Patagonia - All Inclusive or a la carte
 

My husband and I are flying to Punta Arenas in November arriving around 6pm. Tentatively itinerary is:
Sat - arrive Punta Arenas and stay in town overnight.
Sun - morning visit one of the penguins colony. (Is both Seno Otway and Isla Magdalena open in November? Which one is better for half day morning visit?) Head to Puerto Natales in the afternoon for 4 nights there.
Fri - red eye flight leaving punta Arenas at 2am

I am debating if we should take the 4 days all inclusive program with transfer from Punta Arenas, all meals and activities for about $5,000 or should we just book the hotel for around $300 a night ($1,200 for 4 nights). There is a difference of $3,800. If I book my own transportation and activities, will it cost that much? We would like to do the full day hiking to the base of the Tower and couple other half day hikes in the park. Is it easy to hike on our own or is it better to join a hiking tour? Any advice?

I am not clear on where you are staying after Punta Arenas. Are you staying in PN and thinking of going to Torres del Paine as day trips or are you staying in the park somewhere? It will take you 2 hours just to get to the park from PN, then you add on whatever time to get where you want to go inside the park.

Sounds very expensive to me. Surely it would be cheaper to book your own transportation and activities... Even the $300 a night for the hotel sounds expensive. Would hope that that is for something fairly upscale inside TDP park. . .

As Huentetu said it will take you 2 hours to get to the park from PN. We did this in Jan/Feb. You will read time to drive from PN to TDP is anywhere from "45 minutes" to 2 hours. Maybe 45 minutes to the FIRST entrance to the park (MAYBE). .
but wherever you want to go once inside the park will likely take another hour. We went back and forth from PN to TDP on each of 3 days. It's beautiful driving but it IS a lot of driving. . . . Someone else will chime in on hikes - we did just shorter ones on our own, didn't do the one to the base .

We are leaning on Romota or NOI hotel in PN but 2 hours to TDP from the hotel seems a lot if we want to spend more than 1 day in the park and we don't plan to drive. Maybe we should look into booking hotel inside the park for 2 days and another 2 days in PN. What is the transportation options between NP and TDP?

No matter where you stay in the park is expensive for what you get compared to Puerto Natales, but you are in a remote area, a national park and a unique setting. But it doesn't make sense to tag on a 4 hour + road trip two days running from Puerto Natales.

By NP to TDP I am guessing you mean Puerto Natales. Transport is either bus or private transfer. The more expensive hotels will offer a private transfer from Puerto Natales or even Punta Arenas. They will also offer all inclusive with a choice of daily excursions. Some may have a three day minimum, but look at what is available and what is included. Hotel Torres has been there the longest and is near the Laguna Amarga entrance to the park. They have good excursions.

The high season for visiting the park seems to stretch more every year and places are limited, so I would look at booking very soon to get what you want.

I checked few hotels inside or just outside the park and they don't have room available. I will try to see if there is any other alternatives not too far from the park. However, just wonder if we don't join the hotel all inclusive program and we don't plan to drive, how can we get to the hotel? Those private transportation offered by the hotel seems expensive ($300) from Punta Arenas. Think we can take the public bus from PA to Puerto Natales for $10 but how can we get from Puerto natales to the hotel inside the park?

I stayed in Puerto Natales and took a coach tour to the park. I noticed that one couple got off the coach at the last stop to spend one night at a hotel. The tour would pick them up the next day at the same time and place. I arranged the tour through my hotel on arrival, but there were plenty of places in town that I am sure ran tours. Take a look at a guide book for contact info.

There are ordinary buses which go from Puerto Natales to the park, to three different stops. Hotels will usually provide transport from one of them. If you are staying at refugios, you hike to the first one you stay at. The only entrance not served by public transport is Rio Serrano. Without your own transportation, I would avoid that area. If you are staying outside the park you are better off having your own transport.

Have you contacted the hotels directly? Try phoning about availability and don't use a booking service.

I suggest renting a car if you plan to do day hikes in TDP. Stay in or near the park - PN is too far. Buses will get you to the park, but then you can't get around to different parts of the park.

I am planning a similar itinerary right after Christmas (landing at around 6 on the 26th, staying one night in PA to do the penguins, then heading up to PN and TDP). My husband, daughter and I are avid hikers, and I'm trying to decide whether we should do the "W" trek or try to stay in the park and do day hikes. I really don't want to miss and of the spectacular scenery and I'm concerned about limiting ourselves to what we can see on just day hikes. That said, if there are really satisfying day hikes, I'd be HAPPY to stay in a warm, dry bed instead of a refugio. So, my questions would be what are the hotels in the park that are most accessible to great day hikes, AND. could the three of us take on the W circuit unsupported? The guided treks seem really expensive. It would sure be nice to stay in refugios and not have to carry a tent, however . . .

Debbie h, we were in the same boat as you in Jan of this year.
We were making plans last July and found the more reasonably priced hotels inside and just outside the park to be fully booked. That's why we decided to stay in Puerto Natales. Are you dead set against driving? We rented a car for 3 days in Puerto Natales. Not cheap - something like $225 for 3 days inclusive. Perhaps a better deal can be had. But it worked out fine - no problems - from EMSA - an Avis subsidiary. The driving wasn't difficult - and as I said quite beautiful - it's just that it's a distance to the park. If you need to stay in PN driving does give you much more flexibility.

We were looking into renting a car but my husband only know how to drive auto shift and it costs almost double around $140 a day. When I tried to find an auto shift car online, I couldn't find any availability for the days we want. Anyway, saw the special non-refundable B&B deal at Remota Hotel and just booked it. We will either take their excursions ($200 per person for a full day trip) or use other tour operator. We will just play by ear when we get there. The 1 thing really want to do is to hike to the base of Torres del Paine. One advantage of taking the tour is my husband doesn't need to drive back and just sit and relax after 10 hours of hiking. May try to do another hiking to French Valley but really depends on how we feel after the long hike to base of TP.

I am sure you will enjoy your stay there and their tours are excellent.

To try to answer Traci_Rink, I think the best park hotels to stay at for hiking are Lago Grey Hosteria (you can take the boat trip to a glacier hike), Hotel Las Torres (for hiking to the base of the Torres), and Paine Grande Lodge, which is technically a refugio but definitely nicer than the other ones we stayed at. Still, shared rooms and bathrooms, but good for hiking to Valle del Frances on a day hike.

You can hike the W unsupported. Book ahead of time. We camped one night and I didn't like it because it was a small, crowded campground - you didn't feel like you were out in the beautiful park so much as stuffed into a campground! But the refugios were pretty crowded too (this was in November).

I did this four years ago. Some of the details may have changed and I'm sure the prices have gone up (it wasn't value for money even then). But you can get an idea from my trip report. Las Torres is the best for hiking to the Towers, there is a hosteria as well as the hotel.

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-del-paine.cfm

Here's the website for booking the Refugios at Las Torres (not Hosteria) or the Hotel at Las Torres. They now also have a package for booking the entire W through them. Also, if you have the option, Torre Norte is nicer than Torre Central

http://www.fantasticosur.com/