Patagonia Travel Guide: Tips and Lessons for El Chalten, El Calafate, and Torres del Paine

The Patagonia region stretches along the border of Argentina and Chile, running from Chile’s Huincul Fault all the way down to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Traveling here takes time, planning, and some patience, but the landscapes are unlike anywhere else on earth.

I visited Patagonia for a week and a half in April 2025. Here’s what I learned from my trip, the highlights of each destination, and some things I wish I knew before going.

Key Destinations in Patagonia

El Chaltén, Argentina
Hiking capital of Argentina. Tiny town at the foot of world-class trails, including Fitz Roy (the inspiration for the Patagonia brand logo) and Cerro Torre. A hiker’s paradise and my personal favorite spot in Patagonia.
El Calafate, Argentina
Base for visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the world’s only advancing glaciers. Bigger town than El Chaltén, more amenities, and a good jumping-off point for buses to Chile.
Ushuaia, Argentina
City at the bottom of Argentina, known as the “end of the world.” Gateway to Antarctica cruises and Tierra del Fuego National Park, where the mountains meet the sea. Great place for penguin tours.
Bariloche, Argentina
Nicknamed “the Switzerland of South America.” A mountain town with ocean views known for skiing, chocolate, and alpine vibes.
Torres del Paine, Chile
The most famous national park in Patagonia. Home to the W Trek and O Trek, plus iconic views like Base Torres, Los Cuernos, and Cerro Paine Grande. Great for wildlife spotting.
Punta Arenas, Chile
A city on the Strait of Magellan, best known as another larger Patagonian city and a great penguin-viewing base.
Chile’s Lake District
Quieter and less dramatic than southern Patagonia, with lakes, volcanoes, and fewer tourists.

The “big three” for most travelers: El Chaltén, El Calafate, Torres del Paine.

General Things to Know

Travel times are long. From the U.S., it took me over two days to reach El Chaltén (multiple flight transfers with a long layover in Buenos Aires to reach the nearest airport in El Calafate, then a 3 hour bus from El Calafate to finally reach Chaltén).
Crossing from Argentina to Chile by air is highly inefficient. Even towns that are right across the border require transferring flights via Santiago and Buenos Aires. By road, going from Puerto Natales to El Calafate takes ~5 hours and is much easier.
Weather is extremely unpredictable. Torrential morning downpours can turn into sunny afternoons. It can be hot, freezing, and absurdly windy, all in the same day or even within a few hours.
Season matters.
- High season (Jan – Feb): Best weather, highest crowds and prices.
- Shoulder season (March – April): Fewer people, cheaper, and gorgeous fall foliage, but less predictable weather and closures.
- Off-season (winter – typically mid-May through October): Trails may be snowed out and many places shut down entirely.

Torres del Paine & The W Trek

I have a whole rant on why I didn’t like the W Trek (read it here), but if you decide to go, this is the need-to-know:

Booking is confusing. The park facilities are owned by two companies (Base Torres and Vertice), each of which has a monopoly over half the park. Each has its own website. Camps and refugios sell out early, and the websites are buggy and difficult to navigate. Plan to spend a couple of hours booking places to stay.
Lodging: A choice between elevated tents or refugios (shared dorms). The elevated tents are more comfortable than expected, but in some areas of the park, they’re not recommended for light sleepers due to extremely high winds.
Food: Meals are available but expensive, and food options are either extremely expensive prepaid meals or limited a-la-carte meals (they a-la-carte options are limited in both food choices and operating hours).
Route: There are two options:
- East to West: Bus from Puerto Natales to Laguna Amarga, shuttle to trailhead → W trek → Catamaran from Paine Grande to Pudeto, bus from Pudeto to Puerto Natales.
- West to East: Reverse the order.
Tips:
- WiFi exists at camps but is very expensive. Camps offer several plans based on how long you need WiFi for.
- Winds are brutal at Paine Grande and Glacier Grey.
- You don’t have to do the W to see the highlights. Base Torres and Glacier Grey can be done as day hikes. However, Base Torres gets really crowded after 10am, with day tour groups pouring in.
- During the shoulder season and off-season (starting end of March), a lot of the camps and refugios close, and food options become more limited.

