Day-by-day programme of this 11-day itinerary across Patagonia and the Lake District.
Day 1 — Arrival in Santiago
Landing in Santiago de Chile, a capital at the foot of the Andes, the starting point for the great south: the Lake District and Patagonia.
- ✈️ Santiago — Aeroporto di Santiago (SCL)
- 📍 Lastarria — You devote the afternoon to the centre of Santiago: the lively Lastarria district with its cafes and museums, the Plaza de Armas, the Palacio de la Moneda and the central market, where you can enjoy Pacific fish and seafood. The snowy Andes form the backdrop to everything. You dine with a pisco sour and a good Chilean wine. Tomorrow you fly south, to the Lake District, realm of volcanoes and forests.
- 🏨 Hotel Cumbres Lastarria — Centro / Lastarria, Santiago
Day 2 — The Lake District
A flight south, to the Chilean Lake District: Puerto Varas, a pretty German-influenced town on Lake Llanquihue, dominated by the perfect cone of the Osorno volcano.
- ✈️ Santiago → Puerto Varas — Aeroporto di Puerto Montt (PMC)
- 🏨 Hotel Cabaña del Lago Puerto Varas — Puerto Varas, Cile
Day 3 — Osorno volcano and Petrohue
A day in the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park: the turquoise Petrohue waterfalls, Lake Todos los Santos and the slopes of the Osorno volcano.
- 📍 Petrohue Waterfalls — In Chile's oldest national park, the Vicente Perez Rosales, you visit the Saltos del Petrohue: rapids and waterfalls where the river runs turquoise green among black volcanic rocks, with the Osorno volcano in the background. You continue to Lake Todos los Santos, with its emerald waters framed by volcanoes and temperate rainforests. You can climb the slopes of the Osorno (by chairlift) for the view. It is the lush nature of southern Chile. You return to Puerto Varas.
- 📍 Frutillar — On Lake Llanquihue you visit Frutillar, the most German village in Chile: colourful wooden houses, the open-air German colonial museum, an elegant theatre on the lake and excellent patisseries where you can enjoy kuchen with a view of the Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes. It is a corner of Europe in the heart of northern Patagonia. At sunset, the volcanoes turn pink reflected in the lake. You return to Puerto Varas for the evening. Tomorrow you fly into deep Patagonia, to Punta Arenas.
Day 4 — Flight to Patagonia: Punta Arenas
A flight to the far south of Chile, to Punta Arenas, a historic city on the Strait of Magellan, gateway to Chilean Patagonia and Torres del Paine.
- ✈️ Puerto Varas → Punta Arenas — Aeroporto di Punta Arenas (PUQ)
- 🏨 Hotel Los Navegantes — Centro, Punta Arenas
Day 5 — Towards Puerto Natales
A journey north through the Patagonian pampa to Puerto Natales, a lively town on the fjord, the base for exploring the Torres del Paine National Park.
- ✈️ Punta Arenas → Puerto Natales — Puerto Natales, Cile
- 🏨 Hotel Martín Gusinde — Puerto Natales, Cile
Day 6 — Torres del Paine
Entry into the Torres del Paine National Park: turquoise lakes, glaciers and the iconic granite towers, in one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth.
- 📍 Torres del Paine — You enter the Torres del Paine National Park, jewel of Patagonia and biosphere reserve: a world of turquoise and emerald lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests and above all the Paine massif, with its three granite towers (the Torres) and the Cuernos, the bicoloured 'horns'. You walk the viewpoints overlooking Lake Pehoe and the Salto Grande, among herds of guanacos and with the hope of spotting a puma. The wind is a protagonist. You stay in or near the park.
- 📍 Grey Glacier — In the western heart of the park you reach Lake Grey, on whose grey waters blue icebergs float, broken off from the Grey Glacier, a tongue of the gigantic Campo de Hielo Sur (the third ice reserve in the world after Antarctica and Greenland). You can walk to the viewpoint or sail by boat right up to the glacier's front. The intense blue of the ancient ice is hypnotic. You return to your lodging for the night. Tomorrow the queen of treks: the base of the Towers.
- 🏨 Hotel Lago Grey — Parco Torres del Paine / Puerto Natales
Day 7 — Hike to the base of the Towers
The signature hike of Torres del Paine: the trek to the Mirador Las Torres, at the foot of the three spectacular granite towers that give the park its name.
- 🎯 Mirador Las Torres — The trek to the Mirador Las Torres is one of the most beautiful and demanding hikes in Patagonia (about 18-20 km, 8-9 hours round trip): you climb through woods, rivers and a tiring final boulder moraine, to emerge before the three granite towers reflected in an emerald glacial lagoon at their feet. The effort is repaid by one of the most iconic views on the planet. Those who prefer choose shorter hikes in the park. You return to your lodging, exhausted and happy. Tomorrow more views of the park.
Day 8 — More of Torres del Paine
A last day in the park among its finest panoramas: the Cuernos del Paine, the turquoise lakes, the waterfalls and the rich Patagonian wildlife.
- 📍 Lake Pehoe — You devote the last day to the most spectacular panoramas of the park: from the Mirador del Lago Pehoe, of unreal turquoise blue, you admire the profile of the Cuernos del Paine, the bicoloured towers (light granite topped with dark rock), reflected in the water. You walk other easy trails among waterfalls (Salto Grande), lakes and grasslands where guanacos graze, with condors wheeling high. It is a farewell to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. You return to Puerto Natales. Tomorrow you head back to Punta Arenas.
- 🏨 Hotel Martín Gusinde — Puerto Natales, Cile
Day 9 — Back to Punta Arenas
Return to Punta Arenas across the pampa, with the chance to visit a penguin colony on the Strait of Magellan.
- ✈️ Puerto Natales → Punta Arenas — Punta Arenas
- 🏨 Hotel Los Navegantes — Centro, Punta Arenas
Day 10 — Back to Santiago
Flight back to Santiago from Patagonia and a last evening in the capital, among its lively districts and a glass of Chilean wine.
- ✈️ Punta Arenas → Santiago — Aeroporto di Santiago (SCL)
- 🏨 Hotel Cumbres Lastarria — Centro / Lastarria, Santiago
Day 11 — Departure from Santiago
Return flight from Santiago. The end of a journey in the great south of Chile, among volcanoes, German lakes and the granite towers of Patagonia.
- ✈️ Santiago — Aeroporto di Milano Malpensa (MXP)
