How to get to Torres del Paine? Easy! 5 best ways.
Torres del Paine is one of the must-visit places in Chilean Patagonia, and it definitely was one of the highlights of our trip around South America. And although it’s rather remote, there are several options on how to get to Torres del Paine.
The most convenient ones are flying down to Patagonia – Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales or El Calafate – and then driving a rental car to the park.
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There’s no Torres del Paine airport
There’s no airport directly in the Torres del Paine National Park. The two closest are Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales in Chile. If you are planning to come from Argentina, you can fly to El Calafate from Buenos Aires.
How to get to Torres del Paine from Santiago
Santiago, the capital of Chile, is quite far from Torres del Paine – some 1700 miles (2800 km). There are several ways to get down to the park, of course, some more convenient than others.
Flying from Santiago de Chile to Torres del Paine – either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales
The best and fastest way to get to Torres del Paine from Santiago de Chile is by flying into Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales airport.
There are numerous daily flights from Santiago to Punta Arenas airport, some of which have stopovers in Puerto Montt. Most of them are operated by Latam, which is not a low-cost airline, thus the flights are rather expensive.
There are flights operated by low-cost airlines Sky Airline and Jetsmart. If you book these flights well in advance, they can be ridiculously cheap. The cheapest flight I’ve seen is 35 euros.
If you fly into Punta Arenas, make sure to stay a night there and go see some penguins!
Puerto Natales is the closest airport to Torres del Paine. It’s a tiny airport, so there are not too many flights, plus it’s open only during summer. There are only a few flights a week operated by LATAM during the peak times in the summer. Thus, it’s an expensive option, so we wouldn’t really recommend it.
Funny story.
We flew Sky Airline during our trip to Patagonia (and South America as a whole). Don’t expect anything fancy, but it did get the job done.
The only thing I didn’t like about Sky Airline was that on one of our last flights, they tried to charge us for the hand luggage, saying the suitcase was too big. It wasn’t, though, and I was sure for a few reasons: it was like our 10th flight with them during this trip and no other times was there a problem, and I had checked before that the suitcase fit in the measurer thing in the airport.
The gate attendant was using a measuring tape, and I noticed that it was set 5 centimetres too little! So basically, they either made a ridiculous mistake (they didn’t have to use a tape, as they had a cardboard case for checking suitcase sizes), or they were scamming people (doesn’t make any sense, as it’s not like they can pocket the money).
I told her that it was not correct and she said that I was wrong. In the end, though, she used the box thing and what would you know, I was right.
I saw before that other people had to pay the oversized baggage fee, so if I hadn’t argued with the attendant, they would have charged us, too.
Driving from Santiago de Chile to Torres del Paine
It’s possible to drive or take a bus from Santiago, but it would take a very long time and cost a lot more than flying so not exactly the best way how to get to Torres del Paine.
Obviously, if you prefer it, you can make the drive from Santiago to Torres del Paine. Just keep in mind that it’s going to be more expensive and take a lot of time.
If you rent a car in Santiago and want to return it somewhere in Patagonia, you’re going to have to pay quite a hefty fee. On the other hand, driving back all the way to Santiago is going to cost a lot of fuel.
Plus, timewise it would be quite a lot of hours on the road. Would make for one hell of a road trip, though.
Bus from Santiago to Torres del Paine
As for buses, be aware that there are no direct ones, so you’d have to transfer. And it takes more than a day to get from Santiago to Torres del Paine, and you have to both transfer and cross into Argentina. Troublesome.
Getting from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine
Puerto Natales is often called the gateway to Torres del Paine, as that’s the closest town to the park. If you can’t find accommodation in Torres del Paine or if it’s too much for your budget, you can consider staying in Puerto Natales and taking day trips to the park.
Driving from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine
Puerto Natales is the closest town to Torres del Paine and the road between the two is nice and paved.
It’s approximately 100km from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine. The closest entrance to the park is Sarmiento, a bit more than 83km and 1h20m driving time.
The route itself is rather easy – you just need to drive on road nr 9 for 15 to 20km, depending on where in Puerto Natales you start your journey and then turn left on the road Y-290. There you continue for 65km until you reach Torres del Paine.
Bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine.
If you prefer taking a bus to driving, it’s not really a problem as well. Several bus companies run daily services to the park, just make sure to get your ticket the day before. You can get the tickets at the bus terminals or ask your hotel for help.
Two of the companies that run services between Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine are Bus-Sur and JB Patagonia. The buses for Torres del Paine depart in the morning and return in the afternoon.
The bus trip from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine takes approximately 2 hours. The bus stops in three places in the park: Laguna Amarga, where you have to buy the park ticket, Pudeto, and Administracion. It’s not exactly the best way how to get to Torres del Paine, but it’s not the worst, either.
