Torres del Paine, Chile: Granite Towers, W Trek and Patagonian Lakes

Three granite towers, the black-capped Cuernos and a chain of turquoise lakes make Torres del Paine one of the most recognisable mountain parks on Earth. It sits in Chilean Patagonia, at the southern end of the Andes, and draws hikers from every continent between spring and autumn.

Torres del Paine National Park at a glance

The national park lies in Chile’s Magallanes Region and covers 181,414 hectares. It was created on 13 May 1959 as Lago Grey National Tourism Park and took its present name in 1970. UNESCO named it a Biosphere Reserve in 1978.

• Cerro Paine Grande: the highest summit, measured by GPS in 2011 at 2,884 m.
• The Torres: the three granite towers that give the park its name, rising to around 2,500 m above sea level.
• The Cuernos del Paine: the “horns”, a group of peaks about 2,000 m high, with pale granite bases and dark sedimentary caps.
• Lakes: Grey, Pehoé, Nordenskjöld, Sarmiento, Dickson and Del Toro.
• Grey Glacier: about 15 km long, ending in Lago Grey, where icebergs drift towards the shore.

Hiking the W Trek and the O Circuit

Most visitors come to walk. The W Trek links the base of the towers, the Valle del Francés below Paine Grande and Grey Glacier in a route shaped like the letter W. It takes about three to five days. The O Circuit adds the wild back side of the massif and the John Gardner Pass, and takes about seven to nine days.

Day hikers can still see a great deal. The climb to the Mirador Las Torres, the lookout at the foot of the towers, is the classic single-day walk, and the road along Lago Pehoé gives roadside views of the Cuernos.

Refugios and campsites along the main routes must be booked ahead in high season. Check the latest rules and route openings with CONAF, Chile’s national park service, before you go.

How to get to Torres del Paine and when to go

The gateway town is Puerto Natales, 112 km south of the park, with buses running to the park entrances in season. Punta Arenas, 312 km away, has the region’s main airport. Visits are recommended between September and April, the southern spring and summer. December to February brings the longest days and the busiest trails.

Patagonian weather is famous for wind and fast changes. Pack layers and waterproofs even in January, and treat any clear morning at the towers as a gift.

Wildlife and fire safety in the park

Guanacos, the wild relatives of the llama, graze the open steppe in large numbers. Pumas also live in the park, along with foxes and 15 breeding species of birds of prey, including the Andean condor.

The park has suffered serious wildfires started by visitors: about 155 km² burned in 2005 and about 176 km² in the fire of December 2011 to January 2012. Respect the strict fire rules: cook only in designated areas and never light a fire outside them.

Patagonia photographs beyond the park

The gallery ranges across wider Patagonia, including the Fitz Roy area across the border in Argentina, so not every frame shows Torres del Paine itself. For more of Chile’s ice and mountain scenery, see Queulat’s hanging-glacier setting, or compare another mountain-and-lake landscape at Yading in Sichuan.

Related reading

• Torres del Paine: Granite Towers, Glaciers and Changing Light
• Chilean Andes Snowboarding: Funner Filete
• Chile’s Marble Caves: Lake Light, Sculpted Rock and the Aysén Journey
• Magic Mounatin Hotel in Artificial Geyser in Nature Reserve, Chile

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