Planning a trip to patagonia in Chile

We found that planning a 10-day trip to Patagonia was both time consuming and very expensive. We had to do a lot of research to even understand how things worked at the end of the world…

That’s why we’ve made this little guide about how to plan a trip to Patagonia, which is hopefully helpful for those of you who’s thinking about visiting World’s End.

I remember sitting in Santiago, Chile’s grand capital, spending hours researching how to get from city to city, where to find cheap accommodation, what activities to do in Patagonia on a tight budget, and how much a trip to Patagonia actually would cost us? I did end up screaming into a pillow once or twice, but everything worked out in the end.

So, we’ve tried to put everything that we’ve learned from our trip into this little how-to-guide to Patagonia. We hope it makes sense! If not… feel free to leave a comment at the end of this blog post if you need to know more about planning a trip to Patagonia.

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1. How to plan a trip to Patagonia – The practical stuff

First things first. Let’s talk about all the practical things you should know when planning a trip to Patagonia. In this part of the blog post, we’ll cover when to visit, how to get there, where to stay, and how to get around.

When to visit Patagonia

Because Patagonia is located at the Southern tip of the American continent, it’s important to think about what time of year you visit.

The peak season runs from December to February, which is the Patagonian summer season. During these months, you’ll find the best weather! But you’ll also find the most people. The hiking trails are filled with fellow hikers, and the camping grounds are sold out quickly. So make sure to plan ahead if you want to go hiking and camping during this time of year in Patagonia.

You can also visit Patagonia out of the summer season such as in the spring (September-November) or fall (March-May). These months are less crowded, although the weather is much colder and more unsteady.

Overall, avoid to visit Patagonia from June-August during the winter. Remember, Patagonia is located close to Antarctica, so the winters are pretty dark and cold. So most of the fun, outdoor activities are not possible to do during this time of year.

How to get to Patagonia

The first phase in planning a trip to Patagonia, is to figure out how to get there.

The easiest, quickest and most convenient way to enter Patagonia is by flying. It’s not possible to find direct buses from Santiago to Patagonia since we’re literally talking about going to “the end of the world”. It would take days (or even weeks) to arrive with bus.

So if you’re only spending about 1-2 weeks in Patagonia, then I would recommend you to just hop on a plane.

In Chile, most people fly to Punta Arenas Airport (PUQ) from Santiago (SCL). You should easily be able to find tickets with LATAM Airlines, which is the airline we used.

The flight from Santiago takes a little over 3 hours, which means that the distance is actually pretty long. I think around 3000 kilometers! Therefore it’s just not possible to take a bus from Santiago to Patagonia. So either you have to spend a few weeks and work your way down through Chile or take a direct flight like we did.

If you’re planning to explore Patagonia from Argentina, then you can fly from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia – also known as the southernmost city of the world! Or you can fly to El Calafate.

flying to Patagonia
How to get to Patagonia tip 1: just book that plane ticket! Preferably a return ticket so you don’t get stuck at the end of the world.

Where to stay in the Chilean Patagonia

The two most popular cities in the Chilean Patagonia are probably Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales. Since that’s also where we stayed on our trip, we want to share a little bit about them.

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas means “Sandy Point”. Punta Arenas is the capital of Chile’s southernmost region, and with its 100.000+ inhabitants it’s considered one of the bigger cities in Patagonia. This is also the Patagonian city in Chile, which you will fly into.

We were really impressed with Punta Arenas, I think mostly because we had no clue what to expect from an “end-of-the-world” city. But it was pretty lively, people were friendly, and the city center was beautiful and cozy.

We only spend 2 nights here. I would recommend 2-3 nights in Punta Arenas depending on how many types of penguins you want to see. Yep you heard that right! Punta Arenas is the best place to find penguin tours and whale watching tours in the Chilean Patagonia. But more about that later.

Want to learn more about Punta Arenas? Check out this Punta Arenas Shore Excursion Tour.

