Torres del Paine, Chile

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

• Introduction
• Departure Day
• Santiago, Chile
• Torres del Paine, Chile <-- You are here
• El Calafate, Argentina
• Ushuaia, Argentina
• Embarkation Day
• Stanley, Falkland Islands
• Sea Days
• Tour of the Ship
• Right Whale Bay, South Georgia
• Salisbury Plain, South Georgia
• Grytviken, South Georgia
• Fortuna Bay, South Georgia
• Stromness, South Georgia
• Godthul, South Georgia
• St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia
• Gold Harbour, South Georgia
• Cooper Bay, South Georgia
• The Scotia Sea Surprise
• Cuverville Island, Antarctic Peninsula
• Port Lockroy, Antarctic Peninsula
• The Drake and Ushuaia, Argentina

Getting There

Instead of relying on our limited Spanish skills, we asked the hotel to book us a car for our early morning transfer to the airport. The driver arrived promptly at 3:30am, and thanks to the lack of traffic, we were at the airport in no time.

The check-in process was a bit of a maze. We had to navigate our way through kiosks to print out our luggage tags and boarding passes before joining a winding queue to weigh our bags, scan the tags and then our boarding passes. The security process was straightforward, and we didn’t have to remove our shoes or laptops. The gate area was pretty crowded, until an announcement was made causing half of the waiting passengers (the Spanish speakers) to leave. We assumed it was a gate change so just followed the crowd. Note to self: learn some basic Spanish!

As we boarded the plane for our 3.5 hour flight from Santiago to Puerto Natales, we couldn’t help but notice that everyone else seemed to be heading south for the famous W or O circuit hikes. The final leg of the flight, which was simply breathtaking, with towering snow-capped peaks, sprawling glaciers, picturesque fjords, shimmering lakes, winding rivers, and seemingly endless expanses of pristine wilderness. It was like something out of a postcard or a movie, or something created by artificial intelligence.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we saw both of our bags on the conveyor belt, and felt even more relieved upon spotting Francisco, who was holding a sign with our name on it. We had arranged for a private transfer to reduce our exposure to other people (and their potential Covid cooties), so we had plenty of room in the spacious van. Since we didn’t have a chance to eat on the plane, we were delighted to receive arrival goody bags filled with a high-quality water bottle, muesli bars, and a few packs of nut and fruit mix. The drive took about 2 hours and we stopped at the half way point in Cerro Castillo to stretch our legs and grab a coffee. This store had everything from travel books to wolf hats to camping equipment to souvenir condor feather pens.

The landscape was simply breathtaking, with fields of vibrant purple lupine, sparkling turquoise lakes, and towering jagged peaks. Francisco pulled over several times so we could snap some photos and take in the scenery. He also foraged for some wild calafate, which we sampled and would describe as a tangy blueberry.

We stopped at the park entrance so we could scan our park passes, which were QR codes sent to us via email from the hotel. I’d taken screen shots of the QR codes in case I didn’t have a signal, but the office was pretty busy and they just waved us through.

Hotel las Torres

The approach to Hotel Las Torres left us utterly speechless. The rugged lodge stands at the base of the iconic Towers, offering panoramic views from every angle.

We had a superior room on the first floor. It was simple, clean, and boasted a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains and meadow. There was also lounge area with a coffee and water station down the corridor. Did I mention the guanaco wallpaper?

The hotel bar is in the main building, and was open from lunch until after our bedtime. We had lunch in the bar everyday, as well as two dinners, and the menu included charcuterie platters, empanadas, and pizza.

On puma trekking days, the hotel prepared a box breakfast for us to take with us when we left before sunrise. I’m not usually a fan of boxed breakfasts, but these were pretty good with a ham and cheese baguette, trail mix, and a piece of fruit. Otherwise, breakfast was servced buffet-style in the main restaurant, which was about a five-minute stroll from our room.

The main restaurant also served three-course meals for dinner. Much like Santiago, dinner is served late here which means we often had a sunset view for dinner – at 10:30pm. Meals were outstanding, and paired with really good Chilean wine. Our only regret is that we didn’t sign up for the “barbeque experience”, which we only learned about on our last night.

Pumas

We booked two days with ISO100Outdoors in the hopes of spotting pumas. Miguel and Nico, our guides, were not only exceptional photographers, but also had a deep passion for wildlife conservation. Given the long days during this time of year, the morning excursion began early at 5:30am and returned around noon. The afternoon excursion began at 4:30pm and ended around 8pm.

On the first morning, Nico’s keen eyes spotted a puma in the distance, and he positioned us perfectly to get a better look. After waiting patiently, it crossed the road right in front of us and disappeared into the hills on the other side. Miguel and Nico expertly predicted where it would emerge and drove us to a new spot. They recognised this puma as “the Obama puma”, because she was featured in the Netflix documentary “Our Great National Parks” which was narrated by the former US President. On the way back to the lodge we spotted another puma in a cave at the top of a hill. I couldn’t believe that we actually saw wild puma!

Although the afternoon was quieter on the cat front, we still saw some incredible wildlife, including guanacos, rhea, condors, flamingos, and a variety of birds.

The second morning was misty, so Miguel and Nico recommended a hike around Laguna Amarga. The hike was about 6km long with varying degrees of incline. Although we didn’t spot any puma, it was a pleasant walk (until it started raining).

We retreated to the car for some hot coffee and decided to try again in the afternoon. As luck would have it, the weather cleared up, and we set out at 4:30pm for our final attempt. To our amazement, we spotted a puma before we even left the lodge gate! Miguel immediately leapt out of the car and scrambled up the mountain to track it while we got our gear ready and waited for his signal. We tracked the puma for about an hour, and it was an absolutely magical experience.

Here’s a wide-angle photo for context. Can you spot the puma?

We kept having to remind ourselves that this wasn’t even the trip – this was the buffer before the actual trip!

Excursions

Hotel Las Torres offers an incredible range of half-day and full-day excursions, making it the perfect base for exploring the wonders of Patagonia. If you’re staying on an all-inclusive package, the excursions are free, but they can also be purchased separately if you’re on a bed and breakfast rate. The activity centre has detailed information about the different activities and the schedule.

We had one free day and decided to take advantage of it by booking a morning horseback ride and afternoon hike.

Our guide, Nino, met us in the hotel lobby at 9:15 for the morning excursion. She led us to the stables where we were provided with gaiters and helmets. We were joined by a lovely family of three from Houston, and the trail started right where we had seen the puma the day before. The ride up to Cerro Paine was easy and the views were absolutely breathtaking. Andy’s horse was quite gassy and liked to be in the front, while my horse enjoyed bumping my legs against trees. We stopped at the top for some photos and dismounted for a quick rest. The ride back down was a bit more challenging due to some steep parts and scree. When we got to the flatter part, the horses started trotting. They seemed super keen to get home and it was almost impossible to keep them walking. It was bumpy but fun.

After a quick lunch, we met Nino again in the lobby at 2:45 for the afternoon excursion. There were two other hikers on this trip, and the drive to the trailhead took about 30 minutes. The hike was a gradual incline for about 20 minutes,to the Salto Grande waterfall, where the Nordenskjöld lake meets the Paine River. We then continued to the Mirador los Cuernos viewpoint, which offered stunning views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. The hike was a “Patagonian flat” 6.5km and took about 2.5 hours return because we kept stopping for photos of the turquoise lakes, jagged peaks, and colourful groundcover. We probably would have lingered longer had the wind not been gusting about 80 km/hour!

Torres del Paine completely exceeded our expectations.

Next up — El Calafate, Argentina