Tours to Torres del Paine?

[SD_Murph]

We are on a Oceania trip in early January that stops in Punta Arenas at noon and departs the next evening at 6pm. We're thinking of an overnight trip to the Torres del Paine National Park and wonder if anyone has done a similar excursion?

 

The tour group we've found ( Aventourpatagonia.com ) has offered a trip that will pick us up in a van for the 4-hour drive to the Park with accommodations overnight at Cabanas del Paine. The price is great and we're very interested to see the sights at Torres del Paine - provided the weather holds.

 

Has anyone visited the Park or can you recommend the overland trek? The ship's tour is a charter flight from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, followed by the 1-hour drive to the Park - returning that evening to the ship. Their price is $859/person - significantly more than the tour operator's cost for 4 of us.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

Janette and Lance Murphy

[Tia Serena]

Hello!

 

Torres del Paine is probably the most beautiful, scenic place on earth!!!

The trip is well worth it!

 

Usually on the way to the park (or on the way back) there is a stop at a very interesting cave where the remains of a Giant Sloth have been found. If you are interested in birding or flowers, the area around the cave is very rich on both.

 

If the weather is nice, the bus does many stops on the way, whenever there is a nice viewpoint from the Towers, of wild animals like condors, foxes, rheas or guanacos. I am not sure, but I think the Cabanas is one of the newer hotels. There are nice views all over the park, with glaciers and lakes and waterfalls. You will be right at the foot of the mountains. I would grab any opportunity to go back there!

 

That said... ...I have the impression that driving times are a little underestimated - both for the overland tour as well as the drive from the airport. I don't usually pay too much attention to travel time - I am either having too much fun watching stuff from the windows or sleeping during bus trips... ...from my memories the trip from Puerto Natales to the park took over three hours, and the transfer from our hotel in Natales to the airport in Punta Arenas took around 5. If you want me to, I can probably search for the trip documents, they must still be burried under some paper pile in my office...

 

Also the weather can be brutal. There is usually a shap wind blowing constantly, and in one occasion I was there, the wind was strong enough to knock a person to the ground. This time the Towers where hiding in clouds most of the times, and we had only a short glimpse of the Towers and the Horns.

[Tia Serena]

My husband looked it up. Natales is 250 km from Punta Arenas by Road.

Torres del Paine is 120 km from Natales. So even considering a low cruising speed of 60 km per hour, it would take 2 hours from Natales to the Park, and 4 hours from Punta Arenas to Natales. The park is North of Natales, meaning you will go by Natales before you go to the park.

[SD_Murph]

Thanks for the information. I believe there is a new road from Natales to the park that has shortened the drive to one hour. Our main concern is not making it back to Punta Arenas in time to meet the cruise ship.

[minke]

I would be very carefull about that "new road" info to cut the time to 1 hour. There is certainly a new bridge on the way. We did a ships tour from Natales last Dec. Bridge was not finished & we had to walk across & use the hotel bus the other side. Undoubtedly it is now finished to drive straight across & that would cut 15 mins from our time. But we were nearly 10 hours round trip from Natales, 4/5 15min photo stops & about 1.75 hours at hotel for lunch & a quick view of glacial lake. I think Tia's info makes more sence than a 1 hour trip from Natales.