July 22, 2025

Revealing the Mysteries of Booking Patagonia’s W Trek

Revealing the Mysteries of Booking Patagonia’s W Trek

TRIP DETAILS:

  • Total distance: 45.4 miles
  • Total elevation gain: 10,223 feet
  • Route Type: Point-to-Point on well signed and maintained trails
  • Wilderness Area: Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile
  • Season: January (Southern Hemisphere summer)
  • Permits: Reservations recommended to stay in the refuge tents and huts

The W trek in Chilean Patagonia, located in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, is a stunning capsule of jagged peaks at the end of the world. There are a lot of resources across the internet to help you plan your trip, but I still found that I had a lot of questions unanswered until I was actually on the ground. Hopefully this post will help reveal some of the mysteries that are plaguing you as well. All the information and prices in this post are from my trip there in January 2024. In this post we will cover:

The Great Debate: Hiking the W from East to West or West to East?

A lot of people online have preferences about this but honestly, you get epic views in either direction, and for the most part you are going out and back on each stick of the W, so it doesn’t make a huge difference views-wise. I saw somewhere that wind blows west-to-east — no idea if that is actually true. It mostly seems like the wind blows HARD in every direction! You either have to start at Paine Grande (west side) or the Welcome Center (east side). Logistically, it is more challenging to get to the west side, so I think it is better to get that out of the way up front when you have the energy for it!

Managed to stay awake late enough for the 10 pm sunset from Refugio Paine Grande.

Itinerary

We went W to E and did the following sequence. No matter how you cut it, if you do it in 5 days, you will have 1 long day. We chose to make the long day the one where we could drop packs and day hike for half the miles (the middle part of the W up the Frances Valley and Brittanico Glacier). If I were to do it again I would do it the same way, 5 days & 4 nights, on the following itinerary:

Day 1: Lake Pehoe ferry to Refugio Paine Grande, then hike to Refugio Grey

Day 2: Refugio Grey to Refugio Paine Grande (Short hiking day but we did kayaking in the morning, hiking in the afternoon. Recommend!)

Day 3: Refugio Paine Grande > drop packs at Refugio Italiano (no longer an active refuge but everyone leaves their bags here to do the Frances Valley hike) > hike Frances Valley sans packs > pick up packs and continue to Refugio Cuernos (arguably the best refuge). You pass Refugio Frances on the way which is heartbreaking because it would be SO NICE to stop but Cuernos is amazing and worth the pain. 

Day 4: Refugio Cuernos > Refugio Chileno (Chileno has no indoor refuge option. Everything is tent camping here. They are tepui style tents up on platforms!)

Day 5: Leave packs at Refugio Chileno for sunrise hike to the Towers > back to Chileno for packs > hike out to Torres Hotel / Welcome Center

Tents vs Bunks

Tents all the way! Add the sleeping pad option, they are pretty comfy! The bags we saw were zero bags, so I don’t think you have to worry about that if you want to leave your bag behind too, though, we brought our own bags. You still get access to the showers and bathrooms and dining hall, but its more private and the refuges get stuffy and are not private. One exception – splurge on the cabin at Cuernos. It is REALLY nice. Great views, really nice hot shower. If you want to do it on the cheap, you can pack all your own gear and only pay for sites. You just pitch your tent among the official ones – I have no idea how they could feasibly check this. I would rather not subject my tent to the blasting winds though (the tents on the west side pictured below are very sturdy, the tents on the east side are the Tepui-type on raised platforms). There is no indoor component to the Refugio Chileno at the base of the towers. If you want to sleep inside, you have to stay at Central, a longer hike from the towers.

Tent home at Refugio Paine Grande.

Refuge Reservations

Book everything through https://torreshike.com/en/ , not a tour operator . It makes your life SO much simpler than trying to book the refuges individually and is significantly cheaper than booking through a tour operator (you do NOT need a guide). I think the tour operators buy up a lot of spots and then start releasing them a month or two out. I saw a LOT of cancellations. Hold out for the dates and patterns you want, you will probably get it. Check in a couple times a day for a few days.

Tent city at Refugio Grey

WiFi

You can buy a pass to starlink wifi at each refuge. It is surprisingly fast (and expensive $9k CLP / $10USD for 1 hour). Don’t judge me, I bought it to watch videos on how to KT tape a rolled ankle!

Refuge Specific Notes & Tips

Refugio Grey: small shop with snacks, coffee, hot chocolate, hot water. Do the suspension bridge hike from here! Super hot showers! Also the option to do the glacier hike or the lake kayak. These need to be booked ahead of time – day of there was no extra availability.

Refugio Paine Grande: where the ferry drops you off, definitely seems like the biggest institution. Large market here. Pizzas available for purchase if you opt out of the meal plan. Amazing hangout room with an epic view of the mountains. I think it was technically dorms-access-only but no one checked us on this. Great sunset from here if you can stay up til 10:30pm!

Refugio Cuernos: very idyllic setting. Cabins are worth the splurge. The refuge itself is very cozy and if we did a rest day, it would have been here. Did not see the market, but there may have been one.

Refugio Chileno: their claim to fame is that they are super close to the towers and they know it so their effort on everything else is minimal. They tried the least hard on dinner, though the entree was good. Try to do the sunrise towers even if it says it’ll be cloudy – the cloud predictions are not that good, and we were sad to have missed a perfectly clear sunrise due to a bad forecast. LOTS of people come through to day hike to the towers, so this part of the trail is PACKED, another good reason to do the towers as early as possible and get out of there.

