Torres del Paine O Trek (8 days)

The O Trek is the most complete trekking route in Torres del Paine. Over 8 days, the trail loops around the Paine Massif, allowing you to explore both the park’s most remote areas and its main highlights: John Gardner Pass, Grey Glacier, the French Valley, and Base Torres Viewpoint, passing through landscapes of mountains, lakes, forests, and glaciers.

This program allows you to complete the O Trek independently in 8 days and brings together in a single booking the accommodations and main transportation needed to complete the route. You can choose between camping or a combination of refugio and camping accommodation, and decide whether to include meals during the trek. This way, the main logistics are arranged in advance, so you can simply focus on enjoying the experience.

Our program is designed to cover the entire O Trek, with accommodations in different sectors along the route, allowing you to follow a continuous itinerary and make the most of each day of trekking.

This is a high demand program and its spaces are limited, so our recommendation is to book your trip as early as possible.

Program with 7 nights of accommodation in camping:

• Program based on double occupancy for residents in Chile: CLP$ 1.099.000 per person.
• Program based on double occupancy for non-residents in Chile: US$ 1,390 per person.

Program with 5 nights of accommodation in refugio and 2 nights of accommodation campsite:

• Program for residents in Chile: CLP$ 1.149.000 per person.
• Program for non-residents in Chile: US$ 1,890 per person.

Important notes

• For programs that include only camping accommodations, all tents are double occupancy and shared by two people. Double-occupancy rates apply to groups with an even number of travelers (2, 4, 6, etc.), as each tent is shared by two people. For groups with an odd number of travelers (1, 3, 5, etc.), a single supplement of CLP$ 490.000 / US$ 659, as one traveler will occupy a double tent alone.
  
• Non-resident foreigners must present their passport and entry card to the country at check-in at each accommodation. If these documents are not presented, the guest must pay IVA (Spanish acronym for VAT) directly at the accommodation.

1. Select the program start date on the calendar.
2. Select the number of passengers.
3. Click “Add to cart.”
4. Pay the total program price online.
   

Once the online payment is completed, we will confirm your booking within 3 business days (up to 7 business days during high season), depending on accommodation availability. If we are unable to confirm the requested start date, we will offer you the next closest available date (usually starting one or two days later). If the proposed date doesn’t work for you, you may request a full refund.

• ​Round trip transportation, in a shared bus, between Puerto Natales and the Torres del Paine National Park.
• Accommodation:
  • Campsite: Includes a down sleeping bag, insulated sleeping pad, and pillow. The tent is already set up at the campsite; you do not need to set it up, take it down, or carry it. Overnight stays are at the Serón, Dickson, Perros, Grey, Paine Grande, Francés or Cuernos, and Central campsites.
  • Refugio + campsite: Includes a mattress protector, sleeping bag or bed linens with blankets, and a pillow. Overnight stays are in the Dickson, Grey, Paine Grande, Francés or Cuernos, and Central mountain refuges. Campsite nights are the first night at Serón and the third night at Perros.
• Hot showers (except in Perros campsite).

*At Perros campsite, no pillow is provided.

The accommodation confirmed for each night will depend on the availability of lodgings for your travel dates. The program may be confirmed with the Base of Torres del Paine trek at the beginning instead of at the end of the itinerary. If you have any lodging preferences, please indicate them in the “Additional comments” box during the online booking process.

• Full board meals (breakfast, box-lunch and dinner, starting with the dinner of the first day and ending with the box-lunch of the last day):
  • Residents in Chile:
    • Normal: CLP$ 690.000 per person.
    • Christmas and New Year: CLP$ 726.000 per person.
  • Non-residents in Chile:
    • Normal: US$ 1,050 per person.
    • Christmas and New Year: US$ 1,104 per person.
• Grey Glacier Hike: CLP$ 265.000 per person.
• Grey Glacier Kayak (available until April 15): CLP$ 195.000 per person.

*The box lunch is always provided to go, while breakfast and dinner may be either to go or served, depending solely on the meal availability at each accommodation (it is not possible to choose the format). If you have any dietary restrictions, please indicate them in the “Additional comments” box during the online booking process.

• Entrance fee to the Torres del Paine National Park (CLP$ 14.200 for resident in Chile and CLP$ 48.500 for non-resident in Chile*).
• Connection transport between Laguna Amarga and Las Torres Area (CLP$ 10.000 for resident in Chile and US$ 12 for non-resident in Chile*).
• Pickup at your accommodation.
• Guide.
• Porter.
  

