The Complete Patagonia Travel Guide — Everything You Need to Plan Your Trip

Nothing prepares you for Ushuaia. It is a small city but it carries a weight that larger places don’t have — the knowledge that beyond it there is nothing but ocean and ice all the way to Antarctica. The buzz in the air is hard to explain and impossible to ignore. Every person you meet is either just back from somewhere extraordinary or about to leave for it.

The vibe is distinctly European — alpine architecture climbing up steep hillsides, a working port, restaurants and hostels packed with adventurers from every corner of the world. And the wind. Ushuaia is one of the windiest places I have ever stood. It does not gust — it howls, constantly, as if the landscape is reminding you exactly where you are.

What to Do

• End of the World Train + Tierra del Fuego National Park. A narrow gauge railway through sub-Antarctic scenery combined with a bus tour through the park — beaver dams, beech forest, Beagle Channel coastline. Perfect pace for any travel party.
• Beagle Channel boat cruise. Sea lions, cormorants and the Les Eclaireurs lighthouse. One of the most peaceful afternoons in Patagonia.
• Martial Glacier hike. Short hike above the city with views across the Beagle Channel on a clear day. Genuinely worth it.
• Eat king crab. Centolla — Patagonian king crab — is a local speciality and Ushuaia is the place to eat it. Order it at least once.

Punta Arenas is a functional port city — perfectly pleasant but not the most characterful stop on the route. There is one reason to come here and it is more than enough: Isla Magdalena.

Magdalena Island Penguin Colony

Isla Magdalena is home to around 120,000 Magellanic penguins during breeding season (November to March). One hundred and twenty thousand. The island is covered in them — waddling across the marked path, sitting in burrows, standing at the water’s edge looking deeply unimpressed by everything. You walk through the colony and the penguins are completely unbothered by your presence. They carry on with their penguin business as if you are barely worth noticing.

The boat crossing takes around two hours each way across the Strait of Magellan and can be choppy. Bring layers regardless of the weather forecast.

Puerto Natales exists almost entirely as a gateway to Torres del Paine and it does that job beautifully. It has a lovely laid-back feel — good restaurants, outdoor gear shops and a waterfront with views across Ultima Esperanza Sound to the mountains beyond.

One night is the right amount of time. Use it to resupply, eat a proper meal, do a final kit check and mentally prepare for what’s coming.

Torres del Paine is not a national park in the way most national parks are a national park. It is something else entirely. The scale is incomprehensible until you are standing in it. The weather changes in minutes. The landscape feels primeval — ancient, like the beginning of the world rather than the end of it.

The park is dominated by the Paine Massif — a collection of peaks including the three famous granite towers (the Torres) that rise almost vertically from a turquoise glacial lake. There is also the Cuernos del Paine — the Horns — jagged peaks that appear in almost every photograph of the park.

The W Trek vs The O Circuit

Most visitors choose between two main routes. The W Trek is 4–5 days covering the most iconic sections of the park — the Torres, the French Valley and Grey Glacier. The full O Circuit adds the back side of the massif for a total of 8–10 days and significantly more solitude on the less-visited sections. Both are excellent. The W is right for most first-time visitors. The O is for those who want the full experience and have the time.

Campsites and Refugios

Accommodation in the park ranges from basic tent pitches to premium fully equipped campsites with rooftop tents, bedding and hot showers. The premium campsites at Chileno and Central are genuinely comfortable and worth the price — particularly with children or older travel companions. All accommodation sells out months in advance for the peak season.

Key Locations

• Mirador Las Torres. The lookout at the base of the three towers — the most iconic view in Patagonia. The final section is a steep scramble over glacial moraine. Hard going, non-negotiable.
• Valle del Francés. A dramatic hanging valley with glaciers above and condors riding thermals overhead. One of the most extraordinary walking days in the park.
• Grey Glacier. A 6km wide glacier at the end of the W. Iceberg-dotted lake, extraordinary blue ice, boat tours available.
• Mirador Condor. A short detour from the main trail with some of the best views of the Cuernos and the lake below.

El Calafate is a tourist town built almost entirely around one reason to visit — Perito Moreno Glacier — and that one reason is more than enough. The town itself is pleasant and well set up for travellers with good restaurants and a relaxed feel after the intensity of Torres del Paine.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Perito Moreno is one of the few glaciers in the world that is not retreating and standing in front of it you understand why it commands such reverence. It is 5 kilometres wide and 60 metres high at the face. The ice groans and cracks constantly. Chunks calve from the face and crash into the lake below with sounds like cannon fire. The blue of the ice — a blue that has no equivalent anywhere else — is something no photograph adequately captures.

There are two ways to experience it: the walkways (a series of elevated catwalks above the shore directly in front of the face) and the boat tour (out onto the lake and up close to the ice wall). Both are extraordinary. The boat tour takes it to another level entirely — from the water, the scale becomes genuinely incomprehensible.

El Chaltén is a tiny hiking village at the end of a long road in the shadow of Mount Fitzroy. It exists for one purpose and it does that purpose beautifully. No traffic lights. No shopping centres. Just mountains, trails, extraordinary food and people who came here to walk.

It is also the only major hiking destination in Patagonia with no entrance fees for any of its trails — which is remarkable given what is on offer.

The Hikes

• Laguna de los Tres. The classic Fitzroy hike — 22km return with a brutal final climb to a high lake directly beneath the towers. One of the best day hikes in South America. Start early.
• Laguna Torre. A beautiful walk to a lake at the base of Cerro Torre — Fitzroy’s dramatic and slightly more forbidding neighbour. 18km return, less crowded than Laguna de los Tres.
• Laguna Capri. A shorter option — 8km return with steady climbing through lenga beech forest to a lake with Fitzroy views. Manageable for most fitness levels.
• Chorillo del Salto. An easy walk to a beautiful waterfall a few kilometres from town. Good for a rest day. If the clouds clear while you’re out here, Fitzroy appears above the rooftops of El Chaltén in a way that genuinely stops you walking.