Itinerary · 12 days · 49 places
12 Days in Patagonia
Twelve days from Punta Arenas via Puerto Natales into Torres del Paine and on into Argentina to Perito Moreno and Fitz Roy — with one border crossing, several changes of base and the two big day hikes each on its best day.
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Photo: Marek Piwnicki · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Punta Arenas
Arrival in Punta Arenas
Hotel check-in
Your base is in the old merchants' quarter between Plaza Muñoz Gamero and the Costanera, within walking distance of the old town and the waterfront promenade.
Plaza Muñoz Gamero
The main square, ringed by cypresses, with the Magellan monument, at whose base travellers rub the bronze toe of an Indigenous figure shiny, hoping for a safe return.
Day 2Magellan's history at the end of the world
Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun
The cemetery of the sheep barons and Croatian immigrants, where avenues of clipped cypresses between the mausoleums look like rows of houses.
Museo Regional de Magallanes
The Palacio Braun-Menéndez displays the original salons of a wool-trading family, with French furniture and a billiard room.
Mirador Cerro de la Cruz
A viewing terrace over the city's colourful tin roofs to the Strait of Magellan and the dark line of Tierra del Fuego.
Museo Nao Victoria
Full-size walk-through replicas of Magellan's Nao Victoria, the Beagle and Shackleton's lifeboat, standing in an open field.
Evening: Calle Bories
The city centre's pedestrian thoroughfare, with bookshops, wool shops and bars pouring Austral beer from the local brewery.
Day 3Puerto Natales on the fjord
Onward to Puerto Natales
Hotel check-in
Costanera de Puerto Natales
The waterfront road along the fjord, with the Monumento al Viento and views of the glaciers of the Cordillera Sarmiento on the far side.
Plaza de Armas Arturo Prat
A quiet main square with the tin-roofed María Auxiliadora church and the weathervanes of the old estancia houses all around.
Museo Histórico Municipal
A small collection on the Aónikenk, the first sheep farms and the Milodon Cave, with tools and photographs from the settler era.
Mirador Cerro Dorotea
A steep climb across private pasture to the ridge, from which the whole fjord and the road to Torres del Paine lie in view.
Evening: Calle Manuel Bulnes
The town's nightlife street, where trekkers back from the park talk about wind and trail times in the brewpubs.
Day 4Into the heart of the Paine — Salto Grande and the Cuernos
Onward to Torres del Paine
Hotel check-in
Salto Grande
A broad waterfall where Lago Nordenskjöld tumbles, turquoise, into Lago Pehoé; a short path leads across tussock grass and calafate bushes.
Mirador Cuernos
A gravel bank on the shore of Lago Nordenskjöld, directly opposite the dark slate caps of the Cuernos del Paine.
Mirador Cóndor
A short, very steep climb above Lago Pehoé with a panoramic view of the entire Paine massif and the chain of lakes beyond.
Evening: banks of the Río Serrano
The river in front of the massif catches the last light; guanacos stand on the banks in the evening and the wind drops for half an hour.
Day 5Ice at Lago Grey
Mirador Ferrier
A sweaty climb up a wooden staircase and an open ridge; at the top, Lago Grey, the glacier tongue and the Southern Ice Field lie before you in one view.
Playa de Lago Grey
A suspension bridge over the Río Pingo leads to a grey gravel bank where stranded icebergs in blue and white lie aground.
Navegación to Glaciar Grey
A catamaran trip between the icebergs right up to the glacier's 30-metre-high calving front.
Evening: sunset at Lago Toro
A wide shore south of the park, where the Cuernos glow red in the late sun and the lake barely ripples.
Day 6Eastern flank: Laguna Azul and Sarmiento
Onward to Sector Torres
Hotel check-in
Laguna Amarga
A salty lake with a white crust around its edge where Chilean flamingos stand, with the three towers behind and no vegetation in front of them.
Mirador Lago Sarmiento
Chalk-white thrombolites — mounds built by bacteria — line the shore of the deep blue lake, while herds of guanacos cross the steppe beside it.
Cascada Río Paine
Here the Río Paine drops over a broad step of black rock, seen from the bridge with the massif in the background.