*Prices subject to change without notice.

*The following itinerary is for reference only and may not match the itinerary of your confirmed program. If you have any questions about your confirmed itinerary, please contact us at reservas@nomades.com.

Start: Day 1 at 6:45 am in the Terminal Rodoviario de Puerto Natales.

End: Day 8 at 9:30 pm at the Puerto Natales Bus Terminal. This is a fixed schedule and cannot be moved earlier. Therefore, it is required to stay overnight in Puerto Natales on the day the program ends, and your flight from Puerto Natales or your transfer to Punta Arenas must always be scheduled for the following day.​

Day 1: Departure from Puerto Natales and Serón Trek (9 km, 5.6 miles, 4 hours).

The program starts in the Puerto Natales Bus Station to take the bus to the Portería Laguna Amarga, where you will enter the Torres del Paine National Park. After that, you will be able to take another ground transport to the Welcome Center, where you will have to register. After one of the best views of the Torres del Paine you can have from the starting point, if weather is good enough, you will enter the Patagonian landscape through a slope, the first test of the hike. You will have views of the surrounding valleys and the Cerro Paine, while you continue on the side of the Paine river until reaching Serón campsite, where you will stay this first night.

Day 2: Dickson Trek (18.5 km, 11.5 miles, 6 hours).

After breakfast, you will take the route parallel to the Paine River, to get closer to the Cerro Paine side. You will go up by a steep track to the higher part that you will have to tour during the day, and in which you will have a privileged view of the surrounding mountains, besides the Paine Lake. Then, you will walk by the sides of the mount, parallel to the river. You will have time to stop in the Guardería Coirón for lunch and recover energy, before keep walking through the fields with views of granite walls. After that, you will see the Dickson Glacier in the distance, which means that that's the end of the hike for today. You will reach the Dickson area, near the lake with the same name and from the Paine River begins.

Day 3: Perros Trek (9 km, 5.6 miles, 4 to 5 hours).

You will start early to take the route marked by Los Perros River. You will go a couple of hours through a nothofagus forest to a small bridge to cross the river. There you will start going up the moraine until identifying the Los Perros Glacier, which is on the side of the lake with the same name. From that point, you will be a couple of minutes from the Perros campsite, in which you will stay to face the challenge of the next day.

Day 4: Grey Glacier Lookout Point Trek (22 km, 13.7 miles, 10 to 12 hours).

The recommendation is getting up very early to begin the adventure. This morning will be necessary the use of a headlamp, because you will start walking before dawn. You will begin a demanding walk up in the middle of the woods and, while you go forward, you will be able to see the first lights of the sun over the park. You will continue the road to the John Garner Pass, the higher point of the trek at 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) of altitude that will test your strength and that, needless to say, you must do very carefully. Once in the pass, you will have the first view of the Grey Glacier and the beginning of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, one of the characteristic images of the Torres del Paine National Park, which you will see for a while before descending through another forest. You will pass by the Guardería El Paso, where you can have lunch before keep walking to the suspension bridges, the road that borders the Grey Glacier. You will be able to take pictures and visiting some privileged points to admire the lake and the glacier, before reaching the Grey area where, rightfully, you will get some rest.

Day 5: Optional activity in the glacier and Paine Grande Trek (11 km, 6.8 miles, 4 to 5 hours).

This day, during the morning, you can go to the base from where you can make one of the two optional activities available:

• Grey Glacier Ice Hike: 15-minute navigation by Zodiac boat to the Nunatak Island, from where starts the 1-hour hike with crampons, piolet, harness and helmet on the Grey Glacier.
• Grey Glacier Kayak: kayak navigation between the small icebergs surrounding the glacier and, if the weather is good enough, close to the Nunatak Island, to have another perspective of the glacier. Wetsuit, jacket and waterproof boots, kayak gloves, kayak skirt, kayak vest and life vest included.

After this experience, you will go back to the campsite to collect your things and start the trekking to arrive to the next camping, walking that is much less demanding that the one the day before. You will border the Grey Lake, path in which you will have the last views of the glacier and the small icebergs, passing by the Los Patos Lagoon, before entering a small valley from where you can see the Pehoé Lake. You will get to Paine Grande, from where you will have a great view of the Cerro Paine Grande and the Cuernos del Paine.