Best places to stay in Punta Arenas

  • Hostel Entre Vientos: For those looking for the cheapest bed in town. This hostel is located a bit out of the city center, but it’s cheap, it has great common areas, and breakfast is included in the price.
  • Hostal Boutique Puerta Roja: For the couple who wants something private and affordable. This hotel is located closely to the city center of Punta Arenas and breakfast is included.
  • Hotel Cabo De Hornos: For those who wants luxury. This modern 4-star hotel offers big, bright, beautiful rooms, and it’s located right in the city center of Punta Arenas.
  • Hotel José Nogueira: For those looking for something extraordinary. This beautiful hotel looks like something out of a fairytale! Stay in the city center of Punta Arenas and be within walking distance to the biggest attractions.
rush hour in Punta Arenas
This is rush hour in Punta Arenas. Not too bad.

Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales is a much smaller city than Punta Arenas. It has nearly 20.000 inhabitants. Yet it’s still one of the most popular cities to visit in Patagonia because it’s the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park.

We absolutely loved Puerto Natales! It’s such a quiet city, yet it has so many cool spots. We found that it has a lot of small, hip coffee shops, delicious eateries, and fun bars compared to its little size.

The Señoret Channel is leading into Puerto Natales, which means the town is actually placed next to the ocean. If you go down to the channel on a clear day, then you can actually see all the way to the snow capped mountains in Torres del Paine National Park. Puerto Natales is a small and cute city that we totally recommend visiting while in Patagonia.

We spend 7 days here, which was more than enough. We would recommend spending no more than 5 days in Puerto Natales just to go on a lot of day hikes in Torres del Paine, and then we would jump the border to Argentina’s El Calafate for 2-3 days. The bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate should take 5-6 hours from what we’ve heard.

Best places to stay in Puerto Natales

  • El Patagónico Hostel: For those who wants something affordable, yet comfortable. Out of all the cheap places to stay in Puerto Natales, this is the best rated hostel, we could find. The hostel is located in the city center, there are good common areas, and breakfast is included in the price.
  • Wild Hostel: This hostel is great for those looking for an affordable, cozy place to stay in the city center. Breakfast is also included in the price – and it ought to be good since Wild is also a restaurant and coffee shop.
  • Hotel Costaustralis: For those who wants to stay by the ocean. This hotel offers incredible sea views from the rooms, beautiful decor around the hotel, and a good breakfast is included in the price.
  • Dome with Stunning Glacier & Mountain Views: For those who wants to stay somewhere extraordinary! Check out this incredible dome, which is located just out of Puerto Natales. Here you get the whole place to yourself, you can fall asleep to the stars and wake up to the view of the mountains.
Puerto natales in Patagonia
This is summer in Puerto Natales! I’m enjoying the sun, behind me is the mountains and a happy dog playing in the Señoret Channel. I couldn’t ask for more! Except for maybe one more empanada.

IVA fee on accommodation in Patagonia

Beware of the local tax law in the Chilean Patagonia when you book accommodation:

LOCAL TAX LAW: Based on local tax laws, all Chilean citizens and resident foreigners must pay an additional fee (IVA) of 19% To be exempt from this 19% additional fee (IVA) the payment must be made in US dollars and a copy of the immigration card and passport must be presented. The passenger won’t be exempt from this fee when paying in local currency. In case of no show the invoice will be billed in local currency, including this additional fee (IVA). This additional fee (IVA) is not included in the hotel rates and must be paid separately.

Basically, it means that if you pay you’re accommodation in US dollars and present a copy of your passport, then you will not have to pay the extra 19% fee on your accommodation.

However, if you pay in the local currency, then you have to calculate an additional 19% on top of the final price, which makes it pretty expensive to stay in hotels and hostels in the Chilean Patagonia.

It’s better to just include the 19% fee in your budget from the beginning, so you don’t get a bad surprise on your arrival and have to cut cost on activities. We didn’t have to pay this fee in our Airbnb in Santiago or our hostel in San Pedro de Atacama, it was only added to our accommodation in Patagonia.

accommodation in Patagonia
The cheapest form of accommodation in Patagonia is hostels.

How to get around in Patagonia

The two most popular ways to get around in Patagonia is either by bus or by rental car. Glenn and I took the bus during our 10 days in Patagonia, and it was really easy and convenient.

I’m not sure whether you can bike around since the distances between cities/villages are quite far. There is literally nothing on the road from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales – so we definitely do not recommend hitchhiking as you would probably wait around for hours for the next car.

