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| Laguna de los Tres |
We just came back from 16 days in Patagonia including
travel days, hitting all of the top locations in both Chile and Argentina. The
trip was a whirlwind of travel and hiking, and I have set out the whole itinerary
below along, including where we stayed, our mode of transportation, and what I
would change if we did it again! I did a lot of research while planning this
trip to consolidate all of the must hit towns and hikes. Most itineraries I found
included either Santiago or Buenos Aires, but it was important to me that we see
both capital cities. Therefore we started our trip in Santiago and ended in
Buenos Aires. This was logistically difficult for me to figure out how to make
it make sense, but in the end I am glad we saw both cities. So without further
ado, our itinerary is below, with more in-depth blog posts on specific subjects to come!
Day one: Take a red eye flight to Santiago,
Chile and arrive at 0850 the next morning (there was just no avoiding given our
location in the U.S.)
Day Two: 24 hours in Santiago, Chile. We
stayed at Hotel Sommelier LOFT and spend the day doing a free walking tour of
the city; taking the furnicular up to Cerro Cristobal, a small mountain right
in the city with amazing views; eating good food and enjoying good drinks! Two famous
things to try in Santiago: a Completo, a hot dog served with mayo, avocado and
tomatoes; and a Mote con Huesillo, a traditional Chilean drink with dried
peaches and cooked husked wheat.
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| Completo |
Day Three: Take a morning flight from Santiago
to Puerto Natales, Chile. Once in Puerto Natales we picked up our rental car
for Torres del Paine National Park. We had an incredible lunch at La Disqueria
Restaurant (highly recommend) and picked up some last minute supplies including
gloves, water, and snacks for the park. We spend the night at Hotel Vendeval before
driving into the national park the next morning.
Days Four through Six: Torres del Paine
National Park
We opted to stay close to the national
park as opposed to making the drive daily from Puerto Natales. It is much more
expensive to stay in the park, so those on a budget often opt to stay in Puerto
Natales. I tried to find a cheaper option and settled on Vista al Paine – Rifugio de Aventura which sufficed. If you are trying to save money, Puerto Natales is an hour and
a half drive, but I honestly do not think it would be that bad if you are doing
long day hikes in the park. Even if you are staying in the park, you often have
to drive a bit to get to different hiking locations (although I do have some
recommendations that are close to everything!) and there are very little
restaurant options. Plus, siting in a car for a while after hiking for 7-8
hours straight does not sound that bad to me. But there are options! And if you
are not on a budget then staying in the park can be a luxury experience.
Many people in Torres del Paine hike the “W trek” which is
a five day long trek in the shape of a W where you camp at campsites throughout
the trails. We opted to do the three main portions of the W trek as individual
day trips instead: Mirador las Torres, the French Valley, and the Gray Glacier.
Day Four: Mirador las Torres hike. This is a full
day hike and a must do in Torres del Paine. It is probably the most famous and
popular hike in the park!
Day Five: French Valley hike. This involves
driving to a ferry stop and taking the ferry across Lago Pehoe to get to the
starting point of the hike.
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| Mirador las Torres |
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| French Valley lookout |
Day Six:
Gray Glacier boat tour, Salto Grande hike and Mirador Cuernos hike. Originally
we intended to do the Gray Glacier hike, but I was so tired after the two
previous hikes that we opted to do a boat tour instead, taking us to the main
(if not better!) viewpoint of the glacier. We followed this with a short hike
to Mirador Cuernos, which includes Salto Grande, and I would say this is also a
must do hike! Less people do it because it is not part of the famous W trek,
but the views were incredible and it was my favorite hike in the park. It is also
one of the easiest hikes and only takes a couple of hours to complete.
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| Views of the glacier from the boat |
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| Salto Grande |
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| Mirador Cuernos trail |
Day Seven:
We completed the Mirador Condor hike in the morning, followed by a coffee at
Hosteria Pehoe. Then we drove back to Puerto Natales to drop off the rental car
and grab some lunch before catching an afternoon bus across the Chile-Argentina
border to our next stop in Patagonia: El Calafate. We
stayed in Las Cabanitas our first two nights in El Calafate to be close to
downtown.
Day eight: Perito Moreno Glacier mini trek.
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| Trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier |
Days nine through eleven: El Chalten
We stayed at Desierto Suites the
entire time in El Chalten.
Day nine: we took a bus from El Calafate to El
Chalten, arriving in El Chalten at 1040 in the morning. Originally I intended
for us to just get a late start on a full day hike, but the weather was bad
when we arrived and it was crazy windy outside with intermittent rain. We ended
up dropping our bags and completing a short afternoon loop hike to Mirador
Condor and Mirador Aguilas.
Day ten:
hike to Laguna de los Tres. This is a famous Patagonia hike and was my favorite
hike of the entire trip!
Day eleven: hike to Laguna Cerro Torre. Because we did not a complete
a long hike on our first day in El Chalten, we had to pick between hiking
Laguna Cerro Torre and Loma del Pliegue Tumbado. Laguna
Cerro Torre is easier (but still long) and more famous so we opted for that
one. I am glad we did too because after the previous day my legs were tired and
it was difficult for me to finish the hike!
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| Laguna Cerro Torre |
We ended the day taking an
evening bus back to El Calafate to catch a morning flight to Ushuaia the next
day. This time we stayed at M&M Departamento, an apartment complex right next
to the bus station since we were just there for the night.
