The Hard Part: Your Itinerary
Book this trek ~8 months in advance!
You saw your friend’s incredible photos of Chilean Patagonia and you’re determined to get there ASAP. Well, hold your horses, because spaces in the park’s refugios are extremely limited and book 8+ months in advance, especially for the high season.
Los Cuernos - named for bull horns due to their granite tops - often trap weather systems, creating micro climates.
Warning: Do Not Skim This Post
(if you are actively planning a trip)
I tried really hard to skim a lot of blog posts in preparation for this trip. Don’t do that. Read this in full. There is a ton of info in here that will save you hours of figuring stuff out, and more hours of messing up and doing a slightly wrong thing that will make some element of the logistics an absolute nightmare. I did those miserable hours for you! Read the whole post! I know it is very long. You know what’s also long? Trekking 41 miles in Patagonia! Know what’s even longer? Getting stuck in the park forever.
When to Go
The W trek in Torres del Paine is technically traversable year round. But do you really want to hike 41 miles through some of the most southern land in the world in winter? Are you a nutcase?! So realistically, when should you attempt this trek?
December through February is the Chilean summer and the best time to undertake the W. Due to its extremely southern latitude, Patagonia is not exactly warm in the summer. It’s actually famous for the “four seasons in one day” experience, even in the “summer.” When we were there, we had relatively good weather ranging from the upper 50s to the low 70s during the day and some lower lows at night. We had some light rain, but none of the torrential downpours that turned the trails to mud just two days before we began our trek - we heard about that experience from some hikers going the opposite way who had started earlier than we had.
People also reasonably trek the W in the shoulder months of November and March. Ian and I had never done a multi day trek before the W, so we really wanted to hit it during the high season; this was already pushing us way out of our comfort zone!
8 months out? REALLY?
Yes, if you want to stay 100% in refugios. You can verify that I’m right by checking availability at the refugios for sooner dates; as of October 25 2021, March 2022 refugios are currently sold out. And because you want to go in December through February, you should ideally start looking in April to book your refugio accommodations. It’s still worth checking for end of Chilean summer availability as late as October; we booked in October 2018 for February 2019 (5 months out), and it was almost impossible to get a consecutive itinerary through the park’s refugios (more on this below), so in my opinion we booked too late and got lucky. Flights, accommodations outside the park, and other activities can be booked much closer to your trip.
Do note that if you are okay with camping every night, you may be able to book significantly later. That will definitely change your packing list and will be a significantly more rugged experience.
Getting to Torres del Paine National Park
Our recommended route is as follows:
Fly into Santiago: This is straightforward enough! Get your butt to Chile.
Fly from Santiago to Punta Arenas: You could leave the airport and spend some time in the capital city or in Valparaiso on the coast. You could potentially fly up north to the Atacama desert, like we tried to do. Or, you could do a quick stop at the airport and head straight to Punta Arenas. You do need to book the flight to Punta Arenas in advance to ensure you get to Torres in time for your start date.
Take a bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales: I was very nervous about this step, because we didn’t book our bus in advance. Don’t worry! You don’t need to. There are are lots of busses running this route at various times every day. Just go to the bus station in Punta Arenas and purchase your tickets the day before or even morning of you’re heading to Puerto Natales. You can probably also buy your Bus Sur tickets from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine at this station.
Take a bus from Puerto Natales to the Torres del Paine National Park entrance: You’ll also book this bus in person at the Puerto Natales station, ideally when you get in. All of the bus companies will be approximately the same price. PRO TIP: Travel with Bus Sur. Do NOT book Maria Jose. The only exception to this is if you need to catch a bus out from Administracion, which some ways of exiting the park will require (more on this below). If that’s you, ONLY book Maria Jose from Administacion to Pudeto, and Bus Sur from Pudeto to Puerto Natales. It will not be clear anywhere that this is an option. You will need to ask at the Maria Jose counter in the Puerto Natales bus station to book this extra leg.
As you might have guessed, getting to and from Torres del Paine National Park is pretty involved and takes several days of your trip!