By bus

It’s super easy to take the bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales in Patagonia. You can either buy the bus ticket directly from the bus station or buy it online on BusBud.com. A bus trip from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales set us back $10 per person in 2020, but today it looks more like it’ll be around $13.

You don’t have to plan your whole trip to Patagonia and buy all the bus tickets ahead of time.

But it’s always a good idea to buy the important bus tickets ahead of time, like when we bought our direct bus tickets from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas Airport. We wanted to make sure we got to the airport in time to catch our flight, so planning ahead was a good idea in this case.

The buses in Patagonia are neat, comfortable and they leave on time, so we had no problems taking the bus around in Patagonia. We also took the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine National Park. You can buy the bus tickets directly at Busbud.com or at the Puerto Natales bus station. There are several companies operating the Torres del Paine route and the staff is very helpful.

If you want to travel between Patagonia’s cities across the borders, then you have these 2 classic gateway routes.

  • Punta Arenas to Ushuaia
  • Puerto Natales to El Calafate

Like we mentioned before, we wish we had taken the bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate, but that must be for our next adventure in Patagonia!

How to get around in Patagonia, bus to Torres del Paine
The bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine

By rental car

Another popular way to get around Patagonia is by rental car. You can rent a car in Punta Arenas.

We didn’t do this option, so we cannot share our experience. But sometimes we wish we had a rental car when we were visiting Torres del Paine National Park. It was a bit annoying to be so dependent on the bus schedule and not have the freedom to stop whenever we wanted.

You can compare car rental prices and find the best deals on Discovercars.com.

2. Plan activities in Patagonia – The fun stuff

Now that you hopefully know a thing or two about how to plan the practical part of your trip in Patagonia, it’s time for you to plan the fun part! Because there are so many great things to do at the end of the world!

Before planning your trip to Patagonia, ask yourself what you want to see. Are you there for the hiking trails in Torres del Paine? Do you want to see the penguins nest on Isla Magdalena? Or maybe you’re there for the extraordinary glaciers?

There are plenty of activities and things to do in Patagonia, we only explored a handful of the possibilities. So make sure to ask yourself, “what do I want to see during my trip to Patagonia?”

Hiking

Many people book hiking tours for the popular W trek or the O trek in Torres del Paine. These hiking tours should be absolutely amazing, but they are also very expensive and sell out super quickly during high season. Also, not everyone want to spend the whole vacation hiking.

We opted for day hikes around Torres del Paine National Park. After doing some research, we learned that it was actually easy to go to Torres del Paine by ourselves, so we did exactly that.

We went on the most popular day hike in Patagonia, Mirador las Torres, which is the iconic viewpoint of the granite towers. This was an amazing day hike, and it was pretty easy to go there. You cannot miss it if you go to Patagonia!

However, the trail was completely overrun by tour groups, big families with small children and the many fellow hikers, so follow our steps to avoid the crowds at Mirador las Torres in this blog post: Mirador las Torres base hike

The other day hike we went on, Mirador los Cuernos, was much more quiet. It’s probably the best short day hike you can find in Patagonia, and it’s just SO beautiful. We really enjoyed this little day hike that had so much to offer including a waterfall and snowcapped mountains.

Another possible day hike that should be incredible is the Grey Glacier hike. Unfortunately we never made it to this hike, but it should be one of the best day hikes in Torres del Paine.

If you’re not comfortable planning these day hikes yourself, or if you aren’t that fit and prefer a tour around the national park with less hiking included, then check out this Day Tour to Torres del Paine.

Torres del paine national park popular hike in Patagonia - Mirador las Torres
Mirador las Torres is the most popular day hike in Patagonia
Mirador los cuernos the best day hike in Patagonia
Mirador los Cuernos was my favorite hiking experience in Patagonia

Wildlife

There is literally nothing on the roads in Patagonia, which means that the wildlife is really thriving at the end of the world. Just taking the bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales was an experience! We saw a lot of rheas (ostrich-looking bird) and guanacos (llama-looking creature).

