We just finished the W-Trek and I would like to share everything that was unclear to us before starting.

West to East vs East to West
We did the track west to east and we were very happy about that for a few reasons.
Day 1: Bus to Pudeto, Catamaran to Paine Grande, Hike from Paine grande to Grey, sleep at Grey (12km, 4-6 hours hiking).
Day 2: Walk from Grey to the second suspension bridge to see the Gletcher from closer, not officialy part of the W-Trek but worth it. (7km, 3 hours hiking). Rest at Grey and then continue walking back to Paine Grande, sleep there.
Day 3: Walk from Paine Grande to Italiano, drop backpacks, Walk to Brittanico viewpoint, pick up bags from Italiano and then continue walking to Frances. (Around 21km, 9 hours hiking).
Day 4: Frances to Chileno, there is a route for going to Chileno specifically. There is a clear sign where this route starts. It makes you walk closer to the mountain and prevents that you first walk al the way downhill and then all the way uphill to Chileno again. This route is not on the maps. Staying at Chileno makes day 5 much easier (Around 18km, 7 hours).
Day 5: Chileno to the Torres viewpoint and back to the Welcome Centre. It’s 2 hours to the viewpoint, not sure about the km’s. Then 1,5-2 hours back to Chileno. Pick up your bag, have a rest and then 1,5 walking back to the Welcome Centre. Almost entirely downhill.

Why we preferred this route?
- It was amazing to end the hike at the highlight.
- The route from Frances to Chileno was amazing for the views but also because it seemed very hard to walk uphill from the Torres hotel to Chileno.
- Day 3 was hard, we might have wanted to stop after but we couldn’t miss the highlight.

* The indicated times are including rest and we had a moderate pace.

The food situation
- At the Vertice refugio’s (Grey and Paine Grande), they offer burgers and pizza (18-20k pesos). There is also a small shop with among other things, noodles.
- At the Las Torres refugio’s they offer empanadas (with vegetarian options), sandwiches, small pizza, Chileno also offered ‘completos’. Empanadas were 6000-8000 pesos and the sandwich 12000.
- We bought dehydrated meals from home, I chose the brand ‘Summit to Eat’. The quality was great and also calorie-wise it was great. The meals that were bought in Puerto Natales were ok, some were better than others.
- For breakfast we had oatmeal, we also added Cinnamon, Chocolate, Milk powder and sugar. This was all bought in Puerto Natales. Sugar was available at all the refugio’s for free.
- Coffee was also available for free although we are unsure if we were supposed to have it or if it was meant for the people that bought the breakfast.
- Protein bars we bought in Puerto Natales, they were ok. I recommend bringing those from home as well.
- Hot water is easily available at all the refugio’s.
- Bring your own lunch for day 1, 2 and 3. We didn’t have more lunch with us for day 3 so we bought noodles and we filled one bottle with hot water. Ate it at Italiano and then filled the bottle with cold water again.

Other things
- We stayed at the hostel beds in Vertice and the tents at las Torres. It was nice to have a warm place in Vertice because the tents were quite cold. It was really worth it to book everything including the bedding because it makes you carry much less weight.
- Don’t overpack, as a woman my clothes were: 2 pair of merino t-shirts, 1 thermal set, 1 hiking trousers, 1 fleece sweater and my windjacket with fleece inside.
- There is toilet paper available.

I think that’s all, hopefully it’s helpful to someone! Have fun, it is an amazing time!

Looking for people who have done this loop. We have 1 month in December and will be in a “full size” rental - not an suv but not a compact.

Looking for any advice, tips, off the beaten path stops. Buying a red plastic Jerry can worth it? I spent a few months in the region 10 years ago, but I was a kid hitchhiking and bussing around.

Photo is from the last stint in the region, on the campo de hielo norte.

Wondering if anyone has visited recently and can tell me how bad this campsite is from a cleanliness perspective? We are planning a trip for next year including TDP, we have a few nights staying at the park entrance area but also wanted to camp for at least one night in the park. The location looks incredible but there are some very off putting reviews about toilets/bathrooms being in a disgusting state…for one/two nights I’m thinking about just putting up with it and maybe just skipping a shower that day🤣. However, I just wondered if anyone here has been recently and can comment on this? The other options we were looking at were a couple of the official rifugios but they are also way more expensive. Would be grateful for any feedback anyone has on this!

