Our 4 weeks in Patagonia was a mix of emotions. We did some incredible hiking on what often felt like a touristy trail. We visited charming towns and others that had upscale resort-like vibes. At times it was without comparison and in other moments reminded us of our own backyard.

We traveled back and forth between Chile and Argentina in Patagonia for 4 weeks from late February to mid-March 2018. This is the end of summer, shoulder season, and we had a mix of sun and rain in about equal parts. Weather certainly didn’t dominate our trip but it rarely faded into the background.

We have shared our route (south to north), including the hikes, places we stayed, our favorite eats and treats, and how we moved between each stop. We included what we think are can’t miss opportunities and reflect on where we’d have spent more or less time were we to do it again.

Outline

General Information

• Getting to Chile
• Money, ATMs, and Budgeting
• Lodging
• Transport

Itinerary

• Punta Arenas
• Puerto Natales
• Torres del Paine National Park – the W Trek
• El Calafate
• El Chaltén
• Bariloche
• El Bolsón
• Puerto Varas
• Pucón

General Information

Getting to Chile

We flew from LAX through Lima to Santiago. We stayed overnight in the Holiday Inn just across the street from the Santiago airport using points, which was amazing. We’ve developed a new appreciation for airport hotels this year, because when you land at 8pm and leave at 6am the last thing you want to do is find transport to and from the airport in a city you don’t know.

IMPORTANT: when you go through immigration in Chile they give you a PDI slip (it looks like a receipt). You need this paper to get out of the country. We made the mistake of tossing ours and had to get replacement forms later in our journey before we left the country. It’s possible to do but an added headache. Most hotels will ask you for them as well, to show proof that you aren’t a local (I guess your passport isn’t enough) and so that you can avoid paying the local tax of 21%. Also you can’t bring in any fresh food.

Money, ATMs, and Budgeting

We came with quite a lot of USD cash on hand, having read that ATMs can be hard to come by and that lodging is cheaper if you pay with USD. Both of those things aren’t really true anymore. We did pay in USD for some lodging but ATMs are everywhere and we paid with VISA credit card all over the place. Patagonia isn’t like it used to be in this sense.

Yes, Patagonia is expensive. We vastly exceeded our $100/day budget for two, spending $178/day instead. If we’d have camped and carried our own food on the W hike—by far our largest expenditure in Patagonia—we’d have been somewhere around $140/day instead. But just moving from place to place by bus and eating something other than pasta for dinner every night make it a budgeting challenge.

Lodging

Most of the places we stayed were booked using Booking.com. Many people show up and ask around, probably finding cheaper rates in person, but we don’t like wandering around with our backpacks, hungry and tired, every time we get to a new city. Be sure to check your reservation in the app, as some places receive payment through the app while others require cash or credit payment on arrival. You shouldn’t have to pay the VAT if you’re a foreigner.

Transport

Most of our travel between cities was done by bus. There are often multiple bus companies plying each route and they usually sell tickets for exactly the same price. We booked a few legs of our travel ahead of time but quickly realized there is always available space. For the remainder of our trip we booked our buses a day or two in advance, often buying the next ticket out of a town at the bus station when we arrived.

Buses are pullman style, usually with restrooms, and longer routes gave snacks or even sandwiches. Buses were between $10 and $30 per ticket, depending on length. We preferred to travel during the day but some routes are more commonly served at night (i.e. Pucón to Santiago).

We did fly from El Calafate to Bariloche, bypassing the 24 hour overnight bus, because flights and bus tickets were the same price. A no-brainer in our opinion.

Itinerary

We decided to move from south to north for one main reason: flying to Punta Arenas was possible with miles (which we’re always inclined to use if we can). We relied heavily on this great blog post itinerary that goes in the opposite direction and was an immense help. We hope the information below might help you in much the same way.

You’ll notice we didn’t start our trip in Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego National Park, which sit at the southern-most tip of South America in Argentina. Many travelers include this in their itinerary but we did not, mostly because it was cheaper for us to start in Chile and we wanted to hit up the W hike with the best chance for good weather. However, all indications are it is a worthwhile stop.

Punta Arenas

We arrived to Punta Arenas via a domestic flight from Santiago. It is one of the less charming towns we stayed at but quickly gives you the feel of southern Patagonia. Wind-swept, rugged, and yet functional. More of a pass-through than a destination.

Lodging: Habitaciones Privadas hostel (a bit out of town but nice enough; we’d probably take our chances on something closer in next time).