Getting from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine
Punta Arenas Airport, as I said, is the best airport for Torres del Paine. Although Puerto Natales is the closest town to Torres del Paine, its airport just doesn’t have enough flights – or they’re too expensive.
So if you decide to fly into Punta Arenas, these are the most convenient options for getting to Torres del Paine National Park:
Driving from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine
Driving from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine is quite easy. You just need to drive the 250-something kilometres from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales and then continue to the park. The road to Puerto Natales – road nr 9 – is paved and rather good.
There are a lot of car rentals in Punta Arenas – so it’s convenient to fly here and then drive a rental car to Torres del Paine.
Just keep both of your hands on the steering wheel!
Bus from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine – through Puerto Natales
By the looks of it, there are no direct buses from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine. Considering how long it would take to go from Punta Arenas to the park, I’d recommend staying in Puerto Natales if you’d like to do day trips with a bus.
Although just renting a car and staying in Torres del Paine is the best choice – there are a lot of things to do in Torres del Paine, which can be cancelled or changed due to weather.
Getting from Buenos Aires to Torres del Paine – flying to El Calafate
If you’re travelling in Argentina, you can consider flying to El Calafate. It’s the closest airport to Torres del Paine National Park in Argentina, as there’s no flight from Argentina to Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales.
There are several daily flights to Buenos Aires operated by Aerolineas Argentinas and LATAM (both similarly priced and generally more expensive than the low-cost airlines flying to Punta Arenas).
Word of caution – most of these flights operate to the domestic airport Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, while the international flights arrive at Ezeiza airport. In case you’re transferring in Buenos Aires, take that into consideration.
How to get from El Calafate and El Chalten to Torres del Paine
It takes a bit more than 4,5 hours to get from El Calafate to Torres del Paine Welcome Centre by car. And it takes a bit more than 4 hours to get from El Calafate to the Laguna Amarga entrance.
From El Calafate, then, you have to either drive or take a bus to Torres del Paine. You can even consider visiting Los Glaciares National Park which is located very close to El Calafate – there’s a reason the park has been made one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites!
Driving from El Chalten to Torres del Paine takes approximately 3h longer than from El Calafate. First, you need to drive to El Calafate, which takes approx. 3h, and then continue just like described before.
When coming from El Calafate, we were advised to go to Esperanza on road nr 5 and then nr 7. Gerson from Adel Rent a car advised us not to continue on road nr 40, although it kind of looks like a shortcut because the road is really bad. Plus, there’s a gas station in Esperanza where you can refuel.
Related: what you need to know about renting a car and driving in Patagonia
I’d recommend asking your rental agency about the road, though – who knows, maybe it’s been fixed now.
Bus from El Calafate and El Chalten to Torres del Paine
If you prefer to take a bus, know that there are no direct buses from El Calafate or El Chalten to Torres del Paine. You first need to go to Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas and then take a bus from there to the national park. The trip from El Calafate to Puerto Natales takes about 5h, to Punta Arenas – 6h.
One of the companies that make the trips from El Calafate and Puerto Natales is Bus-Sur. Cal-Tur and Chalten Travel do services between El Calafate and El Chalten, so you can then continue to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine.
Related: best places to stay in El Calafate
Other ways how to get to Torres del Paine from anywhere
If you don’t exactly find any of the listed ways how to get to Torres del Paine acceptable, I can offer you some more unique ones.
Tours
The easiest way how to get to Torres del Paine – and enjoy it – if you don’t want to drive is a tour. There is anything from shared day tours to private multi-day tours available.
Some options that I’ve found:
- Shared tour of Torres del Paine and Milodon caves from Puerto Natales
- Private Torres del Paine and Glacier Grey Navigation tour
- 4-day private Torres del Paine, penguins, and glaciers tour
- Tour from Puerto Natales
- Hiking tour to Torres del Paine
- Tour from El Calafate
- or a tour from Punta Arenas
As you see, quite a few options are available.
Private transfers
If you have the budget for it or if you’re travelling in a bigger group, you can consider getting a private transfer that takes you from where you are to Torres del Paine. One of the companies that does private transfers is ToDoPatagonia. And even some bigger hotels offer private transfers to the park, so check out if yours does.
So, what is the best way to get to Torres del Paine?
In my opinion, the best way how to get to Torres del Paine is to fly from Santiago to Punta Arenas and then, drive on in a rental car.
Obviously, there are some exceptions for this, like if you’re planning to do the W trek. But otherwise, renting a car in Patagonia is just the best idea all around as it gives you the most freedom to explore the area.
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