Torres del Paine in One Day

A day in Torres del Paine works or fails on three decisions made before leaving Puerto Natales: how you get there, what you leave out and who has the ticket bought. The park ticket is bought online at pasesparques.cl at least a day ahead. It is not sold at the gates, and the QR code arrives by email: carry it downloaded or printed, because there is almost no signal inside the park.

What a day does not cover

The Base Torres viewpoint, the postcard of the three towers, does not fit in a bus or van day. Entry to the trail closes early in the morning, the first bus reaches the gate after that cutoff, and the full hike takes a whole day. It is only possible on a full-day trekking excursion that leaves Natales before dawn, like the one from Vértice, and in that case the hike is the whole day. From late April to mid-September the trail also requires an accredited guide.

From El Calafate, Torres del Paine is not a day trip either: between the long bus, the border and the bus to the park you arrive when little daylight is left. Sleep in Natales and set out from there.

The main plan: the public bus

Both variants start from the same morning bus out of the Natales terminal, with the ticket from Bus-Sur. Tickets within the park are not sold on the company's website: you buy them at its ticket offices.

Variant A gets off at Pudeto. From there you reach Salto Grande and the Cuernos viewpoint, a walk that does not require paying for the catamaran, and you still have a cafeteria and the view of Lake Pehoé. With the mid-afternoon bus back it fits just right; with the last one of the day there is time to spare.

Variant B continues to Hotel Lago Grey to sail on the Grey III to the front of the glacier. Only the second sailing works, because the first leaves before the bus arrives. From the hotel you go down to Río Pingo and walk along the beach to the pier, and after sailing the only bus back is the afternoon one: if anything runs late, the day has no margin. The boat sails with a minimum number of passengers and wind can cancel it, so ask the hotel what happens in that case before booking.

Three things apply to both. Bus arrival times are estimates, and the works on route Y-156 may delay them. Between stops inside the park the bus only moves in its own direction, so you cannot go back. And the afternoon and evening departures from Natales only start in November: until then only the morning and midday ones run, and the midday one leaves the afternoon tight and the last bus back as your only option.

If you would rather not depend on timetables: the van

Bus-Sur and Nomades sell a full day in a shared van, with pickup at your lodging. It goes by the Cueva del Milodón, the Laguna Amarga gate, Salto Grande, Lake Nordenskjöld, Pehoé and Grey. It is a route of stops, not of long trails. The order changes with the weather, it runs with a minimum number of passengers and lunch is on you. The park and cave tickets are bought by you, online, at the latest the day before: without them you are not let onto the van. Because of the works at Laguna Amarga, the Nomades one replaces that viewpoint with another stop.

By your own car

There is no fuel inside the park or around it: leave Natales with a full tank and do not count on refuelling on the way. From town there are two roads, Ruta 9 Norte and the Y-290 via Lago Porteño. Ruta 9 is paved as far as Cerro Castillo and continues on gravel in good condition to the entrance. The paving works at Laguna Amarga and on the Y-156 may hold you up, and in winter the frost calls for studded tyres. The Cueva del Milodón is on the way. Ask for a rental quote well ahead and carry cash: there are no ATMs in the park.

Depending on the season

From May to August almost everything changes: the catamaran sails only a few days a month, the van leaves later and the bus timetables may be different, so confirm with Bus-Sur before buying anything. In early October and late April the catamaran also sails less often.