An aside: The Maria José Bus Experience
Ideally suited to readers interested in experiencing a bit of Schadenfreude
The good: Maria Jose is one of only two or so bus companies that pick up at Administracion. Our bus from Admin to Pudeto was on time. Our driver drove safely, and we reached Puerto Natales.
The bad: We got off to an inauspicious start with Maria Jose: our driver did not even offer to help us load our heavy backpacks that we had carried for 41 miles over 4 days into our first bus. Much worse: that first bus from Administracion had no air conditioning. Opening the windows led to a horrible rattling noise, and the road isn’t paved, so it got very dusty inside the bus as well as hot. When we got to Pudeto, we were overjoyed to be told to board a different bus—only to find that not only did it lack AC, but it was ACTIVELY BEING HEATING because the heat system was broken in the on position. The driver did not open the emergency exit hatches; passengers had to take the initiative. The driver did not explain anything until 3 separate people asked about the heat. This was not a language barrier issue as there were people who spoke Spanish and English on the bus. Also, to unload luggage, the trunk door would not stay open on its own, so the driver held it open while my exhausted fiancé and others pulled out bags. The cherry on top of the cake was the lack of seat back pockets and USB charger ports, both of which other companies provide. Trust me, after hiking the 40 miles you do not want a bus that is this uncomfortable.
The W Hike Itinerary
Congratulations, we’ve tackled the easy part of the hard part! Here’s the real fun.
Booking the W is *almost* as hard as hiking the W. Refugios and camp sites throughout the park are owned by 3 different operators, whose websites are mostly in Spanish. You can pay a 3rd (4th?) party to book the W for you, but you’ll pay a lot more than the already steep prices of the refugios.
At this point, I’ve alluded to multiple types of accommodations in the park, so let’s get those squared away. The 3 options for accommodations in Torres are:
Refugios: Going into the trip, we thought they would be basic hostels in the middle of Patagonia, but they turned out to be far nicer than we pictured. They provide indoor group housing with bunk beds and shared bathrooms. Most feature rooms with ~6 bunk beds, communal dining areas, and potentially other areas to hang out. All of them offered quality cocktails (not included).
“Full equipo” camping at campsites close to the refugios: Avoid hauling around a tent AND setting it up each night! Fantastico Sur also includes sleeping bags with this option.
DIY camping at campsites at or close to the refugios: BYO tent, set up your own tent.
Other Accommodations: At some places in the park - close to the two entrances to the W - there are a couple of additional types of accommodations. On the Central side are the Hotel Las Torres, an honest to goodness very nice ($$$$$) hotel, and Eco Camp, a series of very cool domes. If you stay at Eco Camp, they only have one location, so you’re essentially committing to either day hiking from there or doing the W as a guided trek with Eco Camp, and you only get to stay in their luxury domes for one or two nights. I do have a friend who stayed at Eco Camp and just did the day hike to Mirador Las Torres, and she loved it. On the Lago Grey side of the park is Hotel Lago Grey, which is absolutely stunning, but not on the main O/W circuit. There may be a few other properties, but the message here is that the only way to string together a true W circuit is using the 3 types of accommodations above, with the possible exception of your first or last night at either Hotel Las Torres or Eco Camp, depending on which direction you hike.
Any of the 3 primary choices above can be combined with the “full board” option at the refugios that includes dinner, hot breakfast, and a boxed lunch. You will probably experience severe sticker shock when you start looking into booking the refugios, especially with full board. I am here to tell you that it is absolutely worth it. Here are a few reasons why:
Do you really want to haul around 5 days’ worth of an extremely large number of calories?! Even if the food were basically garbage we would recommend this option. However…
The food is absolutely delicious! Seriously. Especially at the Fantastico Sur refugios. Your dinner will be a 3 course meal every single night. Your lunch will be a tasty sandwich accompanied by an apple, a chocolate bar, and another snack. And breakfast consists of some hot items like eggs and pancakes, plus cold cut options, coffee, and tea.
