travel to Torres del Paine

We have been lucky enough to secure a volunteer post at Torres del Paine and now need to make travel arrangements. It looks like it is much faster to access from Santiago, but flights are quite a bit cheaper for us to Buenos Aires. Any thoughts on travel time and expense coming from Santiago or BA via bus, plane, or ferry? We'll be traveling in peak season (Jan/Feb) from the USA.

Buenos Aires-Torres del Paine by bus takes 43 hours without counting bus transfers in Rio Gallegos and Puerto Natales.

Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

Domestic flights in Argentina.

Aerolineas has prices for residents and non-residents. It also has different fares for travellers arriving in Argentina via Aerolineas and for travellers arriving in Argentina via any other international airline. There is no way to get around it as they ask for your papers when you check in. Unless you live in Argentina and have the right ID you will have to pay the non-resident price. This is why the web site says something about country of origin. So you need to be careful when you get quotes that they are for non-residents and also be clear whether the quote is in dollars or pesos. They apply the V fare for travellers arriving in Argentina on another carrier, the B fare for travellers arriving in Argentina on Aerolineas Argentinas and the Natalia fare when there is plenty of availability.

Aerolineas Argentinas round-trip fares from Buenos Aires (one-way fares are half these amounts):

Iguazu
V fare ----- 355.00 US$.
B fare ---- 244.00 US$.
N fare ---- 244.00 US$.

Mendoza
V fare -------- 344.20 US$.
B fare ------- 250.70 US$.
N fare ------- 250.70 US$.

Cordoba
V fare -------- 253.00 US$.
B fare ------- 182.30 US$.
N fare -------- 182.30 US$.

Jujuy
V fare ------- 448.90 US$.
B fare ------- 291.50 US$.

Posadas
V fare -------- 307.70 US$.
B fare -------- 200.50 US$.

Trelew
V fare --------- 355.40 US$.
B fare --------- 216.90 US$.

Salta
V fare ---- 449.00 US$.
B fare ---- 291.00 US$.
N fare ---- 291.00 US$.

Ushuaia
V fare ----- 450.00 US$.
B fare ------ 258.00 US$.

Calafate
V fare ------ 430.00 US$.
B fare ------- 245.00 US$.

Bariloche
V fare ----- 458.20 US$.
B fare ------ 321.40 US$.
N fare ----- 321.40 US$.

One-way Bariloche-Calafate
V fare ------ 274.70 US$.
B fare ------ 177.80 US$.

One-way Calafate-Ushuaia
V fare ------- 156.10 US$.
B fare -------- 89.10 US$.

One-way Trelew-Calafate
V fare ---------- 253.50 US$.
B fare --------- 163.40 US$.

One-way Trelew-Ushuaia
V fare -------- 314.00 US$.
B fare -------- 202.60 US$.

Aerolineas Argentinas´phone numbers around the world:

Madrid: 900-955-747
Australia: 9234-9000
USA: 1-800-333-0276 / 305-266-1204 / 305-648-4102
London: 0800-0969-747
Germany: 0800-1844-747
Argentina: 0810-222-8652

LAN Argentina return fares from Buenos Aires:

Iguazu -------- 238.00 US$.
Cordoba ----- 184.00 US$.
Calafate ----- 240.00 US$.
Salta -------- 283.00 US$.
Ushuaia ----- 252.00 US$.
Mendoza ---- 252.00 US$.
Bariloche ---- 323.00 US$
Rio Gallegos ---240.00 US$.
Puerto Madryn -- 220.00 US$.
Comodoro Rivadavia - 222.00 US$.

One-way Calafate-Ushuaia -- 90.00 US$.
One-way Puerto Madryn-Ushuaia ---- 204.00 US$.

Jorge Daniel Barchi.
Buenos Aires.

Thanks.