Claudia_Neves

Hello people, I´ve just booked a room fro 2 nights at Hosteria Lago Grey in Torres del Paine for the next January. I will be in El Calafate the day before and I intend to reach Puerto Natales by a regular bus. I need to decide hoe to go/visit Torres del Paine. I am wondering if renting car is a good option, since I could leave Puerto Natales early in the check-in day and leave Torres del Paine late in the check-out day so that I would have kind of three days to visit the park ... My question is : once there can I visit the park by my own ? Can I make some trekings by my own ( not planning anythinh very hard )?? Or even having a car I will have to buy a tour to reach the places ?

Any help will be appreciate !!
Thanks
Claudia

lifelist

Hosteria Grey is rather far into the park, so a car may be worthwhile if you want to visit a number of areas. It really depends on what you want to do in the park.

In order to get to Hosteria Grey on public transport, you would have to make a connection. The regular buses from Puerto Natales only go as far as the park administration building. A van from Hosteria Grey meets the buses there and then transports you to the Hosteria. Returning is the same process in reverse. Of note, the buses go into the park in the morning and leave the park in the afternoon - so all the buses are only ever traveling one direction at a given time. This impacts your ability to use them as intra-park transportation, because if you take a bus eastward in the afternoon, no buses will come afterwards to take you westward. You'd be stuck unless you made other arrangements with the hosterias.

It would be easy to spend one day hiking the trail up to the Glaciar Grey overview. To reach this area, you could take the ferry from Hosteria Grey to the Refugio near the face of the glaciar. You can take off hiking from there, and return to catch the ferry back to the hosteria. You can also arrange to do glaciar trekking. The ferry is a nice trip since they'll also do a tour of the glaciar along its face before dropping you off. Bear in mind that the ferry is sometimes cancelled due to high winds. If you do this activity, you won't need your car.

If you want to do other hikes in the park or visit viewpoints, you will have to drive or catch a bus. As noted, catching a bus is inconvenient at best, and you still have to figure out how to get back. From Hosteria Grey, arranging transportation isn't easy or especially convenient unless you arrange a hiking tour of some sorts. The problem is that the Hosteria is at the very end of the bus routes into the park. If you were staying someplace more central, you'd have more options.

The only problems with renting a car is that it's rather expensive. I think $100US a day is what I saw quoted. Also, most of the roads are gravel, so make sure you know how to change a tire.

Otherwise, it's very easy to do dayhikes on your own. You don't need to do an organized trek if you have your own car. I would only recommend an organized trek if you didn't have your own transportation.

michaelynn1

We are in the midst of planning a trip using LatinAmerica4Less. They have some structured tours, but most of ouir travel is private planning. I'm concerned about Torres del Paine. We will be in Puerto Natales, and will have a one day tour of TDP, then are planning to stay at Hosteria Lago Grey for one night so we can hike a bit, then return to PN on the afternoon bus for one more night before heading to Seno Otway, the Santiago and home. Can you go into a little more detail about hiking near Lago Grey? Is it worth the expense for just a half day experience? We are four active seniors, and our hiking would probably be more like long, energetic walks, no trekking. What do you think?

owlwoman

We did a day trip into the Torres del Paine from Puerto Natalas, going to Lago Grey and taking the boat ride to the glaciers (one of the highlights of our trip). It is a very long day, the road into the park takes 2-3 hours (dirt road) and in retrospect, I wish we had spent one night in the park just to break up the trip.

So, yes, I think at night at the Hosteria is well worth it. TDP is an amazing park and after travelling all that distance, wish we had spent a little more time there.

leelabell

We took a regular bus from El Calafate to TDP. Once there, we relied on Hosteria Los Torres for transportation. However, this was costly, as we were paying for an expedition rather than just the transportation.

From Los Torres there are lots of day hikes, so from there one could live without the car. (For example, hiking to the base of the Torres and back). I am assuming Lago Grey works similarly but those day hike are focused around the glacier rather than the Torres.

The park is fantastic. If you have the energy to hike there and the time, I highly recommend more than one day.

MnJ

Several years ago we rented a car in Punta Arenas and then drove to Puerto Natales and on to Torres del Paine where we stayed for several nights. We had no problems driving in the park. But we caution you with these suggestions. Before driving out of the rental lot, make sure that you have identified all dings, dents, and be especially mindful of any cracks or chips in the windshield. The park roads are mostly unpaved gravel. Be aware of a passing car kicking gravel into your windshield. Also, the roads are dusty and if you have sensitive camera equipment, secure it in a zip lock baggy

reiseonkel

Has anyone driven the "new road" from Puerto Natales to Lago Grey via Cueva de Milodon and Rio Serrano which appears much shorter?

jksenn

We have just returned from Chile, and did our own driving at Torres del Paine. We flew into Punta Arenas and rented a car there. A three hour drive took us to Puerto Natales where we stayed overnight at Weskar. The next day we drove the gravel road for 2.5 hours to Torres del Paine and checked into Hosteria de las Torres. Nobody told us about the scary very narrow bridge you had to drive over to get to the Hosteria, but we got used to it after driving over it a few times.

That afternoon we headed down to see some of the other parts of the park, hiking to Salto Grande, and continuing on to the Mirador. Spectacular!

The next day was our hike to Las Torres. No driving required, as we were staying right at the trailhead. Also a wonderful hike.

Our last morning we did a level hike for a couple of hours from our hotel before heading back to Puerto Natales.

We did all this on our own, without any guides.

Our last full day in Patagonia, we took the 21 de Mayo cruise to the Serrano glacier from Puerto Natales. We enjoyed this trip very much.