Laguna Azul
The most head-on view of the three Torres of all, from the lake's northern shore, where hardly any buses go.
Evening: starry sky over Laguna Amarga
With no street lighting, the Milky Way arches over the steppe; on clear evenings the towers stand out in silhouette.
Day 7The classic: Base de las Torres
Mirador Valle Ascencio
After the suspension bridge, open zigzags lead into the valley's wind tunnel, with the Río Ascencio foaming grey with glacial water below.
Refugio Chileno
A wooden hut in the lenga forest on the valley floor, the checkpoint for the onward trail and the last place with water and a roof before the climb.
Morrena de las Torres
The last kilometre across a boulder field of granite from fist-sized to house-sized, marked only by orange poles.
Mirador Base Las Torres
A turquoise glacial lagoon directly beneath the three vertical granite towers, which rise 1,200 metres out of the water.
Evening: terrace of the Hostería Las Torres
A sheltered terrace at the foot of the massif, where returning hikers sit over a calafate sour as the towers turn red.
Day 8Across the border to El Calafate
Onward to El Calafate
Hotel check-in
Laguna Nimez
A bird reserve on the edge of town with boardwalks through reeds and salt meadows, where Chilean flamingos and black-necked swans can be seen.
Bahía Redonda
A shallow bay of Lago Argentino whose water turns a milky turquoise in the wind from the glacial flour of the inflowing rivers.
Avenida del Libertador
The main street of wooden and tin façades, with chocolaterías, woollens and shop windows full of sheepskins.
Evening: Librobar
A bookshop and bar in one, upstairs with windows onto the street and a list of Patagonian wines by growing region.
Day 9Perito Moreno
Curva de los Suspiros
After 78 kilometres on Ruta 11, your first head-on view of the five-kilometre-wide glacier front — the 'Curve of Sighs' is aptly named.
Pasarelas del Perito Moreno
Four kilometres of steel walkways on the Magallanes peninsula, from the very top down to the level of the calving front, where ice breaks off every few minutes.
Safari Náutico on the Brazo Rico
A boat trip from Puerto Bajo de las Sombras to within 300 metres of the south face, which only looks truly tall from the waterline.
Evening: Don Diego de la Noche
A peña with live music from Santa Cruz, lamb grilled over open embers and guitar sessions until late.
Day 10To El Chaltén, trekking capital
Onward to El Chaltén
Hotel check-in
Centro de Visitantes Ceferino Fonzo
A compulsory stop at the entrance to the village: trail maps, the weather outlook for Fitz Roy and the rangers' briefing on the fire ban and campsites.
Mirador de los Cóndores
A short climb above the village to a rocky ridge from which Andean condors take off and the whole valley of the Río de las Vueltas lies open.
Mirador de las Águilas
A windy viewpoint looking south across the steppe to Lago Viedma, where the gusts sweep unhindered over the ridge.
Evening: Avenida San Martín
The village's only through street, full in the evening of breweries, bakeries and trekkers comparing weather forecasts.
Day 11Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres
Mirador Fitz Roy
The first open edge on the Sendero Río Blanco, where the massif with Fitz Roy, Poincenot and Saint-Exupéry appears in all its breadth.
Laguna Capri
A small lake in the lenga forest with a pebble beach and a reflection of Fitz Roy when there is still no wind on the water in the morning.
Campamento Poincenot
A free campsite in the forest by the Río Blanco, the last water point before the 400-metre climb to the lagoon.
Laguna de los Tres
A turquoise lagoon directly beneath the granite spire of Fitz Roy, reached after an hour's steep climb over loose scree.
Mirador Laguna Sucia
A few steps over the edge of the moraine, the view drops 300 metres straight down to the green Laguna Sucia and its waterfall.
Evening: La Vinería
A cramped wine bar with open bottles from Mendoza and Patagonia, where every seat is taken after the descent.
Day 12A last look and departure
Chorrillo del Salto
A flat path heading north out of the village to a 20-metre waterfall dropping over a basalt step in the lenga forest.
Punto Panorámico on Ruta 23
A signposted stop on the road to El Calafate, where Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre show themselves in full one last time as a farewell.
Departure from El Calafate
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