Recommended activities:

• Plaza Quinto Centenario: a nice walking path along the Straight of Magellan with lots of locals playing games and strolling long into the late-summer nights.

Recommended eats/drinks:

• La Marmita – with excellent Pisco Sours and mid-tier food prices. This was literally the only “can’t miss” recommendation from a couple we know back home.

Hiking: none

Transport: via Buses Fernandez to Puerto Natales (Bus Sur is also a nice company)

Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales is really the base town for Torres del Paine National Park, the most popular national park in South America. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some charm. A nice central plaza with kids that skate or host impromptu rap sessions, it feels lived in despite the hoards of trekkers. And I’ve never seen consistently longer lines than at the UniMarc grocery, where everyone is stocking up on food and booze for the W hike.

Lodging: El Sendero and Lili Patagonia

Recommended activities: None

Recommended eats/drinks:

• The Coffee Maker: hip coffee shop with a great view. They don’t sell coffee beans though.
• Vinnhaus: a cute vibe wine bar. Essential.

Hiking: Torres del Paine National Park (see below)

Transport: Bus to El Calafate with Turismo Zahaj (5 hours, $35 USD/ticket)

Torres del Paine National Park – the W Trek

Torres del Paine is home to the famous W trek and the slightly lesser known O circuit that connects the ends of the imaginary W letter and literally takes you around the full set of peaks (click here for a map). The W was one of our top 3 experiences of Patagonia. It was unbelievably breathtaking, more social than we expected, and accessible to most any fit hiker (and some not so fit).

It is also accessible to any level of trekking expertise. We didn’t have hardly any backpacking experience so we stayed in refugios most of the way and paid for full board (food). This turns the hike into 5 day hikes rather than a continuous backpacking experience. And your pack is far lighter. Others camp at every stop and bring their own food, a decidedly more challenging and rugged experience. And still others hike the full O circuit, a 7-10 day trip with fewer amenities on the non-W part of the hike.

IMPORTANT: you must have reservations before showing up at the park, which we were able to do completely online. The two companies that run the campsites/refugios are Fantastico Sur (east side of the W with better food) and Vertice Patagonia (west side of the W with cheaper prices). Because there are two different companies you have to book them separately but the nights must run consecutively in order to make the hike work, obviously.

Our Route:

Day 1:

• Bus from Puerto Natales at 7am (2 hours/ $15 USD/person, to the Laguna Amarga park entrance, $35 USD, Chilean Pesos or USD only, no cards)
• Take short shuttle for (15 minutes, $5 USD/person) to the Torres Central Refugio
• Hike to the Torres Base Mirador (~8 hours)
• Sleep at Refugio Torres Norte
• Tip: You can leave your bag at a refugio during the day so you can hike without it. We learned this afterwards…

Day 2:

• Hike from Torres Norte to Los Cuernos Refugio (~4.5 hours)
• Stay at Los Cuernos Refugio (Frances would have been better but it was full)

Day 3:

• Hike from Los Cuernos up the French Valley to the Britanico Mirador (don’t miss this lookout!) and then back down and west to Paine Grande (~8 hours)
• Camp at Paine Grande (the refugio was full but we were able to rent a sleeping bag and tent online and we still bought our food and hung in the dining area)
• Tip: Leave your pack at Camp Italiano, the base of the hike up to the Britanico Mirador. It is more obvious here than Day 1, everyone does it.

Day 4:

• Hike from Paine Grande to Grey Glacier Mirador (~4 hours)
• Stay at Refugio Grey (this and Los Cuernos were our favorite refugios because they were smaller and more quaint)

Day 5:

• Hike from Refugio Grey back to Paine Grande (~3.5 hours)
• Take the 11:30am ferry across to Pehoe (the only other ferry time with buses that wait is 6:30pm which would have you back in Puerto Natales quite late)
• Take the bus from Pehoe back to Puerto Natales (there were 2 or 3 waiting to take us back that all left at varying times and we bought tickets on the bus)

Other thoughts:

Lodging and food was expensive. Something just north of $1000 total for the both of us for 5 days and 4 nights. That is 3 refugios, 1 night tent camping (much cheaper) and all food purchased. This made the experience tons of fun. Meeting and eating with folks in the refugios at night was one of the more memorable parts of the experience. We made some friends we’ll stay in touch with for sure. But it also made it more expensive, obviously, and I’m sure the camping community is great too. We had planned all year to splurge on Patagonia and we enjoyed the planned indulgence. 

You can also buy food along the way without getting the full board. I know this is possible at Torres. And you can buy beer and wine too. So if you want to do some mix and matching with some of your own food, this would be a way to save money. And the refugios all take credit card.

