Footloose Travel Guides

    Chile Tours

Sample Itinerary

Day 1

We recommend you take the early flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas (4 hours), flying over the Andes and observing incredible views of the Patagonian Ice Fields. Upon your arrival in Punta Arenas, the most southern city on the continent, a private transfer will be waiting to take you to Torres del Paine National Park. (pick-up from the airport at 3:35 PM, corresponding with LAN airline, Flight # 285, or at 3 PM from your hotel in town). As we leave the airport we can see the Straits of Magellan and the mystical Tierra del Fuego. During the first 2 hours, we will drive across open pampas passing huge ranches (estancias) and with luck we will be able to see one of the most typical animals in this area, the ñandu, (a rare South American ostrich). We head north to Puerto Natales, located on the Sound of Last Hope, a small fishing town surrounded by mountains. We will follow an unpaved road heading to Estancia Lazo where we will stay overnight, after enjoy a welcome barbecue.
(5 hours by private transfer, 370 kms) (BBQ) (Night at Estancia-Hostería Mirador Del Payne)

Day 2

We will start early in the morning, meeting our baqueano (local cowboy) and assigning the saddles and horses. We will begin our ride through native Nothofagus forests, going around small lagoons, with incredible views of the Paine Massif and surrounding areas. While crossing Laguna Verde (named for its green-turquoise waters), we will enter Torres del Paine National Park, reaching the highest peak of our day with excellent picture taking opportunities of the Paine River emptying into Toro Lake (the largest in the region). From this view point we will begin our descent to the park’s visitor center, where we will spend the first of three nights in a camping area on the shore of the Serrano River with amazing vies of the “Cuernos” Del Paine.
(4-5 hours, slow riding, trotting and cantering) (B-BL-D) (Night at Camping Serrano)

Day 3

After a good breakfast at the campsite we will start our day by riding to Grey Lake look at point. We cross huge pampas that give us the opportunity to canter as much as we want! Once we reach the Grey River, we follow a narrow path with incredible views of the mountains; until we arrive to a splendid view of the lake Pehoe with its particular turquoise colored waters. From here we follow a rugged trail leading to a look-out point of Lake Grey, often full of icebergs, which have broken off from the Grey Glacier, part of the southern ice field which is the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world. Our lunch will be in front of this magnificent view. We come back to our camp on the same trail, enjoying the opportunity for more cantering through the pampas.
(7 hours walking, trotting and cantering) (B-BL-D) (Night at Camping Serrano)

Day 4

Today we have more amazing views as we begin a ride on a one-way path, rarely visited, with panoramic glimpses of almost all the park. According to the season we should be able to see specific flowers such as orchids, calceolarias, and neneos or maybe even experience the flight of the condor. We will have lunch on the shores of Lake Sarmiento with its strange calcium formations and then continue on to the east entrance of the park. We leave our horses with the gaucho and from here we start a photo safari in our private transfer all the way back to our camp. Highlights of the photo safari include visiting the waterfall Salto Grande, Nordenskjold Lake and the opportunity to see guanaco herds and maybe even a flamingo.
(5-6 hours slow riding, trotting and galloping, 2 hours photo safari by private transfer) (B-BL-D) (Night at Camping Serrano)

Day 5

This day we pack up camp and head south, crossing the Serrano River to arrive at Aniceto Astorga’s farmhouse. At Anicento’s we’ll choose our new horses to begin a ride to an unexplored valley at the border of Torres Del Paine National Park. We cross several rivers and go through a landscape filled with lakes and wetlands, constantly being surprised by the changing views of the Paine massif and the last glaciers of the Southern Ice Field. We’ll spend the night here after setting up camp on the shores of Lake Brush, and enjoy a well deserve lamb barbecue Patagonian style.
(10 minutes transfer, 4 hours walking and trotting) (B-BL-BBQ) (Night at Lake Brush Campsite)

Day 6

After a good breakfast we continue to Bernardo O´Higgins national park. This trail takes us through humid forests, similar to those of the austral canals, following the Serrano River until it empties into the Sound of Last Hope, where we spend the night in the Hostería Balmaceda with an amazing view of the Serrano glacier.
(5 hours, walking) (B-BL-D) (Night at Hostería Balmaceda)

Day 7

We’ll begin the day by crossing the river into the Seno de Ultima Esperanza, facing the imposing Serrano glacier at the foot of the Balmaceda Mountain (2148m). Here we make a short easy walk up to the glacier. We’ll then take a boat, “the cutter, 21 de Mayo” navigating via glaciers and canals on our way down to Puerto Natales to spend the night in a hotel after a goodbye dinner.
(10 minutes by zodiac, 45 min walk, 3 hours by boat) (B-BL-D) (Night at Weskar Lodge or similar)

Day 8

We will take a private transfer to Punta Arenas. (Clients should take the flight at 12:40 PM, from LAN airline, flight #080, arriving to Santiago at 4:55 PM), if you decide to stay the night in Punta Arenas; we will drop you at your hotel.
(3 hours by transfer) (B)

REGARDING THE SCHEDULE The schedules indicated above are subject to change due to weather conditions or unexpected circumstances beyond our control, but we will try our best to keep them unaltered.