This program focuses in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, taking advantage of our Full Camps located in the heart of the National Park. WE use the bus to move from one side to the other of the park in our first day, and we then hike the 3 most important valleys of the area, Torres, French and Grey valleys.
LODGING: 3 nights at Hostel u Hostería - 3 nights at Full Camp
Itinerary
El Calafate airport – El Calafate
We welcome you at Calafate airport and transfer to town to check in at your hostel. You get the rest of the day to enjoy the town and later you have your welcome dinner.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom /
Meals we provide: dinner
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom /
Meals we provide: dinner
El Calafate – Torres del Paine National Park
Early start for a 6 hs drive to our camp in Paine. We drive across the steppe, still following by parts the legendary route 40, to get around Sierra de los Baguales, an impressive range in between Calafate and Paine. We cross the Argentinean Chilean border at Cancha Carrera/ Cerro Castillo. After the border crossing, we start our final sprint to Paine National Park, World Heritage by the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization). Approaching the Park, we start to see the different mountains that feature the area: Paine Grande, the Horns, Admiral Nieto and the Towers. We enter the Park by Porteria Sarmiento. A rich wildlife: guanacos, lesser rheas, condors and all types of wetland and buzzard birds, will be available for our eyes and cameras. We’ll stop in the Lake Nordenskjöld and in Salto Grande viewpoints for short walks. In the afternoon we continue to visit the westernmost side of the National Park, lake Grey area, where a short and easy hike along the south shore of the lake allow us to enjoy the blue icebergs that calving from the glacier in the northern side of the lake are pushed by the wind to this side.
Lake Pehoe Full Camp keeps the style of Laguna Capri and Cerro Torre Full Camps, but combined with the first class facilities provided by the campsite: good and clean bathrooms and hot water showers, water and electricity in each camping site.
Lodging at Camping Pehoe Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services) /
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner
Paine Towers – Ascensio River Valley
We drive an tour to get to Estancia Cerro Paine, headtrail for the world famous Paine towers. We “warm up” hiking a steep one hour slope, to get inside the Ascensio river valley, a narrow “V” shape alpine valley coming from inside the Paine massif. A gentle downhill leads us to Refugio Chileno, a cozy and comfortable mountain lodge, which can be a good turnaround point for those not willing to make a full day hike. We then walk in a gentle slope along the river side and inside beech forest. A final climb on moraine take us to the Towers viewpoint: a glacier origin lagoon and the three towers rising vertically 1000 mts from the glacier. The lack of breath will be either because the climb and the sight!!!! We go back to our camp on the same way we came. Walking time: 7 to 8 hs.
Lodging at Camping Pehoe Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services) /
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner
Lake Pehoe crossing – French Valley
Early in the morning a short drive takes us to Port Pudeto to board the catamarán that cross lake Pehoe twice a day. We carry only the necessary stuff to be 2 days and 1 night away from our Camping Pehoe Full Camp, where the rest of our luggage will stay. One in the far side of the lake, we leave unnecessary items in our tents and we set out to the French Valley trail. The trail skirts Paine Grande south slopes and lake Skottberg, to take us after 2 hs and a half of continuous ups and downs, to the hanging bridge upon the French River. This breathtaking location is at the foot of both the 2700 mts south east face of Paine Grande (to the west) and the Horns, with its characteristic black sedimentary topping, to the east. Keen hikers can go on and reach the upper viewpoints of the valley, from where you see the whole group of spires that feature the high valley: Hoja (Blade), Máscara (Mask), Espada (Sword), Catedral (Cathedral), Aleta de Tiburón (Shark Fin) and the magnificent Fortaleza (The Fortress).
Walking time for those who reach the upper viewpoints: 8 to 9 hs. For those reaching the lower viewpoints: 5 to 6.
We retrace our steps back to Refugio Pehoe Full Camp.