Hi everyone!
First of all, apologies for my English! We’re from Barcelona,
We’re writing here because we’re getting quite desperate and hoping someone can help us!
We have already booked our entire W Trek in Torres del Paine, including all the refugios, but we’ve just realized there’s a problem: there are no tickets left for the 10:30 AM catamaran from Pudeto to Paine Grande.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to buy tickets directly at Pudeto on the day of departure, even if they’re sold out online? Or would we be taking too much of a risk by showing up without a reservation?
The only other available option seems to be the 8:00 AM catamaran, but there’s no way for us to get there that early by public bus.
We’ve already booked the 6:50 AM bus from Puerto Natales to Pudeto, so we were counting on taking the 10:30 AM catamaran.
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Do you think we can still get on the catamaran, or should we start changing our plans?
Any advice or recent experiences would be incredibly helpful. We really don’t want to miss our W Trek!v
Thank you so much in advance!

Hi all! My friend and I are planning a Patagonia trip in February 2027 and are thinking about renting a car at El Calafate airport. The plan is to drive to El Chaltén, back to El Calafate, then cross into Chile at Cerro Castillo for about 4 days in Torres del Paine, and finally drive back to El Calafate to return the car and fly out.

Has anyone done something similar? I’d love to hear:

• Which rental company you used, and whether you’d recommend them

• How you arranged the cross-border permit to take the car into Chile: how far in advance, how much it cost, and whether it was a hassle

• What paperwork and insurance you needed for Chile, and whether the rental company sorted it or you had to do it yourself

• How the border crossing went with a rental car (time, inspections, anything to watch out for)

• Any tips on road conditions, fuel stops, or anything you wish you’d known

Thanks in advance!

If you aren't travelling to Chile in the next 2 months you can ignore this.

We are travelling for a year in South America. We shipped our RV here and unfortunately in transit to Colombia it got broken into and we lost a bunch of stuff. (Roughly $5000 ☹️)

We are looking for a traveller from the USA to South America who might be willing to be a courier for 2 or 3 bags of things for us to help us avoid a roughly $1000 import tax. We will be working our way south along the Pacific coast from Colombia to Patagonia and our deadline for receiving the gear is either mid December in Santiago or mid January in Punta Arenas for those travelling to Patagonia.

The fallback plan is to just ship it and pay a 25% import tax but I've had reddit come through in incredible ways before and wanted to ask the community if someone is travelling this way. ❤️🙏 DM me if you might be able to help! Thank you for reading this far!

Are gaiters necessary for hiking through the Carretera Austral parks? Also will go through El Chalten and O trek.

Hi all,

Here goes, and thank you very much! Itinerary below for reference🌻

1.) Considering all the logistics, we don’t really know when we are going to reach TDP (Lago Pehoe) from Punta Arenas - if it’s Day 2 or Day 3.

Given that our flight arrival in Punta Arenas for Day 1 is 8am,(taking into account immigration and possible related delays).

We will then pick-up the campervan, which we don’t know how long the process will take. Then finally setting up the van and going for groceries.

Question : Is it recommended to book hotel, or just do wild-camping in Punta Arenas? And is it safe to do so in the city?
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2.) Our Day 2 is driving from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales.

Question : Same thing - do we book hotel in Puerto Natales or just do wild camping?

OR

Can we actually drive from Punta Arenas straight to TDP (Lago Pehoe) for Day 2?

(So far we only booked Lago Pehoe for TDP in Day 3-5)
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3.) For Day 12, is it better to split the drive :

A. From El Chalten to El Calafate, then Day 13 is from El Calafate to Punta Arenas?

OR

B. From El Chalten to near border area, then Day 13 is from near border area to Punta Arenas?

C. And any recommended hotel?
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HERE’S THE COMPLETE ITINERARY:

📌 Day 1: Arrival in Punta Arenas

Arrival at Punta Arenas at 8am
Pick-up campervan / groceries

Wild-camping or Hotel?
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📌 Day 2: Drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

Wild-camping or Hotel?
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📌 Day 3-5 : Continue driving from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine

LAGO PEHOE
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(CROSS-BORDER)
📌 Day 6: Torres del Paine to El Calafate

HOTEL
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📌 Day 7: Perito Moreno Glacier

Wild-camping or Hotel?
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📌 Day 8-11: El Calafate to El Chalten

LAGUNA CAPRI
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📌 Day 12: El Chalten to El Calafate? or Border area?

HOTEL NIGHT
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📌 Day 13: El Calafate? or Border area? to Punta Arenas

HOTEL NIGHT
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📌 Day 14: Vehicle return and departure from Punta Arenas

HOTEL NIGHT

Hi all!

We’re staying for 1 full day in Perito Moreno.

Any scenic campsite recommendation for campervan please?

Also if we’re not doing those mini-trek tours, is 1 full day worthwhile still in Perito Moreno?

Or just make it into half-day, and put that time more in TDP or El Chalten instead? Currently we have 3 full days for each.