Kayaking among the icebergs on Grey Lake

Meals

We got dinners at every refuge and it was worth it at the end of a long day to sit and be fed. Paine Grande and Grey were buffet style, there are plenty of options for veg/GF. Cuernos had an extravagant meal featuring salmon! Chileno was good but the least impressive. We did our own thing for breakfast and lunches. You’re technically not supposed to use stoves in the park besides at the refuges – we did discreetly. We accidentally got breakfast & lunch vouchers at Paine and the breakfast was nothing to write home about but the lunch sandwich was actually quite tasty. I would probably do the same thing regarding food again – prepay the dinners and bring snacks and food for B & L.

Hike up to Frances Glacier (the middle out and back of the trek)

Packing

Bring all the layers! I used every single thing! Notably: backpack cover, shell pants, shell jacket, synthetic layer, puffy, long sleeve and short sleeve, beanie, sunglasses, chapstick, sunscreen, hat. The only item I brought and didn’t use was a pair of shorts, and I probably could have worn them Cuernos > Chileno (very exposed).

Spent an hour watching chunks fall off the glacier. Mesmerizing.

Starting logistics to trek W-E

Expect to spend the nights before and after your trek in Puerto Natales – the closest town to the park with amenities and public transportation.

  1. Take the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine Guardería Laguna Amarga (guard station, NOT the park welcome center). All the buses drop everyone here. Get on the first bus from Puerto Natales in the morning – the companies all have a ~7am ish bus. They stagger them to prevent bottlenecks (pretty smart!). I would get on the earliest available to be first in line for the ferry. 
  2. Next, take the bus from Guardería Laguna Amarga to Ferry Station. There is a cafe here and everyone gets in line for the ferry. Grab your coffee and get in line, the people at the end of the line got left behind (the ferry comes back from them but its an hour round trip). If you plan to trek E-W instead, you’ll take a shuttle from the guard station to the Welcome Center and then to the Las Torres Hotel where you can start hiking.
  3. Lake Pehoe Ferry to Paine Grande (30 min, not wavy, even in the winds!). You have to pay in CASH per person!!! There is no ATM nearby and you cannot reserve it ahead. The ferry comes at 9am and 10:30am. By taking the earliest bus, you will make the 10:30 am ferry.

Cloudy one moment, sunny the next.

Airports

We flew into Puerto Natales with Sky Air and had no issues. It is a quick taxi or shuttle from the airport to town. It cost us 4k CLP per person to take the shuttle into town (~$5 USD). You can also fly into Punto Arenas airport, but it is a much longer journey from there to the park (bus required).

We flew OUT of El Calafate (FTE, closest airport to El Chalten) because we went to visit El Chalten afterwards (highly recommend). Flying out of Argentina is more expensive. You can also get a bus back to Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas from El Calafate.

More kayaking on Lake Grey

Renting a Car & What to Do With It During Your Trek!?

In general, I would NOT recommend renting a car unless you are really squeezed for time. The buses are frequent, more affordable, go everywhere you need to be, and SIGNIFICANTLY simplify logistics. It seems like most people go to Torres del Paine (TDP) in Chile and also go to El Chalten on the Argentinian side. If you rent a car and intend to cross the border with it, you have to buy the full insurance package for every day of the rental (there did not seem to be a way to get around this). If you want to take the car one way, there is an exorbitant 500-600 USD fee. The only situation that makes sense to rent a car is to do so once you have already arrived in El Calafate, and return it there, without crossing the border.

Parking logistics if you have a rental car EVEN THOUGH I don’t recommend it because it is expensive and makes your life harder! (Ask me how I know, lol).

You can park at the Welcome Center parking lot or the ferry parking lot. The guard recommended the Welcome Center because the wind is stronger at the ferry and can break your glass. It also just made more sense for us logistically going W-E to park at the Welcome Center.

Drive from Puerto Natales to the guard station where they check your entrance ticket, proceed to the Welcome Center parking lot. Then take a shuttle from the lot back to the guard station (3k CLP pp cash in 2024, we did not reserve this). I was really worried about timing but it seems like they just run back and forth and its not a big deal. From there, get on the bus to the ferry station. This way the car is happily waiting to whisk you away at the end of your trip!

Hiking is fun

Puerto Natales

The town is cute and has a ton of outdoor stores, so no problems buying your fuel or anything you may have forgotten in town before you head out for your trek. You can also rent gear for the trek here, but I overheard a guy complaining about the waterproofing on his rental stuff being shit, and you definitely want to have good waterproofing! There are a lot of good restaurants and cafes, but the town is tiny, so 1 day here to orient and pick up supplies/groceries is plenty of time. If you want to do the whale watching or penguin tours, you should fly through Punta Arenas instead because those tours start from there. The flights to Punta Arenas are a bit cheaper but the town is further from Torres del Paine. Bus still makes the journey, so not an issue.

Lodging:

Hotels are expensive here. We got a pretty affordable airbnb in the city center. You definitely want to be in the city center.

Some Eating Recommendations:

  • Café Artimaña: good nyoqui (gnocci)
  • El Asador Patagónico: good typical chilean meat and grill restaurant
  • The Coffee Maker: great breakfast with an even more epic view

Don’t forget to stretch! Nice lunch platform at Refugio Italiano.

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