Patagonia is also popular for its penguin tours. We booked a penguin tour to see the Magallanic penguins nest on Isla Magdalena. Read more about the day tour in our blog post: Penguins in Punta Arenas

If you have a bigger budget, then you can opt for the full-day King Penguin tour or a whale watching tour from Punta Arenas. I honestly wish we could have done more wildlife tours! But our budget just wasn’t fit for it at the time.

Here are some wildlife tours you can look into:

Penguins in Patagonia Chile Isla Magdalena
Penguins on Isla Magdalena in Patagonia
wildlife in Patagonia, this is a bird
It’s also possible to spot condors in Patagonia, although this is a picture of a southern crested caracara… Sorry, all I had!

Glaciers

Another popular thing you should look into while planning a trip to Patagonia is the glaciers.

If you’re in the Chilean Patagonia, then the easiest way to see glaciers is by booking a Grey Glacier tour or going on the Grey Glacier hike.

We didn’t have the budget for the glacier tour and never made it to the day hike, so we never saw any glaciers. Hopefully next time!

Another way to see an amazing glacier is to take the bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. By El Calafate there is an enormous glacier called Perito Moreno. But since I didn’t do enough research, I had no idea how easy it would have been for us to go to the Argentinean Patagonia and see Perito Moreno.

From the pictures I see online, the Perito Moreno glacier looks so impressive! Sadly, I don’t have any pictures to show you.

3. Plan a budget for a trip to Patagonia – the money stuff

One of the hardest parts about planning a trip is not knowing how much it will cost, therefore we want to include our travel budget from 10 days in Patagonia. Technically we only spend 9 days there, but with flying out late, it came down to around 10 full days. Let’s be honest, 10 days also just sounds better!

So beneath is a complete breakdown of all our trip cost from our 10 days in Patagonia (notice that our trip was in 2020, and with everything that happened in the world since, the prices will have gone up a bit):

  • Accommodation = 209798 CLP (without 19% IVA tax)
  • Food & Drinks = 228854 CLP
  • Activities = 179000 CLP
  • Transport = 122800 CLP
  • Other Stuff = 10600 CLP

Total Budget for two people = 751052 CLP or $975,52 (depending on rate)

Daily Budget for two people = 75105,2 CLP or $97,5 (depending on rate)

So how much does a trip to Patagonia cost? That all depends on what you want to see and how big your budget is.

Glenn and I are budget travelers, so we tried to travel Patagonia on a tight budget and this was the best we could do. So if you’re traveling to Patagonia on a low budget like us, expect to spend around $50 per day for one person. I think this budget is pretty good considering that we are at the end of the world where the prices are highly inflated.

Within this budget we managed to see penguins nesting in the wild, go hiking in Torres del Paine, and spend casual days discovering the cities of Patagonia. The only thing not included in our Patagonia budget is our plane tickets and 19% IVA extra tax on accommodation.

me at mirador los cuernos in Patagonia
Planning a trip to Patagonia wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but the trip itself was magical. Put Patagonia on your bucket list today! This is me looking at mountains in Torres del Paine.

When planning our 10 day trip to Patagonia, I found it really hard to wrap my head around the basics of how to get around, where to stay, what to see and how much money it would cost us. The difficulty of planning inspired me to make this small travel guide for you.

So we really hope you found this, “how to plan a trip to Patagonia”-post a helpful resource for your own trip to the end of the world. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions about planning a trip to Patagonia. Thanks for reading!

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10 Comments

  1. I have been in the North of Patagonia and loved it so much. The life there has such a different pace, so slow, and the legends and myths still thrive. I liked that so much, I would love to return and explore some more.

  2. Patagonia is definitely a place I want to go so this post is very helpful in planning. Your photos are gorgeous and I can’t believe you found such good weather. How fortunate. The budget breakdown is very useful.

    1. Thanks Karen! We visited in the peak tourist season (February) when the weather is amazing.

  3. Love this. We spent 9 weeks in South America last year, but only touched on the northern end of Patagonia. This is a brilliant reminder as to why we need to go back. Great tips too.

  4. Hiking in Patagonia is really high on my bucket list so I’m super excited to have stumbled on your post. This guide will be so useful post-pandemic when I can finally visit this gorgeous country!

    1. It was high on my bucket list too! I was so happy to finally be there. Hope you’ll make it there!

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