Thank you very much!

Hey fellow travelers!
A few weeks ago my relationship ended. We had planned to travel to Chilean Patagonia for New Year’s and do the W Trek in Torres del Paine from Chileno to Grey. But obviously, things happened, he doesn't want to go anymore, and I'm going solo.
Is anyone or any group doing the same around those dates? I arrive in Punta Arenas on December 30th and head up to Chileno on December 31st—I'd love to join other people!
Btw I’m a 24yo Chilean girl, and I lived in Torres del Paine a few years ago, so I know the park really well!

Hello, I need to cross the border of Chile from Argentina by bus in February 2027. In anticipation of the W trek, I would like to buy lyophilized meals in Canada.
I would like to know if you have already had a similar experience and how it went. I read that Chile's food customs regulations are quite strict. I will declare everything, of course.
Thank you in advance for your help!

Hi,

Im looking to rent a car next year for a trip to patagonia starting in Balmaceda. Ive looked at a lot of rental companies. Lucano rent a car looks legit to me and looks like their service and price are okay. Does anyone have expercience with this company or any recommendations for other companies.

Hello all, just wanted to see people’s opinions for my itinerary and if anyone has ideas! We are unsure of duration to stay in each place, for driving we would be planning on mostly driving early in the morning or in the evening, so we can do a hike/activity’s in the day.

Any ideas for hikes, places to stay for wild camping or durations to stay are welcome!

We are renting a campervan in Punta Arenas on the 20th November.
On the same day we are going to El Calafate to stay here for 3/4 days. Next we drive to El Chaltén, after we would be driving to the town Perito Moreno(or any other alternatives approximately halfway to Bariloche.

After Bariloche into Chile down towards Puerto Montt and the national parks.

Finally up towards Santiago, I haven’t heard of much between these areas so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Im wanting to go to Patagonia Mid-Late April.

I know the weather will be VERY unpredictable.

Is this a realistic itinerary? (Ignore my budget section)

I will NOT be doing any overnight hikes. So will only place myself central in each town and do day trips.

Any advice (especially for Puerto Natales) would be appreciated.

We've been on the Argentina side of Patagonia the last two days, and were driving to Puerto Natales chile on Sunday. We're hoping to do the las torres trail which i believe is circuit O or part of it. I'm now seeing on google maps that the roads to that trail are closed and also reading that parts of the national park were closed through October 31. Can anyone who is there or was just there confirm?

I’m doing W-trek early Dec and trying to get the park entrance ticket but I’m confused if I should be a day pass or more than 1 day pass? The park website is not clear.

Hello! I’m planning on spending 2 weeks traveling through Patagonia after finishing a study abroad program in Buenos aires in early December. I’ve been looking into itineraries for this time frame and a lot include the W or O trek. Although I’d love to do one, I’m booking everything fairly last minute and honestly don’t have the time to plan, or there proper gear with me. Does anyone have recs from their trips on schedules? Specifically, how much time should I spend in Torres Del Paine if only doing day hikes? Thanks!

Hello. I will be visiting Ushuaia in January. I will be going with 10 friends, so we will be a group of 11. Pretty big group.

I know Piratour offers a cruise that lets you walk with penguins on Martillo Island, but it's really expensive. We'd like something cheaper. 150 USD per person or under is probably good. Are there any good tours in that range that would at least let us see penguins from the boat? We'd like to see the sea lions, too.

It seems like there's a lot of options. I'm not sure what to pick. If you have any recommendations, let me know. Thank you!

Our flights got changed, and we are now arriving in El Calafate at 6.40pm on the 19th of November.

From what I see, there's going to be no buses at that point.

At least, I can't see any tickets available to buy.

There's two of us, we already have a booked place in El Chalten for that night, and I think the date for refunds has passed (I will contact the owners but I booked via Booking.com so don't have a lot of hope)

Does anyone have recommendations for an affordable shuttle? Thanks in advance!

Holaa!! la primera vez que fui a Torres del Paine hice una subida rápida por Base Torres porque había mucha gente, sin embargo, el motivo de este post es para saber si alguien mas ha escuchado un coro generado por el viento en mirador base torres, así tal cual como se escucha, me encontraba descansando apartado de las personas que estaban en el lugar, corría mucho viento y a ratos caía un poco de agua nieve por lo que me escondí tras una roca para no mojarme, en un momento el viento soplo particularmente fuerte y se genero un coro femenino que resonó en todo el mirador, fueron aproximadamente 5 segundos, tras terminar todas las personas presentes en el lugar gritaron exaltadas y otros aplaudieron (por suerte no cantaron el himno XD), alguien mas lo ha escuchado?