Southern Patagonia is home to some of South America’s most wild landscapes: granite mountain peaks watched over by condors, mighty glaciers with crashing icebergs, and sweeping steppes where the guanacos roam free It’s a place for outdoor adventure, with incredible hiking and trekking, the chance to track pumas or ride the range with the local gauchos – or just to relax in a lodge with a glass of local red wine and soak up the scenery.
Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares are the two national parks at the heart of the travel experience here – one in Chile and the other in Argentina, but in truth so close to each other that it’s possible to combine the two into a single trip.
We know Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares like the back of our hands. Many members of the Swoop team have worked as guides on both sides of the border, or still live in the area. We’ve used our years of experience here to create this guide to what makes each region so special, so that you can decide which to visit for yourself, or whether you should combine the two into a single trip.
Table of contents
- Torres del Paine: the basics
- Los Glaciares: the basics
- Hiking in Torres del Paine
- Hiking in Los Glaciares
- Adventure activities in Torres del Paine
- Adventure activities in Los Glaciares
- Where to stay in Torres del Paine
- Where to stay in Los Glaciares
- How to get to Torres del Paine
- How to get to Los Glaciares
- Travel between Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares
Torres del Paine: The basics
Torres del Paine sits in the heart of Chile’s Magallanes Province at the very bottom of mainland South America. It comprises the Cordillera del Paine mountains, a distinct outcrop of the Andes Mountains, which are surrounded by the Patagonian steppe (pampa). The central part of the mountains is the Paine Massif, with its three iconic granite towers (Torres), its horns (Cuenos) and its glaciers – most notably Grey Glacier. The name Paine is taken from the indigenous Aonikenk (or Tehuelche) word for blue.
Although a national park in its own right since 1959, the name is also used to encompass a much larger biosphere of the same name. Within this region, there are mountains, grassland, forest, and rivers and lakes, as well as the edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. The area has a rich biodiversity, as well as many livestock ranches – home to the region’s distinct gaucho culture.
Torres del Paine is contiguous with Los Glaciares National Park to the east, across the Argentinian border. Most people arrive in the area from Puerto Natales (the park’s traditional gateway) or Punta Arenas to the south, Chile’s second city.
Los Glaciares: The basics
Los Glaciares National Park is one of the oldest national parks in South America, having been established in 1937. It sits in Argentina’s southern Santa Cruz Province, against the Chilean border and Torres del Paine, and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
For most visitors, there are two hubs to Los Glaciares. The first of these is the epic Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the fastest moving glaciers in Patagonia, which calves dramatically into Lago Argentina. The small city of El Calafate is where travellers must base themselves to visit Perito Moreno Glacier.
The second hub centres on Los Glaciares’s most important mountains: the FitzRoy range. These loom over the laidback mountain town of El Chaltén, which attracts hikers from all over the world for the scenery on its doorstep.
Los Glaciares is ecologically continuous with Torres del Paine, so has the same wildlife, forests, lakes and glaciers as its neighbour, served up in contrasting but complementary landscapes.
Hiking in Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine is home to one of South America’s famous hikes: the W Trek. This takes in the iconic Base of the Towers hike, along with the key locations of Lago Grey (for Grey Glacier) and French Valley. The W Trek can be hiked in any number of ways, including camping, staying in refugios or just in a series of day hikes from a hotel or lodge. The W Trek is the only trail in Torres del Paine that is open year round. Winter is a dramatic time to hike here, albeit one with a more restricted choice of accommodation.
The longer cousin of the W Trek is the O Circuit, which includes the highlights of the W, but adds in the more remote northern sector of the park, including the testing John Gardner Pass with its steep ascent, followed by a series of hanging bridges with views out to Grey Glacier.
There’s more to Torres del Paine than just the classics however, with myriad day hikes where you can easily escape the busier trails and have the park almost entirely to yourself. The hikes to Mirador Condores or Mirador Ferrier offer some of the best views of the Paine Massif anywhere, while exploring the eastern sector around Sierra Baguales reveals a hidden landscape of fossils and canyons quite unlike anywhere else in the park.
Hiking in Los Glaciares
The hiking heart of Los Glaciares beats strongest in El Chaltén, overlooked by Mount FitzRoy, from where you can do any number of day hikes just by walking out from your hotel’s front door. The two classics are Laguna de Los Tres and Cerro Torre (easily stitched together into a longer camping trek), though there are plenty more including the panoramic Loma del Pliegue Tumbado hike and the quiet trails of the Los Huemules Reserve.
For hikers wanting more of a test, the Humuel Circuit offers the best challenge, hiking up to the very edge of the South Patagonian Ice Field, then camping next to a lake whose shores are strewn with icebergs from the nearby Viedma Glacier. For the toughest and most experienced hikers only, the South Patagonian Ice Field Expedition crosses the actual ice cap. One of the most extreme treks it’s possible to do, the rewards for those prepared for the challenge are immense.
Of equal remoteness, the six day traverse of Los Glaciares to Upsala Glacier takes you through some of the most diverse landscapes in Patagonia, trailfinding along the way where few others have ever hiked.
For more on our wildest multi-day treks in Los Glaciares and Torres del Paine, see our page on backcountry hiking and trekking in Patagonia.
