Great Patagonian Traverse

You need a good level of fitness and good general health. This is graded 6/10, Moderate to Challenging: trekking days are 6–8 hours at a steady pace, and up to 9–10 hours if you take all the optional side trips. We suggest an hour of aerobic exercise three to five times a week for three months beforehand, including hill walking with a pack.

The day hikes from El Chaltén beneath the Fitz Roy Massif are the biggest. Photographer Lachlan Gardiner, who travelled the route in early 2026, recorded around 40,000 steps and close to 30 kilometres (18 miles) on his group’s Fitz Roy day - about eight hours of walking, broken up by lunch, water and photo stops through very long summer daylight hours.

You take the shorter option, and you still get the views. On some trips travellers have needed to peel off partway up the Fitz Roy climb, walkan easier loop, and rate the day just as highly. Several days on this trip have a built-in shorter route, and your guides will talk you through the choice that morning.

It isn’t suitable for people with limited mobility, and it won’t suit you if you need a guaranteed fixed itinerary. Patagonian weather regularly forces changes to boat crossings and walking plans, and several days involve long drives between trekking areas. If you want mountains without consecutive long walking days, our shorter Patagonia itineraries are a better fit.

No. Patagonia’s peaks are dramatic rather than high, and the trails stay low. Walks go a little above 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) only a couple of times, so altitude sickness isn’t a factor. The physical demand comes from consecutive long walking days, uneven ground and Patagonia’s wind.

No. Your main luggage is transferred ahead by vehicle, boat and - on the border-crossing day - pack horses, so you walk with a daypack only. No tents or sleeping bags to carry. Packs you carry weight around 8 kilograms (18 pounds), with camera gear on top of the usual layers, water and packed lunch.

Camping - in the park’s serviced camps at Paine Grande, Cuernos or Frances, and Las Torres. The tents are permanently pitched on raised steel platforms, and each site sits alongside a refugio building where meals are served and local beer and wine are available. Some itinerary references mention refugios in the same areas; your booked accommodation is the platform tents.

No. Three nights open the trip at a lakeside lodge with a spa, El Chaltén and El Calafate are comfortable hotels, and the Torres del Paine camps are permanent, serviced and catered. One night, at the Candelario Mancilla estancia, is genuinely basic. Being in the wild doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.

Rustic and warm, with no hot water. It’s a working family farm reachable only by boat, run by hosts who have lived there for generations, with guest rooms in a separate building beside the farmhouse. Many travellers rate the slow-cooked beef served there the best meal of the trip, which, in Chile and Argentina, is saying something!

One soft-sided bag or backpack. Not a suitcase. No more than 20 kg (44 lb), plus a 30–35 litre daypack. Your daypack needs to hold three days of clothing and toiletries for the Torres del Paine section, so don’t bring a small one. The weight limit matters because your main bag travels by boat and pack horse.

Windy, changeable and cooler than the photographs suggest. Summer daytime temperatures run 10–18°C (50–64°F) in Chilean Patagonia and 12–20°C (54–68°F) on the Argentine side, but valley wind bites on clear days. A recent group had a morning near 0°C (32°F) on the lake crossing and snow at the towers viewpoint - in peak season.

Layers, not bulk. Long trekking trousers, a base layer, a fleece mid layer, a light synthetic jacket, a waterproof shell, waterproof overtrousers, lightweight gloves and a beanie - and never needed anything heavier. A full gear list comes with your pre-departure information. Sun protection matters as much as warmth; UV is strong when you’re moving.

December to February gives you the most favourable odds. Patagonia’s weather is never predictable, but those months bring the longest daylight hours, which means that if the weather turns you still have hours of light to work with. Our departures sit inside that window, in early December and January.

In two places, yes. The base of the towers of Paine and the Perito Moreno Glacier both draw crowds in peak season. Our guides start the towers ascent in the dark for that reason — Lachlan Gardiner’s group had around ten people at the viewpoint on the way up and passed hundreds coming down. Elsewhere the trails feel spacious.

Some, but this is a mountain trip rather than a wildlife one. Expect Magellanic woodpeckers in the beech forest, chimango caracaras around the camps, and condors overhead. Pumas exist in Torres del Paine but sightings are rare and not something to plan on.

We make alternative arrangements and continue the trip. The boats on Lago O’Higgins and Laguna del Desierto don’t always operate, so your leader reroutes when needed. Where a re-route means additional transport or accommodation, that cost may be passed on to you, we’ll tell you at the time rather than after the fact.

A single supplement is available on this trip. It applies to the hotel, lodge and camping nights - but the estancia homestay and some remote sections have limited bedding configurations, so a night of shared accommodation can still happen but we may not be able to guarantee it in advance. If a private room every night matters to you, ask Reservations to confirm before you book.

Several days include significant transfers. The longest, into Torres del Paine, is 7–8 hours across the steppe. They’re scenic rather than dead time, and they’re the price of a genuine traverse: from Villa O’Higgins, backtracking by road to the next stop would take more than 15 hours, which is exactly why this route continues south by boat and on foot instead.

No. Most Patagonia itineraries fly between highlights and walk the W-Trek. This one travels the full length of Patagonia from Coyhaique to Puerto Natales largely on foot and by boat, including the Leones Glacier, the Villa O’Higgins border route and Laguna del Desierto - country most Patagonia trips never reach - and still completes the full W-Trek.

Usually likeminded, and from all over the world. An itinerary with a 25-kilometre border crossing and five nights in tents attracts people who want the same thing you do. Groups cap at twelve. Onegroup named themselves the Travelling Fossils and still has a running WhatsApp group more than a year later.

Exceptionally, and the mixed weather is why. Lenticular clouds, storm light on granite and southern beech turning orange give you far more than blue-sky conditions would. A professional phographer shot the route for us carrying a telephoto for wildlife and glacier detail. Long summer days mean early starts for sunrise don’t cost you sleep you need.