There are many blogs with packing lists, but one pair of hiking pants, a few pairs of socks, a rain jacket is a must, beanie and baseball cap, waterproof gloves, and hiking poles if you like them. Make sure you have layers and are comfortable. We had some tape/moleskin for our feet in case blisters arose.

El Calafate

Basically this town is just a stop for the glacier (see below). The town itself seems to cater to wealthier tourists who avoid the backpacker towns. While we don’t always identify with the true backpacker crowd, we definitely enjoy the vibes and spaces that cater to them more. Bottom line: stop with enough time to see the glacier but not any longer.

Lodging: Folk Hostel located above town near the bus station. It is new (opened Jan 2018) and is clean. We stayed in a cheap triple private room. We’d recommend this hostel for several reasons: location, friendly staff, the shared bathrooms are huge with nice showers and the kitchen is awesome.

Recommended activities:

Perito Moreno Glacier. Everybody does it and it’s worth it, though it is a bit expensive. It collapsed a few days after we were there, something it does only every 2-4 years. We almost saw it!

We took a tour with Mundo Austral (~$55/person) that included an hour boat ride up near the glacier which we’d recommend although isn’t essential (without the boat ride it is about $15 per person less). With the boat the day becomes more of an event and less of just a bus ride to the viewpoints. The park entrance is also separate and is another $25/person.

Take a lunch that you can eat while you’re walking the 4kms of raised walkways that give you a good sense of the glacier up close, as it cracks and pieces break off. Pretty amazing.

You can take local buses there if you’re really on a budget but we decided it was worth it to just have someone take us, tell us a bit about Patagonia on the way, and pick and drop us at our hostel. Even with a tour, remember to bring the pesos needed for the park entrance.

Recommended eats/drinks: Good place to cook at your hostel cause the food we had out was expensive and not great. We shopped at La Anónima grocery store.

Hiking: none

Transport: Bus to El Chaltén with Cal Tur one way (3 hours/$24 USD/ticket)

El Chaltén

This stop is a must. Mountains rise up around the town, the hikes are obvious and the peaks magnificent. It is wonderfully small, with just what you need. We stayed 5 nights and didn’t regret any of them. There’s something fun about being in tiny towns. You only have so many options and in this case they didn’t disappoint, as you’ll notice from the many food/drink recommendations below.

Lodging: Cabañas Rivendel: We had a triple room for $73/nt and it was a nice splurge. Private bath and a really well appointed room. No breakfast though.

IMPORTANT: there is fun free camping above El Chaltén so it might be best to reserve just your first night in town until you make a hiking/camping plan after arriving, which will likely be very weather dependent.

Recommended activities:

• There are several hikes that they’ll tell you about (and give you a map) at the park ranger station as you enter town. Here’s our take:
  • Mirador 1-2 hr hike is nice on a clear day
  • Cerro Torre, probably the hardest peak to see, but a nice hike regardless
  • Fitz Roy is the gem of El Chaltén, the top of which can be seen from town. The hike itself is tough but the view is worth it.
  • We didn’t take the Laguna hike with Maestri lookout but people love it and both the above two peaks can be seen along it’s route.
  • We did the waterfall hike and don’t recommend it. Nothing great to see.
• You can camp for free! We rented sleeping bags and a tent ($15/person) and did a two day one night loop starting on the Cerro Torre hike and connecting over to the Fitz Roy hike on day 1. We camped at Camp Poincenot at the base of the Fitz Roy mirador segment. Unfortunately it was cloudy/rainy and we didn’t see either peak, both of which can be hard to spot even on clear days.
• Camping equipment can be rented at a couple places in town, and we rented from Camping Center but their service was so poor (as in rude) we wouldn’t recommend them if you stumble across something else.

Recommended eats/drinks:

• La Vinería: best bar we’ve been to all year. Amazing house wine on happy hour, awesome music, and we got to know the bartenders who were loads of fun. We went back 4 of the 5 nights we were in El Chaltén.
• Che Empanadas: cheap and tasty veggie options
• La Cervecería: very hip vibe and a nice bar. 
• Maffía: had some good pasta here but isn’t a must.
• Mathilda Cafe: cute for a coffee and a read.
• Panadería y Cafetería “Lo De Haydee”: we came here several times for a bite of scrambled eggs, a pastry, and sandwiches to take on our hikes. One of the few places open before 10am.
• There’s a market shop across from La Vinería set off the road with hard boiled eggs everyday which is nice to take on a hike.

