Day trip to Torres Del Paine and Mini Trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier
We are heading on the Patagonia trip in a few weeks. For the free day in Puerto Natales, we would like to go back into the park and do a longer hike, does anyone have a recommended guide for this? Or have you done it on your own...rent car, public transportation? Just looking for options.
Also on Perito Moreno Glacier day we would like to peel off and do the mini trekking - has anyone done this? Do you go to the Glacier with Tauck then do the mini trekking and get back to the hotel on your own. Any help with logistics is appreciated.
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I did this trip in 2018. I don't recall a free day, but more free time has been Tauck's trend since Covid. Anyway, on the day we went to Torres del Paine, my daughter, son-in-law and 4 other millennials arranged to do their own hike (about 10 miles, IIRC), rather than travel with the group. With help of the TD, they figured out public transportation (bus) to get back to the Singular Patagonia, and it went off without a hitch.
I will email her and see if she recalls details, and post again if there's anything to add.
Hi Lynn. My husband and I and two friends will be on the November 15 Patagonia tour.
@AZCreeker, we are about 2 weeks behind you. I'd love a trip report. Have a fabulous trip
@BKMD So good to know about your kids and doing their own hike. That is the same hike we are debating doing the next day. Its very popular. The free day is where you can do some excursions from the Hotel (condor hike, horseback riding, etc), but thinking we will skip those and go back into the park. But based on weather, maybe we do what your kids did and do it the day Tauck is in the park. I may wait to talk to the Tour Director to book anything specific. This hike will take me longer, I'm definitely not a millennial :-)
LynnG - here's the response from my son-in-law who was the logisitcs person for this hike
"We got off the Tauck tour bus at some random stop in the middle of the scenic drive through the park, and then took a sketchy tourist van to Torres del Paine Welcome Center. From there we hiked 12.5 miles round trip (out and back) to Lago Torres at the base of the eponymous Torres del Paine. After the hike we took a scheduled tourist bus (mostly filled with European backbackers) from the welcome center back to Puerto Natales, where we bribed the driver to let us out along the road just outside of town nearest to the Singular. Great hike, 10/10 adventure.
I would assume that one could arrange this more intentionally (rather than randomly hopping off the Tauck bus) by taking that same tourist bus service from Puerto Natales directly to the TdP welcome center, doing a hike there, and then taking the tourist bus back."
Now from me again - the condor hike was very worthwhile, if you can manage to squeeze it in. Also, one caveat about scheduling a big hike in advance. The weather down there is extremely variable. We lucked out with a beautiful trip with a little drizzle one day, and that's all. I know others have posted about lots of rain, and it's always windy down there. So you may want to wait until the last minute and plan based on the forecast. It's a great trip - enjoy!
Agree about the weather, wait until last minute. The wind is the worst. We wore three layers on our legs At times on this trip it was so windy that you could barely stand without being blown over. We did the condor hike. I found it pretty tough, the pace was fast and it was snowing at the top according to my husband. I stopped short of the summit but saw lots of condors. I think we went in November. We are going to Argentina and Chile again in January. We will be going further south and really looking forward to explore further.
I just returned from Patagonia and there are many options of day tours, both half day options as well as full day options. There are difficult hikes as well as easy and moderate. You are able to choose a full day tour, 2 half day tours, or just one if you want time to rest. There is something for everyone. I would wait until you get there to select the tours as weather is a major factor.