DISCOVERING TORRES DEL PAINE (5 DAYS)

Early in the morning your guide and private transfer will pick you up from your hotel accommodation in Puerto Natales, driving along the coast and through the Chilean Pampas up to one of the prettiest estancias of the area, Estancia Lazo.

A huge working cattle ranch which dates from the early 20th Century, this ranch is crowned by splendid views of the Paine Massif and Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon).

Depending on the season, our hike today will be punctuated by panoramic views of the Park; with orchids, calceolarias and neneos flowering at our feet, and condors soaring overhead.

The highest point of this trail connects to a rarely-trekked path from Estancia Lazo to Webber Bridge, in the heart of Torres Del Paine National Park. We will reach the Toro Lake Lookout which offers an incredible 180 degree view of the Toro Lake and Serrano River below, as well as the Donoso & Ferrier Mountains and valleys.

After descending to the Webber Bridge, our private transfer will be waiting to take us to our luxurious accommodation for the evening, Hotel Lago Grey where we will enjoy a welcome dinner as a group and a gentle nights rest.

We’ll begin our day’s adventures with our way through a woodpecker-inhabited beech forest to our boat’s departure point.

The three hour boat trip takes us around blue-hued icebergs to the immense face of Grey Glacier, where we’ll stay for a while to admire its textures, lines and colors.

If we’re lucky, we’ll witness a glacial calving, where chunks of ice break off and plummet spectacularly into the freezing waters.

On your return journey you’ll glimpse the wind-sculpted “ice mushrooms” atop the massive peaks of Paine Grande.

After a picnic lunch on the shores of the Pingo River we’ll start our hike to the Pingo Valley to reach a viewpoint at “Cascada los Salmones”, a waterfall where salmon are sometimes seen.

Be alert as we return: you may see a huemul (Andean deer) hiding nearby.

After breakfast, our transfer will take us along the Paine River past Lake Pehoe to Pudeto where we will begin our first gentle round-trip hike for the day.

We will pass by the Salto Grande Waterfall where the Nordenskjöld Lake flows into the Pehoe Lake creating a magnificent turquoise blue water.

We can enjoy the area’s boardwalk with offers spectacular views of the lake as well as the Paine Grande & Cuernos mountains.

Continuing on along a gentle path, we will pass by an open area where the effects of the 2005 national park fire can be seen. Our trail takes us along the black sandy beach of Nordenskjöld Lake where one can feel the powerful Patagonia winds before arriving up top to the Cuernos lookout point which offers captivating views of the French Valley, Los Cuernos, and Paine Grande mountain.

Listen closely as you can hear the valley´s glaciers as they shake and move down the icy rock. Taking the same path back, we will enjoy a fresh snack, fresh drink, and short rest before our private transfer takes us to our next trailhead!

After a short 30 minute transfer, we’ll set off from the Sarmiento Lake ranger station in route to the Laguna Amarga area.

Hiking along a beautiful wildlife observation trail which connects two of the four park entrances, we’ll be able to photograph some spectacular landscapes and observe guanacos and a wide variety of endemic waterbird species who frequent this area for nesting and feeding.

The coscoroba swan, upland goose, caiquenes, and black-neck swans are just a few of the species we can see along our way.

After about an hour of hiking, we will reach a rock eave formation where a series of cave paintings dating back to 6,000 years ago can be observed.

We will learn about this section’s history and some of the first inhabitants of Patagonia who frequented this area to hunt. This trail crosses through a very special landscape of the park which has several small lagoons and wonderful frontal views of the Paine Massif.

This sector is also a place where Pumas tend to frequent due to it’s prime conditions for hunting guanacos! Arriving to the Laguna Amarga entrance, our private transfer awaits where it will transfer us to our accommodation tonight, Hotel Las Torres.

Our fourth day’s journey will take us from our accommodation along the winding roads past Estancia Laguna Amarga where we will surely encounter guanacos grazing with a magnificent backdrop and ñandu scattered across the pampas.

We will make our way slowly, taking the time in the comfort of our private transfer stopping to capture the Cascada Paine before continuing on to our destination of Laguna Azul.

This special place offers a relaxing walk along the wetlands and beach of it’s blue colored lagoon where we will see a number of different water fowl and bird species who inhabit this area.

We will be treated by exceptional views of the iconic towers in the distant, the changing Patagonia sky, and surrounding mountain peaks that make this area picturesque.

After a picnic lunch and our final photos, we will return to Hotel Las Torres.

In the morning, we will set off heading back towards Puerto Natales traveling 1.5 hours to the Milodon Cave sector, an area filled with plenty of geographical history! We begin our hike by first visiting the viewpoint over the Cueva Grande (Large Cave) ascending 600 meters (1,968 ft.) where our guide will introduce us to the fauna and flora of the region.

With sweeping views of the surrounding landscapes, this is a great spot for some photos before we continue on to a private sector where we can observe condoreras (natural condor colonies) and native lenga forests.

Here we will also be welcomed with spectacular views of the Sofia Lagoon and far reaching fjords below us. Continuing on, we will move alongside mountainous walls to see the first cave paintings where we learn their significant value to the region and their history before heading along the south-east side, where a mysterious cave of approximately 70 square meters is located.

Here we must enter with headlamps to discover the millenary stalactite mineral formations which have taken millions of years to form! After carefully inspecting these incredible formations, we leave the cave and head towards the eaves of “Two Horseshoes” where we live an experience and later discover even more cave paintings on the rocky walls.

These historical footprints and archaeological remains were left by the indigenous natives of the region who used these caves and walls to protect themselves, live and eat.

Upon our return, we will visit the Milodon Cave Natural Monument, a 200 meter long cave where the remains of a mylodon, a large ground sloth, and other early Patagonian animals were discovered dating from the Pleistocene epoch.

After our time exploring this magnificent natural formation, we will enjoy a wonderful picnic lunch with local wine to end our trip at this spectacular location.

Once we are finished, our comfortable and private transfer will take us back to Puerto Natales where our journey ends.