Lodging at Refugio Pehoe Full Camp in double or single tent (area with sanitary services) /
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch, dinner
Glaciar Grey viewpoints
Lake Grey trail leads from Pehoe Valley across ridges to reach Grey valley. This magnificent valley flows down somewhat of 60 km from the Patagonian Icefield, featuring the huge glacier calving down in the grey colour lake. Our trail skirts the lake, going up and down the westerns slopes of Paine Grande, offering some of the most impressive sights of the Park. From the high sections of the trail, many different viewpoints allow us to see the south end of the lake where the blue icebergs gather, the mountains rising far in the distance above glaciers Grey and Tyndall, and of course lake and glacier Grey. We reach the main viewpoint, a rocky point somewhat 2 hs away from Pehoe, with views over the Lake and Glacier Grey and the surrounding glaciers and mountains. We come back along the same trail, crossing bogs, shrublands and forest. By noon we take the boat to cross lake Pehoe back and then we go to our accommodation in Puerto Natales, a picturesque fishermen town located in the shores of the Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope) fiord.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom /
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom /
Meals we provide: Breakfast, box lunch
Puerto Natales – El Calafate
We leave early in the morning Puerto Natales, as our fellow travellers are going south in a long drive today and we are getting back to the border to reenter Argentina and drive back to El Calafate. Upon arrival to El Calafate you will be met by our local representative and transferred to you hostel. The rest of the day is at your own to visit town. Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom.
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.
Lodging in a Hostel room with shared bathroom /
Meals we provide: Breakfast
Alternative: Hosteria or Inn, double or single room with private bathroom /
Meals we provide: Breakfast
El Calafate - El Calafate airport
Alter breakfast we transfer to El Calafate airport where our services end.
Meals we provide: Breakfast.
Service Details
Included:
Bilingual tour leader during all the
activities
Mountain guides while on trek.
Lake Pehoe boat trips (in and out).
All transfers El Calafate airport –
El Calafate – Torres del Paine – El Calafate
–
El Calafate Airport.
During the trip we combine private and
regular buses.
Lodging as shown below.
6 breakfasts, 4 box lunch y 4 dinners as
detailed below.
Not included:
Entrance fees to National Parks.
Medical and life insurance.
Tips.
Drinks and beverages (all foods are without
alcoholic or non alcoholic drinks).
Flights or airport taxes.
Optional excursions.
Services not shown or detailed in the program.
Notes
Argentina Discovery holds the right of changing the itinerary or cancel any of the activities when any natural cause (or any other cause of any type) justifies it in order to look after the group safety.
Lodging
We offer the Torres del Paine Adventure in three different type of accommodations.
Base Accommodation (PWT – 00) Hostel Room
The Base Offer (PWT 00) lodge is shown in the following chart.
NIGHTS
01
02
03
04
05
06
(PWT 00) Hostel room with shared bathroom
x
x
x
Full Camp double basis (area with sanitary services)
x
x
x
Accommodation (PWT – 01 and PWT- 02) Double or Single Room with Private Bathroom
These alternatives lodge as shown in the following chart, in double base (PWT 01) or single base (PWT 02).
They differ from the previous one that passengers stay in Hotels, Hosterias or Inns in double room with private bathroom (not in a Hostel) and the single room option is available.
When you choose single base, you have single base accommodations at the Full Camp tents too.
NIGHTS
01
02
03
04
05
06
(PWT 01) Hosteria double basis with private bathroom
x
x
x
Full Camp double basis (area with sanitary services)
x
x
x
(PWT 02) Single Base option available
x
x
x
x
x
x
Meals
Meals included in the trip are shown in the following chart.
DAYS
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
Breakfast
x
x
x
x
x
x
Box Lunch
x
x
x
x
Dinner
x
x
x
x
List of suggested personal equipment:
Backpack, 50 lts or so
Thermal underwear
Undershirt
T-shirts
Trekking pants
Fleece
Parka including hood or similar
Gaiters (1 pair)
Gloves (1 pair)
Thermal socks, made of polar or wool (2 pairs)
Thin socks, of synthetic fibres (2 pairs)
Trekking shoes or boots
Neckpiece
Balaclavas
Wool or polar cap
Sun cap
Sunglasses with high protection UV filter (1 pair)
Sun screen lotion
Personal items (down to a minimum)
Flashlight and batteries
Trekking poles (recommended)
Personal papers and documents required to cross borders at Argentine and Chile.