Several years ago, when a major Pacific Coast shipping company placed a two-page ad in Alaska Airlines’ in-flight magazine, the landscape chosen to represent Alaska’s grandeur was…Parque Nacional Torres del Paine! While an uninformed photo editor was the likely culprit, the soaring granite spires of Chile’s premiere national park have truly become an international emblem of alpine majesty.

Unlike many South American parks, Torres del Paine has an integrated network of hiking trails suitable for day-trips and backpack treks, endangered species such as the wild guanaco in a UNESCO-recognized World Biosphere Reserve, and accommodations options ranging from rustic campgrounds to cozy trail huts and five-star luxury hotels.

So popular that some visitors prefer the shoulder seasons of spring (Nov.–Dec.) or fall (Mar.–Apr.)—the park receives more than 100,000 visitors annually, about three-quarters of them foreigners. While Torres del Paine has become a major international destination, it’s still wild country.

Nearly everybody visits the park to behold extraordinary natural features such as the Torres del Paine, the sheer granite towers that defy erosion even as the weaker sedimentary strata around them have weathered, and the jagged Cuernos del Paine, with their striking interface between igneous and metamorphic rocks. Most hike its trails uneventfully, but for all its popularity, this can still be treacherous terrain. Hikers have disappeared, the rivers run fast and cold, the weather is unpredictable, and there is one documented case of a tourist killed by a puma.

Information

Conaf’s principal facility is its Centro de Informaciones Ecológicas (tel. 061/691931, ptpaine [at] conaf [dot] cl), at the Administración building on the shores of Lago del Toro near the Río Paine outlet. It’s open 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m. daily in summer. A new visitors center is also due to open at the Lago Pehoé ranger station, the former refugio.

Ranger stations at Guardería Laguna Amarga, Portería Lago Sarmiento, Guardería Laguna Azul, Guardería Lago Verde, and Guardería Lago Grey can also provide information.

For foreigners, Torres del Paine is Chile’s most expensive national park—US$28 per person except May 1–September 30, when it’s only $13. Rangers at Portería Lago Sarmiento, Guardería Laguna Amarga (where most inbound buses now stop), Guardería Lago Verde, or Guardería Laguna Azul collect the fee, issue receipts, and also provide a 1:100,000 park map that is suitable for trekking.

Getting There

Most people find the bus the cheapest and quickest way to and from the park, but the more expensive trip up Seno Última Esperanza and the Río Serrano by cutter and Zodiac is a viable and more interesting alternative. Park transportation is in flux as the new road from Puerto Natales is due to open shortly, and bus companies may adjust their routes to come more directly to the Administración, or else to take the same route (usually entering at Laguna Amarga) and loop back on the new road.

For overland transportation, at present bus companies enter the park at Guardería Laguna Amarga, where many hikers begin the Paine circuit, before continuing to the Administración at Río Serrano. Round-trips from Puerto Natales are slightly cheaper, but companies do not accept each others’ tickets.

In summer only, there may be direct bus service to El Calafate, Argentina, the closest town to that country’s Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. Inquire in Puerto Natales at Calafate Travel (Baquedano 459, tel. 061/414456), though it’s uncertain this office will continue.

Transportation up and down the Río Serrano, between the park and Puerto Natales, has become a popular if more expensive alternative than the bus; for details, see the separate entry for Parque Nacional Bernardo O’Higgins and the Balmaceda glacier. Visitors who only want to see this sector of the river, without continuing to Puerto Natales, can do so as a day trip to Puerto Toro and back.