Day 6: Francés Valley Hike (22 km, 13.7 miles, 8 to 10 hours).

The general recommendation is starting early, because it is a long distance that you have to walk. You will pass by the border of the Skottsberg Lake, following the track to the Italiano Campsite, which is the entrance door of the Francés Valley. You will go into a Patagonian forest, to leave to the Francés Lookout Point, which gives you access to the views of different mountains surrounding the valley, besides the Francés Glacier. If you have time and energy, you will be able to go on to the Británico Lookout Point from where you will have another perspective inside the same Torres del Paine Park. The way back is by the same path until Italiano Campsite, from where you have to go to Francés area or Cuernos area.

Day 7: Central Trek (11 km, 6.8 miles, 5 to 6 hours).

After breakfast, you will start walking going over by the Nordenskjöld Lake, identifying different vegetal and animal species, besides seeing the Almirante Nieto Mount, and maybe identifying its hanging glacier. The destination will be the Central area, place where you can rest to face the last day of walking.

Day 8: Base of Torres del Paine Hike and arrival to Puerto Natales (22 km, 13.7 miles, 8 to 9 hours).

The last day of activity is considered for the Base of Torres del Paine hike, the great image of the park. To reach this place, you will have to get up very early and go to the old bridge that crosses the Ascencio River and enter to a typical Patagonian forest. You will get to the moraine, which you will have to climb for about 45 minutes until getting to the Base of Torres del Paine Lookout Point, finishing touch for all the effort in completing the Paine Circuit. There, you will be able to take pictures, enjoy your lunch and rest a moment before starting the return through the same path you just made. You will arrive to the Welcome Center, same place from where you started the trek, to board the connection transport and the bus that will take you to Puerto Natales.

​*The itinerary may be modified at any time in case of trail closures due to extreme weather conditions (such as whiteouts, heavy snow accumulation, or wind gusts that make trekking unsafe) or natural disasters. These measures are very rare, applied only once or twice a year, and are determined by CONAF, the park’s managing authority, exclusively to ensure visitor safety.​

• 40-liter backpack for the entire circuit.
• 20-liter daypack for daily hikes.
• Trekking shoes.
• Sandals or comfortable shoes (like Crocs).
• Waterproof pants.
• Waterproof jacket.
• Warm jacket (like a fleece).
• 1 T-shirt per day (ideally a mix of short- and long-sleeved shirts).
• 1 pair of socks per day (preferably trekking socks).
• Underwear.
• Warm hat.
• Warm gloves.

• Sun hat.

• Sunglasses.

• Sunscreen.

• Small microfiber towel.

• Personal hygiene items.

• Water bottle.

• Ziploc bags or similar (for storing trash).

• Flashlight.

• Power bank.

• Cash.

• Food and cooking gear (if not booking the full board meal service).

• Minimum age required of 18 years old to make the activity.
• Not allowed for pregnant women.
• Excellent physical fitness and prior experience with high-intensity treks are required.
  
• During the tour, you must sign a liability waiver form required by CONAF, the agency that manages the park.

You may make changes to your booking, reschedule, or cancel it with a 100% refund, regardless of the reason, within the following timeframes:

• General policy: Up to and including 60 days before the program start date. If fewer than 59 days remain before the start date, the booking is non-refundable and cannot be modified.

• High-demand dates: For programs that include at least one overnight stay between December 15 and January 5, included both days, the deadline is extended to up to and including 90 days before the program start date. If fewer than 89 days remain before the start date, the booking is non-refundable and cannot be modified.

Once the applicable deadline has passed, changes, rescheduling, and cancellations are not permitted under any circumstances, including for bookings made within that period. This includes changes to participants, accommodations, transfers, schedules, or the direction of the itinerary.

Likewise, changes, rescheduling, and cancellations are not permitted if any of the following circumstances (or similar events) prevent part or all of the program from taking place: partial or complete trail closures, natural disasters, fires, road closures, accidents, strikes, demonstrations, pandemics or epidemics, flight cancellations, lost luggage, passenger accidents within the park, or the passenger’s personal or health-related issues. For passengers who have travel insurance that covers the circumstances preventing the program from taking place, we can issue the necessary documentation for submission to their insurance provider.