purchased Chilean pesos (CLP) at home and brought $100 USD bills to convert into Argentinean pesos (ARS) when we arrived. At the time of writing, the ARS was experiencing significant fluctuations and massive inflation in the country. There is something called the Blue Dollar exchange rate (because of the blue stripe on the $100 bill) which refers to the unofficial rate you can get locally, about double the official F/X rate as USD is in high demand. This made Argentina extremely affordable for travellers with USD or Euros. Many retailers will have their exchange rate posted at the cash. You don't need to seek out any strangers on the street or line up at the Western Union in town. Unless of course, you run out of cash there. Credit cards would be the next best thing as Visa and Mastercard are supposed to offer a rebate on Argentinean purchases, but we did not receive any from the Canadian credit cards we used.
Treat yourself!
No one said the Torres treks are easy. Long miles, never ending elevation gains on every section and bad food. You deserve a treat! We celebrated mid-way and at the end with the best-tasting pizza you will find in the park, and the #1 hamburguesa and papas fritas in all of Puerto Natales at Hamburgueseria La Forastera.
This expensive $30 CAD pizza tasted so good after days of freeze-dried meals.
Hands down, one of the best post-trek meals can be found here at Hamburgueseria La Forastera, Puerto Natales
Can't get enough of this?
If you would like to see how we packed for the trip in more detail, check out that post as well. Head to our YouTube channel if you would like to see footage of our trek. This was such an amazing adventure for us and we would be happy to answer any questions you have as you plan yours. Please leave us any comments here or on our YouTube channel. We'd be more than happy to help.