This will be long, but I wanted to share our experience as it might help others. I'm sure there are different/better ways of going about things... this is just what we did/learned!
About us: two ladies around 40 years old, from Chicago, USA. We’ve both traveled fairly extensively. The purpose of our trip was to see nature, mountains, and do some hiking around Patagonia. 2 weeks was all the time we could spare - so we opted for more expensive (but faster) travel where available.
Itinerary:
Fly into Santiago
Fly to Punta Arenas via Puerto Montt
Drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales
Drive from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine
Drive from Torres del Paine to Punta Arenas
Fly from Punta Arenas to Puerto Montt
Bus to Bariloche, Argentina
Fly out of Puerto Montt to Santiago, then home
Planning Ahead: FLIGHTS
We found that flight travel between Argentina and Chile is difficult; all airlines need to go through an international airport, so need to be routed via Santiago or Buenos Aires. This eliminated our plans to go to El Calafate from Puenta Arenas, which was disappointing. We ended up taking Sky airlines throughout Chile (they were terrific), and a bus into Argentina.
Planning Ahead: RENTING A CAR
Originally, we rented a car to go to Argentina from Puerto Montt, Chile. However, we did not know that you need permission papers from the rental car company to go through the border - and those papers can take up to a week to obtain. This resulted in a very frustrating day driving to the border, going through police checkpoints, and then driving back to the airport. If you decide to rent a car to drive over the border, rent a GPS. The roads are pretty basic but you drive for miles with little signage and hope that you are on the right road.
We ended up taking a bus from Puerto Veras to Bariloche. This wasn’t quick but was a pleasant ride. Be prepared for border control to take 30min/1hour at each border. The Chilean and Argentinian border stations are located about an hour from each other.
Santiago:
When we arrived in the airport, we arranged a shuttle transfer to our hostel in the airport.
We stayed in Hostel la Casona. The location was phenomenal; right in the center of the city and the beautiful Belle Arts/Lastarria neighborhoods. The front desk staff was very friendly, but (as we experienced everywhere) people who speak good English are a bit difficult to come by. I’d definitely recommend brushing up on your Spanish before you go.
My favorite meal of the trip was at Casa Lastarria in Buenos Aires; fantastic steak and seafood, great wine. Located a few blocks from the hostel.
The Clinic bar, next to the hostel, also had great food, very (dangerously!) cheap Pisco and Ginger Ale drinks.
We were there on a Sunday, so were able to experience the Open Streets (where main routes are closed to all but bike and pedestrian traffic). This was a really neat thing to see.
I felt the Santiago fish market was a bit overrated. It was great to go and see the fishmongers and other produce sellers, but the restaurant hawkers were really overwhelming and the atmosphere wasn't great. For the price, I’d go back to Casa Lastarria in a second.
Punta Arenas:
This is a small town, more of a jumping off point for visitors going to Torres del Paine than a destination. The town cemetery is really interesting and worth a visit.
We stayed at Tres Hermanos hostel. They were incredibly friendly, beds were nice with a lot of linens, and the showers were hot with strong water pressure. The woman who owns it and her daughter were terrific - they spoke very little English but gave us a lot of help by writing English words on maps.
After we got to Punta Arenas, we stopped in the tourist office to get their recommendations for visiting Torres del Paine. We decided that for our timeframe (3 days), renting a car would be the best way to see the park. So, we rented a car for 4 days, driving out to Punta Arenas and making a stop to see penguins along the way.
We went to see the “little penguins” (“big” penguins require a full day). We had trouble finding the turn off; look for the sign that says "pingüinos." Once you turned off the main road, it was a long gravel road with little signage. We only knew we were going in the right direction because we asked a construction worker. It was approximately 30 minutes on the gravel road. The penguins were awesome….well worth the 1,500 pesos they charge to get in.
Puerto Natales
We drive from the penguin area to Puerto Natales. We were hoping to stay at the Erratic Rock hostel, but they were fully booked. They have connections with Erratic Rock 2, a bed and breakfast a few blocks away, and we ended up there. This place was terrific - we had a twin private room with our own bathroom. The desk person, Daniel, did our laundry in just a few hours and gave us some good recommendations for food. We ended up at the Baguales restaurant/bar, where we had delicious food, beer and wine in an atmosphere that could pass for an American brewpub.
Torres del Paine
We filled up on gas at Puerto Natales; there are ZERO gas stations between there and the park (although some of the hotels will sell you gas at $13USD/liter if you are stuck). This was really nerve-wracking, and I wish we would’ve bought a spare gas can just in case. However, with our very efficient rental (Suzuki Celerio) we made it for 3 days of driving in the park without a problem. We were told that the roads could be bad, and that a 4WD vehicle would be necessary, but we found that the roads really weren’t so bad - the little compact could handle them just fine.
We stayed at a hotel in the Rio Serrano area on the south end of the park - it was well worth paying the extra money to stay near the park vs. staying in Puerto Natales and going back and forth. One very important thing that was not clear is that the road between Rio Serrano and Puerto Natales is under construction, and only open during certain times of the day day (early in the morning and late at night). As we were early in the season, it wasn’t a problem making reservations just a few days before we arrived.
We were not able to do the full “W” hike; this limits you a bit to a few available hiking trails, which we didn’t know going into things. We were, however, able to do the first leg of the “W” - and it was spectacular. We experienced all 4 seasons in one eight-hour hike. Highly recommended!
We had wanted to take the boat tour to see the glacier, but this leaves only a couple of times a day, and costs $110 - so for budget and timing reasons we weren’t able to do this.
Puerto Montt/Puerto Varas
We flew from Punta Arenas to Puerto Montt. We had the rental car trouble mentioned earlier, so we stayed overnight in Puerto Varas. We loved this town - it's very small and a good jumping-off point for doing lots of outdoor activities. We stayed at Margouya Patagonia, a large house that's just up the hill from the town center. This hostel was fantastic - very clean, spacious, a nice atmosphere. They have a deal with El Barista for a discounted breakfast - this was a great place and we ended up eating a few meals there.
Bariloche
We took the bus to Bariloche, and it was completely worth the trip. There are a lot of choices for where to stay; we chose The House Hostel. This is located above a pizza place and bar, and has a backyard. There is also, however, a rooster that lives across the street... good to know if you want to sleep! The staff was super friendly and the rooms were dated but clean.
One thing we did not know - Argentina and Chile have different electrical plug configurations.
We spent our time in Bariloche walking around, browsing shops and the outdoor craft markets, and enjoying the great weather and chocolate that is basically on every corner. Our impression was that it is probably Argentina's equivalent of a Colorado ski town. I loved the number of brew pubs, and the steakhouses were PHENOMENAL. We ate at El Boliche de Alberto and couldn't recommend it more highly.
El Bolson
We rented a car and drove to El Bolson for the day. We'd heard that it was a really cute little hippie kind of town. Honestly, that wasn't our impression when we got there. There aren't many stores (we found 2) and I think you'd have to stay there to enjoy a lot of the outdoor activities. There was a great craft market the day we went there, which was a lot of fun. But the best part of going to El Bolson was the drive there along Route 40. Spring flowers were in bloom, and it was a lot of fun to zip through the turns around the mountains.
Puerto Varas
We returned from Argentina and on our last day went to hike the Osorno volcano on the Desolation Trail. It was well worth hiring a guide (Daniel Acuña from Petrohue Lodge Expeditions - he was terrific, ask for him!), as he took us up a guide-led only trail that goes up a lava river. A super challenging and fun hike, with wonderful views at the top.
We had a wonderful trip and hope that everyone else does as well!