Refugio Reviews

Chileno: My favorite of the refugios. Elevated tents are comfy. Bathrooms are a short walk away and shared. Water in the bathrooms is freezing. Best food – $70 dinner was delicious, and the a-la-carte chicken sandwich for $12 was objectively good even outside of a trekking context – plus a free welcome drink. Downside – There is horse shit in the middle of camp, and you have to brave the cold to get to the bathroom from the tents.

Francés: Hard and miserable to access (long, steep hill – no idea why they’d build the camp there), noisy, and limited a-la-carte food (literally just pastrami sandwiches and donuts). Pastrami sandwiches were good but they were the only hot food option. Refugios are shared domes with bunk beds. Privacy is decent – The dome is sectioned off. Each dome has 8 people with 2 shared bathrooms and 2 showers. I would’ve preferred to stay in Cuernos (more of a midpoint, better conditions), but it was closed for the season by early April.

Paine Grande: Best location (peaceful dock by the lake), worst food and lodging. Dining hours and the menu are absurdly limited, food is overpriced and bad (a plain cheese quesadilla was $12, the steak was literally inedible), and the refugio bathrooms are slippery and crowded. The view from the dock was the only redeeming feature.

Puerto Natales (Chile)

Base town for Torres del Paine. Small, not much to do, and pretty residential outside of downtown. Food is far better than food in El Chaltén or El Calafate.

Good eats:

Holaste Coffee: Named one of the “100 best” coffee shops in 2024. Excellent coffee and peanut butter toast, creative menu (hit or miss).
Napoli Pizzeria: “Southernmost Napoli-style pizzeria in the world” – Delicious pizza & pasta, good portions and decent prices. Recommend the guanaco pizza and Patagonian lamb gnocchi.
La Ruca & Fresh: Good peanut-curry-style pad thai, skip the sushi.

Bad eats:

Menta Café: Coffee is good, cinnamon roll so abysmal it shouldn’t be called a cinnamon roll.

El Chaltén (Argentina)

Getting there: No airport. Fly into El Calafate (FTE), then drive or bus ~3 hours. Renting a car is insanely expensive. Buses can be inconveniently timed, although they usually run on-time.
Getting around: Small town, walkable from one end to the other within 20-30 minutes. No Uber, taxis can be booked in advance. Rough and inconsistent sidewalks.

Hikes Worth Doing in Chaltén

Laguna de los Tres (Recommend adding Mirador Piedras Blancas): Famous Fitz Roy hike. Last mile is a grind, but the view at the end is stunning. Sunrise at Laguna Capri is magical. I didn’t get to hike Mirador Piedras Blancas but the view looks pretty cool.
Laguna Torre: Slightly easier than Laguna de los Tres, less maintained, but cool icebergs and views of Cerro Torre.
Loma del Pliegue Tumbado: Didn’t have time for this one, but the pictures looked incredible (viewpoint over Torre).
Mirador Cóndores: Super short, easy, insane panoramic views of the entire mountain range. Best reward-to-effort ratio.
Chorrillo del Salto: Relatively easy waterfall hike, mostly along a road (can drive most of the way).

Park fees

$45 per person, per day (literally batshit expensive).
Ways to avoid: Start hikes before 7am, go off-season, take detours suggested by Reddit, or hike along the road towards Chorrillo del Salto before turning onto the trail.

El Calafate (Argentina)

Bigger town, harder to get around on foot. Taxis are useful (save their number), Uber doesn’t really work. Very touristy downtown, not much to do.

Main Attraction: Perito Moreno Glacier

Getting there

Tours: ~$90 bus tour (+ $45 entry fee not included in tour price), plus a mandatory hour-long stop at the overpriced boat tour ($60–80). The boat is fine, but crowded and not worth the money. You aren’t forced to take the boat, but if you don’t, you’re stuck at the dock for an hour, and the dock is conveniently located in a place where you can’t see the glacier at all. All of the tours also end at an inopportune time, which forces you to catch the bus the next day instead of the afternoon after visiting the glacier.
Rent a car: Way better. You can arrive early, avoid crowds, and skip the forced boat stop. Might be cost-effective if split between two or more people.

Food in Argentinian Patagonia

Overall, the food situation was awful. Expensive (prices higher than some major U.S. cities), and shockingly bad. Food in Calafate was better than food in Chaltén, and food in Chilean Patagonia was leagues better.