Transport: One way bus back toward El Calafate that dropped us off directly at the airport on the way, 30 mins outside El Calafate (2.5 hrs). We then flew to Bariloche on Aerolíneas Argentinias for the same price as the 24 hr bus ticket (~$125/person)

Bariloche

We originally intended to hike in the mountains above Bariloche but met some travelers heading to El Bolsón and decided to meet them there. We’re glad we did. While Bariloche was fine, and the Circuito Chico is definitely worth a stop, El Bolsón was special.

Lodging: HOPA Home Hostel – good location, nice staff, decent kitchen, fine breakfast, and private triple rooms (shared bath). I’d recommend it but there are likely many others with similar offerings.

Recommended activities: Circuito Chico on bikes with Circuito Chico Adventure company at km 18. Take the 20 bus west of town for 45 mins or so and drop at km 18. You’ll see the bike rental company right where you drop. About $20-25 per person depending on which bike you choose.

Bring gloves, a hat, and a rain jacket/windbreaker as the wind can be significant.

The ride is about 17 miles and is all up or down. It is pretty hard but so pretty and we found it nice to be active in a way other than trekking. Our knees thanked us. The road isn’t very busy and is well paved.

We rode clockwise because they recommended it due to a harder climb at the beginning. We found the whole thing to be somewhat hard and might go the opposite direction for one reason; there’s an awesome brewery towards the end if you go counter-clockwise. We still stopped at it at noon (when it opens) about 30 minutes into our ride. It is called Cervecería Patagonia and they sell their beers throughout the south of Argentinian Patagonia. But the building and grounds are amazing, and if this were toward the end of our ride we’d have likely had more than just a half pint.

Recommended eats/drinks:

• Cervecería Patagonia, as above
• Again we made salad ourselves, after shopping at the supermarket

Transport: 2 hour bus to El Bolsón with Via Bariloche for $8/person each way. This bus ride is often described as gorgeous online, and it was. If you can take an early morning bus back from El Bolsón (ours left at 7am) you can see the end of sunrise along this incredible stretch.

El Bolsón

Make sure you come here. Fast becoming a must visit, we saw why. The town is small, hippie yes but mostly just rural. There are healthy food options and a good hostel, but mostly you should make the time for 3-5 days spent hiking the refugio circuits outside town. If you only have time for Bariloche or El Bolson, heading south to El Bolson is a no-brainer.

Lodging: Strong recommendation for Casa de Árboles Hostel, which has one of the more charming buildings we’ve stayed at in a hostel. Nice staff (though with quite a few rules), great kitchen, private rooms in our triple, and an outdoor space behind for $54 USD/nt.

Recommended activities:

Hiking the refugios above town (as featured in this excellent Conde Nast article). Go to the Mountain Information Office booth and they will share with you all about the route options, refugios (and give you a map). You must register beforehand but you pay when you arrive at the refugios.

• We started at Doña Rosa and stayed at Hielo Azul Refugio the first night. Pretty much a straight up hike. The refugio was wonderful, although food was pricey. It was $20/person to stay and $20 for a pizza for two. We got stew which was also $20/person and not worth it. But the experience is charming. You can bring your own food too, and camp outside. But we paid up and didn’t regret it.
• The second day we hiked to El Retamal Refugio in the rain, stopping at Natación Refugio to dry off and drink some hot chocolate. Again the experiences at each refugio were great. Warm showers, homemade bread, and great company.
• If you have more time we’d recommend continuing up to Los Laguitos for a third night. Then on the way back stop at La Playita for your final night. This would make for a 5 day, 4 night refugio circuit in the mountains.
• This was one of our favorite experiences in all of Patagonia. The mountains reminded us of the Pacific Northwest with lots of trees and meadows, and the charm of staying in cabins in the evenings was almost too good to be true.

El Bolsón has an artisan market Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun that we didn’t catch in full swing

Recommended eats/drinks:

• Vegan health cafe counter to the right of the mountain registration spot (not on Google Maps) with a Cervecería next door (which we didn’t try). On sunny days the outdoor seating and healthy food can’t be missed. We are here twice.
• La Gorda was the only place anyone ordered steak, which was good. The pasta was also. A nicer dining experience with crazy big portions but reasonable prices.
• We also cooked at our hostel, which had cheap wine for sale (we couldn’t bring in outside alcohol)

Transport: Via Bariloche bus back to Bariloche and then onward with a different company (Andesmar) to Puerto Varas for ~$24/person. The second leg was 6.5 hours long with two stops at the border leaving Argentina and then again to enter Chile. Remember no food can cross with you.