They can accommodate most to all dietary preferences. As you probably know from elsewhere in the blog, I am pescatarian, and Ian at the time ate poultry but not red meat. At a minimum, we know they can do pescatarian, vegetarian, and gluten free. They also asked about food allergies. We didn’t inquire about vegan options or ask about how they avoid gluten contamination in their kitchens. I did specifically ask about chicken broth in soup and rice (there wasn’t any), and they were always knowledgeable and could confidently tell me when something was vegetarian. It was easy to ensure that we had really A+ food - not just apology vegetarian food!
Enjoy your evenings. Picture yourself after your 15 mile hike from Cuernos to Paine Grande. It’s later than you expected. You’ve been buffeted by strong ass winds for the last several miles. You did 3500ft of altitude today, and you might still feel like a failure because you didn’t get all the way to Britanico in the middle. And now you are freaking starving despite having eaten lunch and about 9 million granola bars. Do you want to cook your own freaking dinner over an outdoor fire, in 60-70km/h wind gusts? No? Didn’t think so.
It’s an amazing bonding opportunity! Because folks hike in both directions along the route, you’ll both see people from your previous day and new folks going the opposite way. You’ll be able to exchange stories of the terrain ahead/behind and bond over the soreness of every muscle in your bodies. There is a real sense of camaraderie among hikers doing the W, and mealtimes are a way to take full advantage of getting to meet cool people!
Refugios vs. Full Equipo Camping
If we’d been able to book it, we would have chosen to sleep in refugios every night of the trek, as this entire trip was such a new experience for us! However, because we booked late (see: book this 8 months in advance!), we weren’t able to get a coveted slot at either Refugio Cuernos or Domo Frances, the two indoor options for the middle night of the trek. So, we opted to do full equipo camping at the Cuernos campsite right beside the refugio for that night. We honestly really enjoyed the full equipo camping experience! We lucked out with a pretty warm, no-wind no-rain night, so your mileage may vary. We were warm and cozy in our tent, which was on top of a wooden platform, and therefore insulated from potentially wet and cold ground. The tent was already set up for us when we arrived, and equipped with two sleeping bags! We didn’t know about the sleeping bags in advance, and it meant we had been lugging ours around the whole trek for nothing. Ian insisted on using his own anyway so the lugging wasn’t completely for naught. The strongest downside to doing the full equipo camping vs staying in the refugio that night was that there are separate showers in an outdoor-ish building for the folks camping, and hot water is only available from 5pm-9pm. You can probably sneak into the refugio bathrooms, but I chickened out. The indoor bathrooms are much nicer.
It’s also worth noting that camping is actually a much more private experience than bunking in a refugio! You’ll have a 2-person tent to yourselves.
Finally, refugios tend to be warmer than camping, but the sleeping bags provided + your fleece or down layers should keep you warm outside.
W Trek Itinerary
Booking the W is *almost* as hard as hiking the W. Refugios and camp sites are owned by 3 different operators, whose websites are mostly in Spanish. You can pay a 3rd (4th?) party to book the W for you, but you’ll pay roughly double the already steep prices of the refugios.
Possible places to stay on the W route, in order from the eastern Laguna Amarga entrance to the western Pudeto entrance, featuring commentary if I have any intel. Refugios where we stayed are italicized.
Eco Camp: See above - just kinda doing its own thing, but looks super cool and fun and unique. If you do stay here, your hike will be slightly longer, as it’s farther away from Las Torres than the refugios - a bit into Sector Seron.
Torres Central (FS): Very spacious, amazing views of the mountains, lots of board games, and a tiny shop where you can get a hat or a chocolate bar.
Torre Norte (FS): We hear this is the less nice cousin of Torres Central. They’re super close together geographically, so at least you can hang out at Central at night if you stay here.
Hotel Las Torres: See above - luxury hotel close to Central. Are you Rockefeller? If yes, awesome. If not, you probably won’t stay here.
El Chileno (FS): This was our favorite refugio. It’s super cozy, the food was awesome, and we met some very fun people here. It’s one of the smaller refugios , and you will need to book early to nab a spot.
