My itinerary for mid November

Day 1 (Sun) Fly into Santiago

Sleep in Santiago

Day 2(Mon)Sky Air flight to Punta Arenas. (I am able to change this flight w/out penalty-as long as I fly within Chile.)

Day 7 (Sat) I meet with my tour group to do the TdP full circuit trek.

Thanks to all the replies in a previous post I know of great recommendations of places to eat and sleep in Punta Arenas.

However, I am now 100% confident I don’t want to be based in PA for 5 days. I’d like to explore Patagonia’s other areas.

So far I’ve come up with the following.

1. From Santiago fly into Balmaceda, rent a car- 4 hour drive on Carretera Austral road to Puerto Tranquilo-sleep overnight, kayak to the marble caves and then the same day or the following day, boat to Glacier San Rafael. Drive back to Balmaceda. I’d love to explore Northern Patagonia...
2. Ushuaia-Tierra del Fuego Province. I am trying to find a bus that leaves on Tuesdays from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia. I’m having a hard time accomplishing this task...bus back to PA on the following Friday.

My main wish list experiences are trekking on a glacier, kayaking &/or boating in extreme water, exploring an area not so well known, and of course penguins.

I’ll be camping the entire time in TdP. Therefore I’d prefer to stay in hostels and hotels before TdP.




Please help me finalize my itinerary.

Any other recommendations?

I’m starting to feel quite overwhelmed.




About me-solo woman traveler. I don’t speak Spanish. This is my first big solo adventure. (All of my loved ones are warm weather type people. The thought of having to put on a base layer on makes them cringe...so I’m doing this alone!)

Thank you!