Information for hiking Torres del Paine national park | Tourist Attraction

W trek advice - logistics

Hey, this is just personal advice on the parking and transport for the W trek, something I wish I'd been told before to make it a bit easier.

So you either start (and park) your vehicle at Pudeto or Hotel Las Torres and do it from west to east or vice versa. As everyone says, we experienced as well that Pudeto had way to much wind for us to feel safe parking there for a few nights. So even when the forecast would say whatever, it'd always blow much harder there. So we still wanted to start from Pudeto, but we parked at the other end where everyone else was, so at the visitor center at Las Torres (fairly sheltered from wind in our opinion).

Then the buses - well rangers don't really provide accurate information on where and how to get those shuttle tickets.

From Hotel Las Torres you first need a shuttle bus to Laguna Amarga entrance. It takes 15' and you pay directly to the driver, no reservation needed or possible. Dec 2022 first one was at 8 am. It costs 3000 CLP pp, cash only.

Then you got several buses from Laguna Amarga to Pudeto. Tickets for BusSur you CAN buy at the Las Torres visitor centre. They cost 5000 CLP pp and you can pay with card. First bus was at 8.45.

Anyway, at Laguna Amarga there were more buses (also other companies) so some drivers told us we could do it without any reservations in advance.

So, all of this said, there's no way that you'd catch the first morning boat from Pudeto using this public transport options. Neither was there any option for a private transfer or whatever at that moment.

* For Pudeto ferry you also don't and can't make a reservation, they would just put in all the people waiting there. Maybe come 15-30' early to ease your nerves. Good coffee at the cafeteria there tho.

So I hope it helps anyone :)

* pumas, Dec 2022 - someone said that recently some have moved closer to laguna Azul. However one is said to be hanging around Lago Sarmiento entrance for a few days.

* Wind - on 28/12/2022 one passenger car was caught in a mini tornado, turned 180° and back and got shattered all 4 windows - in the middle of the road, so in no special place. Also one camper trailer got blown over. Despite the guards were saying that morning that there was nothing to worry about with wind (on the forecast of 100-120 km/h).
Later we also heard that on that day a bus full of passengers had overturned as well in the park 😬

So just keep that in mind and be extra cautious :)

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in my opinion definitely not worth the ridiculous high price considering the huge amounts of people going there

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Correction of the coordinates in order to avoid confusion with an real viewpoint.

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If there is no petrol in las Torres hotel, the closest place you can get petrol is cerro castillo. There is no petrol station but there is cafe shop, they have contact to get petrol. It was 900 per liter for us. The name of cafeteria is El ovejero.

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If you run out of gas ask at the hotel reception "las torres" one km away. They will give you gas (10 liters diesel / 93 per car) IF THEY HAVE THE CAPACITY. We paid 1800 pesos instead of 735 per liter as usual. The next gas station is almost 100 km away.

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Please share your experiences here:

There are several options for hiking in the park. The most popular is called the 'w' and goes from Paine Grande to Las Torres. The other main hike is called the 'o' and does a loop around the park.

With a car you can drive to several day hikes, including the 20km return walk to the Torres mirador (highly recommended). However you cannot see all highlights of the park with a car - to do so you need to hike and tent camp (or book in advance to stay in Refugios) .

We chose not to complete the popular circuits, but did take a day hike to the Torres, and then took the ferry to Paine Grande (across lake Pehoe-24,000 pesos per person for a return ticket) for a three day hike to the top of the John Gardner pass and back. In our opinion this gave us the opportunity to see the highlights of the park (the Torres, and Glacier Grey) whilst mostly avoiding the crowds. To do so we camped one night at Camping Paso (free) and the second at Camping Grey (6000 pp). They were long hikes, but the views were out of this world. To hike beside a glacier is absolutely magical, and to sit atop the pass affords views of the back of the park. Many people commented that this was the favourite part of their trek, and if you have the time and fitness we cannot recommended it highly enough.

The refugios and lodges offer expensive food (snickers bar will cost 2000 pesos, a can of coke 2000 pesos) so it is best to carry everything you can. Cooking must be done in designated areas because of fire risk.

Water can be drunk from streams, but look up at the source, as some commented that in areas it could be contaminated (septic waste was spotted overflowing into the river at Camping chileno).

Remember hiking etiquette - keep right on the trail and allow faster people to pass.

Overall we had heard stories of the park not being worth the hassle and cost. We had been warned of overwhelming crowds, expensive camping and mess. But overall, whilst busy (we visited in peak season) we found most people were polite and the facilities adequate to our needs.

Enjoy your time in the park!

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