Cuernos (FS): We camped here and ate at the refugio. Lovely!
Domo Francés (V): These domes seem insanely cool, but there are very few spots, so we missed out. You would book this as an alternative to Cuernos or Campiemento Italiano.
Campiemento Italiano (CONAF): Just a camp site - not a refugio. Personally not really my scene. The bathrooms were so disgusting that I opted to just go in the woods instead.
Campiemento Británico (CONAF): Wouldn’t know, didn’t make it all the way to Britanico. * Sheds a tear *
Paine Grande (Vértice): Stunning as it finally (FINALLY!) comes into view! The food here is cafeteria style, and not as good as Fantastico Sur, but still good. They have a nice bar that’s open late. But it’s up a flight of stairs, which is a bit cruel to folks who just hiked 15 miles! Important Note!!! Winds near Paine Grande regularly hit 60km/h! If you’re going to splurge on a refugio, I’d consider doing it here, even though we liked the coziness of some of the Fantastico Sur refugios better. Memorably, the staff told us that on extra windy days, you’ll see campers’ tents flying in the sky! Just the BYO tents; the staff here has the best wind-proof tents money can buy, and they know how to tie them down.
Refugio Grey (Vértice): We briefly stopped here on our last day but didn’t stay here. It looked pretty gosh darn nice! A really nice dining space and bar in a cool area of the park. Would aim to stay here next time.
Unlike the O, which can only be completed counterclockwise, the W can be hiked in either direction. We did it from east to west, due to availability of refugios when we booked. Either way works and we hear they’re about comparably hard.
The middle refugios/domes are the hardest to get because they are the smallest. They are presumably the smallest because the middle of the trek is the hardest to supply; horses bring in food and take out trash as there are no roads to these places. Let that sink in! This leaves quite the dilemma: prospective travelers are often able to book only Torres Central and Paine Grande - the two end refugios. We did meet some people who booked only Torres Central and Paine Grande, but that is a laughably long hike between them, and if you are in the bottom 80% of hikers we would strongly advise against it. These folks were Swiss and had the legs of tree trunks. They had completed the entire thing by 6pm. Sound like you? No? Wait a year, and actually enjoy yourself.
Itinerary Suggestions
With that absolutely enormous amount of information out of the way, here are a couple suggested itineraries! Either of these could be reversed, as you can hike the W in either direction, and the experience is fairly comparable.
For the early riser / “budget” traveler
This itinerary allows you to stay only 3 nights in the park, significantly reducing cost. Every day will be super freaking full - you’ll hit the ground running on day 1 hiking up to Las Torres!
Day 1:
Catch a 7am bus from Puerto Natales to the Laguna Amarga park entrance
Hike to the Torres starting around 9:30 or 10am, leaving your big pack at El Chileno
Sleep at El Chileno
Day 2:
Hike to Domo Frances
Sleep at Domo Frances
Day 3:
Hike up the French Valley, leaving your big pack at Campiemento Italiano
Continue hiking to Paine Grande
Sleep at Paine Grande
Day 4: multiple options
A: Starting by 8:30am, hike one way to Refugio Grey (it’s actually 0.5km further than the refugio) to a beach where you can catch the Grey III
B: Hike out and back to Mirador Lago Grey, and catch the Catamaran from Paine Grande
C: Hike out and back all the way to Refugio Grey / Mirador Grey Glacier, and catch the Catamaran from Paine Grande
Our actual itinerary
As you’ve learned, we booked on the late side, and had a strong preference for refugios. We are also NOT Swiss mountaineers. Those constraints led us to the following pretty darn solid itinerary.
Day 1:
Take a 12pm bus from PN to Laguna Amarga
Take $3000CLP shuttle to Torres Central
Chill at Torres Central (we hiked a bit up into the Seron region, which you only see on the O).
