An opportunity to visit a large part of the Park along the different trails skirting the rocky massif and get up close to the stunning scenery on display in this marvel of southern Patagonia.
We leave El Calafate early in the morning and reach the Argentina-Chile border after around 2 hours. After completing the customs formalities, we take a break in the Chilean town of Cerro Castillo where we can change money and have breakfast in a local coffee shop.
We then continue our journey to the Park, arriving at around midday at the Laguna Amarga park entrance post, where we buy our National Park entrance tickets.
During the day, we visit the Park’s most impressive spots: Nordenskjold Lake, a walk to Salto Grande (a large waterfall), the ‘Horns’ (Cuernos del Paine) lookout point, and Toro Lake.
After completing the trip, we get out of the bus at Laguna Amarga, where we take another vehicle towards the Las Torres (‘Towers’) sector, for our overnight stay.
In the last few hours of daylight, you can take a pleasant stroll along the short interpretative trail in front of the Las Torres hotel, or simply contemplate the colours of the sunset.
– Meals included: box lunch and dinner.
– Overnight: in Refuge or Camping (subject to availability).
– Please remember to take the necessary documentation (passport and any visas) to enter Chile.
– If you want to take food, it must be packaged, dry. (for example: cereal bars, crisps, cans, etc.). You cannot cross the border with fresh food (vegetables, meat, bread, etc.) or liquids: border staff may seize them and even impose fines if they haven’t been declared.
Our visit to the Park today will be self-guided: after breakfast and asking for our box lunches, we’ll take a bus from the Las Torres sector to the Pudeto sector.
This trail winds through a dense lenga beech forest, until reaching a moraine offering stunning views of the valleys and the peaks known as Las Torres. After marvelling at and taking in the beautiful scenery, we retrace our steps back down to our overnight lodgings to pick up our backpacks (if we left anything in the luggage storage) and take a bus to the Laguna Amarga park entrance post, where we’ll connect with the bus back to El Calafate, reaching our accommodation late at night.
You have the option of staying another night in Las Torres sector, and returning to Puerto Natales via a 2-day kayak trip down the Serrano River (here: link to the 2-day Serrano River Kayak).
– Distance: 11 Km.
– Altitude variation 430 m.
– Meals provided: breakfast and box lunch.
– Remember that the pickup for the return bus to El Calafate is at 4 pm. Therefore, you must leave early and calculate the length of the journey to reach the meeting point on time.
-You have the option to going to Puerto Natales (instead of El Calafate) at the end of the day.