Days twelve through fourteen: Ushuaia
In Ushuaia we had a
private room in a hostel: Amanecer de la Bahia. This is the only place we
stayed that I would not recommend, just because it is a hostel. There is
nothing wrong with hostels so if you are looking for a cheap place that is centrally
located this place is fine. Dave and I are just past that point in our life and
I would have much rather stayed in a hotel. Honestly I am not sure if I even
realized this was a hostel when I booked it, or if I just didn’t care because I
was running out of money and tired of planning.
Day twelve: arrive in Ushuaia in the morning. Take
an afternoon Beagle Channel cruise to visit the penguin island on Martillo
Island.
Day thirteen: We hiked to Laguna Esmeralda in the
morning and spent the afternoon relaxing and walking around the town of
Ushuaia.
Day fourteen: We did a pack-raft tour down the
Olivia River in the morning, and went to the Museum of the End of the World in
town in the afternoon before catching an evening flight to Buenos Aires.
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| Laguna Esmeralda |
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| Oliva River |
Other activities I wish we
had done in Ushuaia:
Walk with penguins. I
wish we had booked a penguin tour that actually lets you step onto the island
and walk with the penguins as opposed to just viewing them on the boat. Unfortunately
there is only one company I am aware of that allows you to do this and you have
to book a month or so in advance. However even if you do not walk with the
penguins
Take the “end of the
world” train. Tickets were just expensive but looking back I probably would
have shopped around for a deal and planned this activity into the itinerary.
Hike in Tierra del Fuego
National Park. We were just tired and hiked out by the time we reached Usuahia.
Plus Dave was so sunburnt because he did not realize one of his medications actually
had a warning to avoid excessive sunlight, so we wanted to minimize the outdoor
time here. But if we went back we would definitely do a trail along the coast
in the park.
Day fifteen – sixteen:
Buenos Aires
We stayrd at Lemon Suites
in the San Telmo neighborhood. These days were actually Christmas Eve and
Christmas day, so many places were closed. However we still managed to find
some things to do.
Day fifteen: from 1000 to 1400 we did a bicycle tour around the city.
Buenos Aires is very bicycle friendly for a big city and we stayed almost
entirely within bike lanes. After the tour we shared a late pasta lunch at La
Quotidiano before heading back to our hotel to freshen up for the evening! We
ended the night with a tango show at Aljibe Tango, which I was already looking
forward to but ended up being even more amazing than I imagined!
Day sixteen: on the last day of our trip, which
was also Christmas day, we spend some time wandering around the city enjoying
the empty streets. It was a bit of a struggle to find somewhere open for
breakfast, but we ended up going to Tostado Café Club in Puerto Madero, where a
few other bars and restaurants were open. In the afternoon we did a tango class
with three other people, booked through Airbnb experiences, followed by a tour
of the cemetery! Going to the cemetery sounds weird, but Buenos Aires actually
has a very famous and beautiful cemetery which is open on Christmas day. We
intended to do a booked walking tour, but missed the start time so we ended up
just wandering around on our own and reading ghost stories about the place
online. I definitely recommend checking it out.
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| A view of the crypts lining the walkway of the cemetery |
Finally, we headed to
the airport and took an overnight flight back to the U.S.
Getting around in Patagonia
You will notice that our itinerary includes a mix of
flights, buses, and renting a car. All three methods are great means for
getting around the area and I do not have any regrets. If there is one place to
rent a car I recommend doing so in Puerto Natales, Chile for Torres del Paine
national park. This way you can hike on your own schedule and do not have to
worry about being back in time to catch the bus, or syncing bus and ferry
times. If you do not rent a car though, it is possible to take the bus to key
locations from Puerto Natales, or to book guided tours of the park that include
transportation.
It would have been nice to have a car in El Calafate
and El Chalten, but it is honestly not super necessary and we definitely saved
money using the bus. You cannot rent a car in Chile and drop it off in
Argentina and vice versa, although you are allowed to drive across the border
if you work out the required paperwork with the rental company in advance.
Unfortunately it did not make sense for us to keep the rental car any longer
after Torres del Paine as we had no intention of returning to Chile once we
crossed into Argentina. I looked into renting a car in El Calafate, but rental
car shops have set hours and we were arriving after close and departing to
Ushuaia before opening so it was just logistically inconvenient to even pick
up and drop off the rental. Plus, our Perito Moreno tour included
transportation and busing to and from El Chalten is very easy and once you are in
El Chalten, all of the main hikes start right from the town itself so you do
not need to drive there.
I did not look into busing to Ushuaia, although we
met some travelers who did. That is a full day spent on a bus and we did not
have the time or patience for that so we flew. I think our flights were under $100
each, but know that it is possible to bus if you have the time and are on a
tight budget!
Overall it was an incredible trip which I would highly recommend! If you can only see one city between Santiago and Buenos Aires, I would recommend flying in and out of Buenos Aires before flying down to El Calafate. Then you can make the trip to Torres del Paine national park from El Calafate, and spend the rest of your time in Argentina. If we had a couple more days of the trip I would chosen to spend at least one more full day in El Chalten to complete the long hike we skipped. But otherwise we felt that we spent enough time everywhere we went!