Adventure activities in Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine isn’t just for hikers – there are plenty of other ways to explore its landscapes. Perhaps the most exciting of these is the chance to track pumas – the only place in South America where you can do this. There’s even the opportunity to spend time with conservation projects outside the national park helping pumas and ranchers coexist.
Torres del Paine’s gaucho tradition makes it a great place to explore by horseback riding. Many lodges and estancias operate their own stables, making short excursions and full day rides an easy option. For those who prefer their saddles to come with wheels, there are also many remote mountain biking trails. An increasing number of Swoop’s partners now offer e-mountain bikes to make the ascent a little easier – or just to take the strain while touring.
For a different perspective, it’s possible to take to the waters to discover Torres del Paine by kayak, paddling on the Serrano and Grey Rivers, and even near the face of Grey Glacier itself. If you really want to slow it down however, those rivers are also well-stocked with trout and salmon, making fly-fishing a relaxing way to immerse yourself in the landscape.
Many hotels and lodges offer all-inclusive programmes, where you can pick activities the night before according to your preference (and the weather forecast). Our guide to adventure activities in Torres del Paine has everything you need to know about exploring beyond the hiking trails.
Adventure activities in Los Glaciares
When it comes to adventure, Los Glaciares holds one of Patagonia’s biggest trump cards: Perito Moreno Glacier. There are many ways to explore its epic ice, including by boat, kayak or even ice hiking across its back. All visits here include time on the boardwalks facing the ice cliffs to see Perito Moreno in its true majestic perspective.
One of the best ways to explore Los Glaciares is on a horse riding trip – this is true gaucho country. While there are plenty of wonderful day rides to do from lodges and estancias, this is somewhere where you can really ride out into the wilderness to lose yourself on a multiday riding trip, sleeping in rustic gaucho outposts.
El Chaltén is one of the birthplaces of climbing in Patagonia, and there are many opportunities to get roped up and tackle a granite rockface, whether you have climbing experience or just want to try a taste. The Santa Cruz and La Leona Rivers near El Chaltén, and Lago del Desierto are great for kayaking, while the trails around here are also ideal mountain biking country.
Read our guide to adventure activities in Los Glaciares for a complete guide to getting the most out of this national park.
Where to stay in Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine has a wide choice of places to stay, but the most important thing to know is that the national park and the surrounding area is a big place, so wherever you stay you’ll need to travel to get to the different trailheads or other locations. But thankfully, the scenery on the drive is always dramatic to look at!
There are hotels suiting a wide variety of budgets dispersed throughout the park and its outskirts, including close to the Base of the Towers, Glacier Grey and Serrano Village (which has views of the Paine Massif). Refugios are a good option for those hiking the W Trek (alongside campsites – wild camping isn’t allowed in the park).
At the higher end, Torres del Paine has some of Patagonia’s best luxury lodges, traditional estancias and glamping options.
See our guide to Torres del Paine’s accommodation options for everything to know about where to stay.
Where to stay in Los Glaciares
The most popular choice to stay in Los Glaciares is the small mountain town of El Chaltén, which is overlooked by Mount FitzRoy itself. It’s a classic chilled-out traveller’s hub, and plenty of hiking opportunities the moment you step outside your accommodation.
El Calafate is Los Glaciares’s hub city (though it’s more of an overgrown town), and lots of people stay here for at least a short time because it’s the best jumping off point for Perito Moreno Glacier.
If you want to really escape from everything, Los Glaciares has some amazing estancias where you can connect with Patagonia’s traditional gaucho culture.
Our guide to Los Glaciares accommodation has everything you need to know about where to stay.
How to get to Torres del Paine
There are two main gateway points to Torres del Paine: Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas. Both are about a 3½ hour flight from Chile’s capital city Santiago. Puerto Natales is the nearest town to the national park (about a 90 minute drive from the main park entrance), making it a better option for many travellers.
Punta Arenas is slightly further away, but has more flight connections from Santiago and direct flights to Aysen and the Chilean Lake District, as well as being a hub for Patagonia adventure cruises.
For more information, see our detailed guide on getting to Torres del Paine.
How to get to Los Glaciares
El Calafate is the gateway airport for Los Glaciares, and is well-served by direct flights from Buenos Aires. It takes around three hours to fly between the two. El Calafate is well-connected for direct flights to other parts of Patagonia, including Tierra del Fuego, the Argentinian Lake District and Peninsula Valdés.
There is no airport at El Chaltén. It takes around three hours to travel between El Calafate and El Chaltén by road, with dramatic views as you approach the FitzRoy mountain range.
For more information, see our detailed guide on getting to Los Glaciares.
How to travel between Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares
With Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares so close to each other, it’s easy to combine the two national parks together. There are excellent and comfortable cross-border buses that run between Puerto Natales and El Calafate, which take around 5–7 hours depending on how much time is needed as border control. There are no direct buses from El Chaltén to Puerto Natales.
Read our blog for a detailed account of what it’s like to take the bus between Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares.
We hope this guide has helped show you the attractions of Patagonia’s two greatest national parks, Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares, and how they contrast with and compliment each other. Time in either offers the chance to explore some of the region’s most celebrated landscapes – but if you have the time, then their close proximity means that exploring both is a terrific great option.
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