Puerto Natales: The Base Town, Used Well

Every version of Torres del Paine - guided, DIY, vehicle-borne - stages through the same small town on Last Hope Sound.

Getting in

Scheduled buses run Puerto Natales to the park’s Laguna Amarga and Pehoé gates in roughly two hours, timed for the morning catamaran; book a day ahead in peak season. The airport (PNT) takes direct flights from Santiago in summer; the year-round alternative is flying to Punta Arenas and busing three hours north. Coming from the Argentine side, El Calafate is about five hours by bus - or skip the transfer and take the full-day park tour from El Calafate directly.

The entry pass, current rules

Foreign adults: $35 in high season (November-March), $18 in low season as of late 2026, purchased through the park’s online pass system - queues at the gate are for the unprepared. Since May 2026 Chile prices access by route rather than days alone, so multi-day trekkers should buy the pass that matches their itinerary; day visitors are unaffected in practice. Tours state whether the pass is included - check the line item.

The two day-trip registers

On foot - the guided base-of-the-towers trek ($109, 4.8/5 across 196 hikers): pickup in town, the towers valley, the moraine hour, the base viewpoint - the W’s finale as a single guided day. Genuinely demanding; genuinely the thing people fly here for.

Book the towers day, free cancellation →

By vehicle - the full-day sightseeing tour ($220): the miradores, Lago Grey’s icebergs, wildlife stops - the park’s breadth instead of its summit. The honest pairing for mixed parties is one register each on consecutive days; the comparison table sets them side by side.

Continuing deeper south afterward? trainoftheendoftheworld.com covers Ushuaia’s End of the World Train - the other classic Patagonian rail-and-boots day, a flight further down the map.