Sleep at Torres Central refugio
Day 2:
Hike to Las Torres, leaving our giant packs at El Chileno on the way and carrying our day packs with us
Sleep at El Chileno refugio
Day 3:
Hike from El Chileno to Cuernos
Sleep at Cuernos (full equipo camping)
Day 4:
Hike to Campiemento Italiano, leaving our big packs there
Hike up and down the French Valley (the middle prong of the W)
Retrieve packs at Italiano, and hike to Paine Grande
THIS IS A VERY LONG DAY! We left Cuernos at 8:57am and arrived at Paine Grande at 8:15pm (including time for lunch and other breaks). We didn’t make it to Británico, a second lookout point farther up the French Valley — that adds another ~3h of hiking to the day. Clearly, we made the right call! I would have been pissed? dead? if I’d missed dinner.
If you can reserve Frances instead of Cuernos, it’ll help space out your days better by adding the 2 hours from Cuernos to Frances to your easiest day rather than your hardest. However, a ton of people do our itinerary, so don’t freak out if you can’t book a dome at Frances.
Sleep at Paine Grande refugio
Day 5:
Hike one way to Grey Glacier mirador/Grey III pick up spot
Take the Grey III boat to see Glacier Grey up close! And exit the park
Exiting the Park at Pudeto
I know It seems like overkill to include an entire section on leaving the park, but we found this to be the most confusing part of the experience to plan - there are a ton of options, not a lot of English info, and a lot of small logistics to work out. I hope this fills in some of the gaps! I think these options apply as possible park entrance methods if you hike in the reverse direction that we did, but just do some extra checking.
You have to travel by water out of the park on this side, so your options are two boats.
The Catamaran from Paine Grande
Most people hiking in the direction from Central to Paine Grande will utilize this option to exit the park. Let’s jump into pros and cons:
Pros
It’s the cheapest way out
People you speak to will have heard of the Catamaran, and they’ll know how to tell you to board.
It runs frequently
The after-boat logistics are simple: after you get off, you’re at Pudeto, where you pick up your bus back to Puerto Natales.
Cons
Notably, Paine Grande is not actually at the end of the W. This means that you will have to out-and-back some of the final leg of your trip. The “real” end of the W is all the way at Refugio Grey / Mirador Grey Glacier, and going both ways along that stretch is a lot of leg work. It wouldn’t be your hardest or your easiest day. You do have an option to go only as far as Mirador Lago Grey, which would result in significantly less duplicated distance, but a slightly truncated W overall.
You won’t get to see Grey Glacier up close, especially if you don’t make it all the way to Mirador Grey Glacier.
The Grey III
Pros
You get super close to Grey Glacier from the boat! You’ll come away with incredible photos, the shocking revelation that glaciers are BRIGHT BLUE, jokes about icebergs in the water, and the experience of being hit by an arctic breeze.
The boat itself is really nice - there’s an inner cabin, and you can grab a drink if you want! There’s also a roof deck, where you’ll probably spend most of your time.
Cons
Relatively few people know this option exists, so you’ll get a lot of confusing intel about “the catamaran” and be unsure of whether they’re talking about your boat or the other boat
It’s expensive
There is time pressure to get going so you make it to Refugio Grey and the boat launch beach by the time of your boat’s departure. We started at 8:30am and that wound up being plenty of time.
It is A Whole Thing to get out of the park after you disembark from the boat. It’s easy to fuck up. We did. It’s a lot longer of a journey out of the park. Just keep reading and you’ll see what I mean. This is a Significant Con!
We took the Grey III. There is a ton of information out there about the regular catamaran, so I’m going to focus on planning your exit via the Grey III here.
Here is your route if you plan to stay at Paine Grande on your last night in the park. You are welcome. This route was developed with sweat and tears. I don’t think there was blood.
Depart Paine Grande @ 8:30am
Refugio Grey / Grey Beach (0.5 more km)
Grey III 2nd nav @ 13:45 from Grey Beach
Zodiac boat from beach to Hotel Lago Grey
Shuttle van from Hotel Lago Grey to Administracion
Bus @ 18:30 or 18:00 ish (Maria Jose, sorry folks) from Administracion to Pudeto
Bus (Bus Sur!) from Pudeto to Puerto Natales
If you are instead staying at Refugio Grey on your last night, you can opt to have a lazy morning and take the 2nd navigation as prescribed above, or you could take the earlier 1st navigation, because you have no hiking to do. You will want to modify subsequent bus times accordingly.