Puerto Varas

An old colonial German town on a lake, the town is cute but we wouldn’t recommend stopping here. It feels a bit uppity with Patagonia, The North Face, and other expensive travel gear stores dotting the main drag. It has a cute plaza and the lake is beautiful, but unless you have a specific excursion you’re planning, the hikes/kayaking/volcano trips we explored all felt inferior to other places we’d been in Chile.

Lodging: We stayed at the Park Inn Radisson with points which has a nice location (and was the reason we based ourselves here).

Recommended activities: We didn’t do much here. I think a mix of being a bit wiped out, it was raining and the fact that activities aren’t as obvious. But they exist. Also when you stay at hostels you really do get good advice from other travelers and feel closer to the action. But things we read about and considered were:

• Hiking the volcanoes
• Kayaking for 1 day with Jass Kayaking ($100/person)
• Geothermal hotsprings that are actually not super hot
• Hiking in the National park to a lagoon. You can take a local bus and this is probably what we’d have done if we had the energy.
• We walked up to Parque Philippi which was a nice view but not a must do

Recommended eats/drinks:

• Bless Yuz is a vegan food truck we went to three times with awesome vegan burgers, falafel wraps, and smoothies.
• El Barista Caffé had the best cocktails we can remember since we were in Vietnam. We can vouch for the Negroni and Manhattans
• Café Mawen has a nice patio and decent desserts
• Mesa Tropera is probably the most popular place in town with mediocre pizza and beer but an awesome location out over the lake. We had a great night here even if the vibe is a bit chain-like.

Transport: 4 hour bus to Pucón with Bus Tur for $15/person.

Pucón

Pucón is a cute small town, not considered part of Patagonia technically. It is a hub for day trips but also has the feel of a place people actually live. More a backpacker town than Puerto Varas, we enjoyed it considerably more. Cars stop when you cross the street–that kind of place. We’d recommend a visit, if for no other reason than the hot springs below.

Lodging: Hostal French Andes 2 – there are two French Andes hostals near one another and this one has private capsules upstairs for one or two persons. Very small spaces but we really liked the place and would recommend it. Quiet sleeping quarters, nice kitchen, helpful staff, all for $30/nt for two. And a good location. The town is small and this hostal is plenty close.

Recommended activities:

• Sanctuario El Cañi: a relatively tough 15 km roundtrip hike that is more or less up (and then down) the entire time. Hard on the knees but with an incredible view. And also attractive, the public bus (Carburga company local bus to Huife for 1,000 pesos each way) drops you off at the start, a journey of about 30 minutes. It was 4,000 pesos/person to hike and took us 3.5 hrs up and 2 hrs down with a 30 minute lunch break at the Mirador. It’s a whole day trip.
• Las Termas Geométricas: simply put the best hot springs we’ve ever been to. Many others have said the same. We took a tour through our hostel for 34,400 pesos each and went during the day so we could get a sense of the beautiful valley canyon where the hot spring pools are located. Night tours are cheaper. The hot springs entrance includes a towel and locker, and then over 15 different pools of different temperatures. It’s amazing and we’re happy we decided to just pay up for the best of the best (there are maybe a dozen other hot springs in the area to tempt you).
• We considered horseback riding and there’s a volcano some other folks in the hostel hiked, but most excursions run $50-100 USD per person so we opted for the DIY hike and spent our money on the hot springs.

Recommended eats/drinks:

• Mundo Elefante Cafe and Yoga: a vegan food spot that was cute and delicious. The best vegan chocolate “brownie”, which was more like a cake, that I’ve ever had. No kidding we got the recipe from the woman working there, who also makes it. Good wifi but no yoga until April! Not sure why, but regardless we’d recommend a visit for the food.
• The rest of the time we cooked and ate at our hostel

Transport: Most buses to Santiago are night buses (Pullman and JAC) but we found a day bus with Jet Sur (across the street from the Pullman company) that left at 8:30am and is 11 hours. $21 for semi-cama and $30 for full bed.

If you can make it down south to Patagonia, you should. A few parting words. As was mentioned above, it is expensive. Our daily budget was $178/day instead of the usual $100/day for two. Second, you don’t have to bring a sleeping bag and tent but they give you flexibility. We didn’t and enjoyed being “forced” to sleep in beds. But we paid for it—if not with our backs then with out wallets. Third, be prepared for a lot of travel between locations. At times it feels like you’re on the “highlight tour”, boarding and de-boarding a new bus every few days. And you are. But that’s also kind of the point.

Enjoy!