"Parque Naciónal Las Torres del Paine " a Chile Travel Page by DaveOrlando

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Los Cuernos, Parque Torres del Paine

Hiking Parque Naciónal Las Torres del Paine

All pictures are taken by me, bad ones included, except the ones I'm in that are taken with my camera by very nice fellow travelers.

Please see the travelogue for a detailed description of my time in the park.

Buen Viaje!

Best time to visit Torre del Paine: Late February or early March. November/December is next best, and the local Chileans and Argentines flock to the park in January and February so the refugios will likely be crowded. April through October is cold and nasty and some passes may be blocked by snow

My visit to Chile was basically a solo hiking/camping trip which lasted 8 days - 5 days in the park and 1-1/2 travel days on each end (14 hours in the air and 5 hours by bus each way). Torres del Paine is in Chilean Patagonia near the southern tip of South America, about 400 Km north of Punta Arenas which is on the Magellan Strait. Las Torres (towers) refer to the three granite spires that are in the center of the park. You may be able to save time by basing your trip out of El Calafate, Argentina, which is right across the border, but I am not sure if the roads are finished and the bus service is in place at this time. However, Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world (pop. 100,000), has day trips on boats to see penguin colonies which makes it worth considering, even with the long bus ride to the park.

A couple of pointers:

1. First of all, if you are not a camper, you can hike much of the park anyway by taking vehicles or horses part of the way. I saw many day hikers, but my trip was more of a camping trip so that's my perspective.

2. The Lonely Planet "Trekking in the Patagonian Andes" was very helpful although it was not a recent edition (1998). New editions of this information have been rolled into the recent edition of the LP Argentina/Chile/Uruguay/Paraguay book.

3. If you are hiking the Paine Circuit, you cannot do it alone. The guards will ask you who you are with when you sign in. The reason for this is that the park is very remote and for the most part undeveloped. You will need a tent since there are long stretches without refugios.

4. If you hike the 'W' as I did, you should bring a tent. You may read that you can hike the 'W' using the refugios which have good amenities, but they are sometimes very crowded and there are no other options nearby if that doesn't work out. I prefer a tent over a crowded, noisy room (I get that here every day), so I may be a little biased. In any case, the tent will give you much more flexibility.

5. Unless you carry bottled water, which is available (most of the time!) at the refugios, you should purify the water to be safe - but you won't need a water filter so just bring the purifying tablets (I used Potable Aqua). I have to say that this is the cleanest water I have ever seen and it is probably safer to drink than any treated water, but I don't recommend taking any chances (if you do, at least drink from the mountain side of the trail - above the trail - from a flowing water source away from any campsites).

6. If you have a travel delay, like I did in Punta Arenas on the way in, you can still get a map of the park and white gas (bencina blanca) for your stove here. There are many adventure travel places that sell maps and the gas can be purchased at the hardware store (ferreteria) where it is sold as a solvent (crazy hikers!). I was originally going to do that in Puerto Natales which is closer to the park, but didn't get in until late. A note on stoves - Butane stoves will work, but because of the high winds and cooler temperatures it will take longer to cook your food than if using white gas.