If you’re like me, and you want an explanation for absolutely everything, especially things that seem weird, the next section well help explain why you should follow the above instructions to a T. In any event, you need to read the next section.
SUPER IMPORTANT GREY III INFO AND TIPS YOU SHOULD NOT IGNORE
There are very few bus trips from Administracion to Pudeto. This is a huge limiting factor in designing your exit. You should pick the latest one. I believe we took a bus at 18:00 or 18:30; it’s been a few years and the details are fuzzy.
Take the 2nd navigation of the Grey III out of the park if you are staying at Paine Grande the night before your departure.
The 2nd navigation departs the Hotel at 13:00 and the Lago Grey Beach (your departure station) at 13:45 (1:45pm). A small zodiac ride and a van ride later, you will get to Administracion in plenty of time for your bus to Pudeto.
The 1st navigation is way too early to make coming all the way from Paine Grande. The 3rd navigation at 16:00 / 16:45 does not get back to Administracion in time for your bus to Pudeto.
The 4th navigation is basically fake; they only run this extra trip when demand is incredibly high (about 3x per season). The Grey III is not just taking passengers out of the park; there are regular tourists who just want to see a glacier, too.
When you get off the Grey III, most people will walk along the beach back to the parking lot. You SHOULD NOT FOLLOW THEM! You need to go to the small zodiac boats docked nearby. These will take you directly to the Hotel Lago Grey.
3a) If you screw this up, like we did, you are not completely fucked - just minorly fucked. When you get off the Grey III, you will find yourself on the windiest beach in the entire world. You will literally be pushed sideways by the gusting wind. Everyone walking along this beach looks like they are drunk, because they are staggering so much. It is An Experience. You, lucky Grey III passenger, are supposed to get on the zodiac boat, instead of following them. If you DO follow them, it will take you longer than you could possibly imagine to cross this beach due to the wind.
Once you’ve made it, you will have to cross a swinging bridge over a river. Sounds fun, right? Well, it would be, except that the bridge can only hold 6 people at a time, and people are trying to cross in both directions. A very stupid crossing guard did not optimize for traffic flow. I swear we waited 30-45 min in line for this swinging bridge. We were very scared that we would miss all our transit out of the park.
When you finally get over the bridge, you’ll find yourself at a parking lot, where absolutely no one knows where to tell you to go. So I AM SAVING YOUR BUTT. You need to find a foot path through a fucking field (yes, really) that takes you to the Hotel Lago Grey. So, the question you need to ask at this moment is not “Where is the shuttle?” but “How do I get to Hotel Lago Grey on foot?”
At Lago Grey, they will ask you, very confusedly, why you did not just take the zodiac boat. You will not know how to answer this question. Nevertheless, they will kindly escort you to your shuttle, which will take you to Administracion.
Just so you are aware, we actually had over an hour at Administracion before our bus - even with this disastrous mistake. However, I hope that this blog post was memorable enough with colorful enough language that you do NOT fail to take the zodiac boat to the hotel.
When you book the Grey III, also book yourself a shuttle from Hotel Lago Grey to Administracion. Otherwise, you will be completely fucked. You need to mention this explicitly by email when you correspond with the folks at Hotel Lago Grey to book the boat.
Phew. I am tired from just writing that, several years after doing it! Was it worth it to take the Grey III? YES, definitely. I would absolutely do it again, especially now that I wouldn’t be shitting myself the entire time wondering if I’d have to build a lean-to somewhere in the park after failing to get out. Seeing a glacier up close is one of the coolest things I’ve done to date, and it is a different and more in-your-face experience to get that close on the boat, vs looking at it from the view point on shore.
But if you want to do the easier thing? Take the Catamaran at Paine Grande.
Glacier photo for motivation to take the Grey III. Don’t they look like little blue gnomes?! Adorbs.
