Patagonia (Chile + Argentina)

November 27, 20241 Comment

Places visited:

Puerto Natales, Chile
Torres Del Paine, Chile
El Chaltén, Argentina
El Calafate, Argentina

Pro tips for Chilean side:

In South America, domestic flights tend to be much, much cheaper than international ones so if you can try to fly domestically and then do border crossings by bus, you can often save money. For example, we flew from Santiago down to Patagonia but stayed on the Chilean side (Puerto Natales). Then we took a bus to El Calafate (Argentinean side) and will do the border crossing by bus. Then we fly to Ushuaia from there, successfully avoiding any international flights!
For Torres Del Paine, you want to fly to Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas (but this is much further). You can base yourself in Puerto Natales but it means a 4 hr bus ride or 3 hr drive roundtrip each day into the park.
Don’t forget to get your park pass. There’s limited service at the park so best to buy it in advance. You can buy it at the park if you need to (double check this before going though).
I’d recommend renting a car. Our favorite part of exploring the park was driving around on our own time.
If you want to do the W Trek or O Trek, you’ll need to book pretty far in advance. The refugios book up pretty quick. We decided not to do it because we didn’t want to lock ourselves into any dates and we didn’t know how long it would take us to get from Bolivia down to Southern Argentina.
The W & O Trek’s get all the glory and fame, but also the people. We loved our tranquil, empty hikes through the rest of the park better than our day hike on the W trek.
In general we found that most places took credit card (except our hotel outside the park), but it’s always good to have some cash.

Pro tips for Argentinian side:

Argentina just implemented park fees so make sure to read up on which one you want to get. It’s pretty new so my experience is that they are still figuring out how to implement everything. Most folks would just enter the park or trailheads before 7am before the park rangers were at the stations. There were some reports that they would check your ticket as you left, but I didn’t personally see any of this happening. We bought a 3 day Flex pass so we could use it for the two hikes in El Chaltén as well as the Perito Moreno Glacier in El Calafate, tbh they never scanned the ticket so I’m not sure how they would track how many days we were using it.
El Chaltén is very expensive, especially restaurants so I would go as far as to say it might behoove you to bring groceries with you from elsewhere as the groceries stores weren’t much cheaper and weren’t all that well stocked.
Cell service was very spotty in El Chaltén, so download some offline maps before heading there.
Renting a car last minute in El Calafate is near impossible or extremely expensive so if you think you’ll want one to take you to the glacier, then book ahead of time. We ended up using a tour, which was ultimately totally fine.

CITY: Puerto Natales, Chile

HOW LONG: 4 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at El Patagonico in Puerto Natales. It was a great hostel. Big open concept kitchen + common area that was really cozy. The outdoor garden was great for phone calls. The rooms were quiet and we got good nights sleep here. Wifi worked great. Highly recommend staying here!

WHERE TO EAT:

Puerto Natales is full of cute restaurants and cafes! We celebrated Sonja’s birthday here as well so we tried out some nice spots:

Kau Lodge – Great spot for a coffee, brunch or to read. Has a lodge feel and it’s super cozy. We loved it so much we went twice, including once for Sonja’s birthday 🙂
Slowly Bar – great spot for a cheap Completo (Chilean hot dog)
Restaurant La Picada de Carlitos – We went here for Sonja’s birthday dinner and it was awesome!! It was packed and we were lucky to get a table at 9pm. Food was delicious and it was a real treat after so many backpacker meals haha. Always nice to have a proper, good meal once in a while.
Nomad Coffee – cute spot for a hot chocolate & to catch up on your book.

WHAT TO DO:

There’s not much to DO in Puerto Natales, unless you are using this as your base to/from the park. Given we had the luxury of traveling slower, we enjoyed 2 days before and after the park here just preparing and catching up on admin stuff. It’s a lovely, lovely spot for a chilled out break. It was Sonja’s birthday so we had a spa treatment at Vibenso Spa (at the Darwin Hotel) We did enjoy walking along the waterfront, as well as just around the small town. We also met some new friends to play monopoly deal and explore the park with!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really liked the town itself, but if you aren’t using it as a base then you don’t need to spend all that long here. If you are using it as a base, then prepare yourself for some long days. Our friend Gabbi met us in the park and she had to leave at 6:45am and returned at 10:30pm using the bus. We’d recommend renting a car, no matter whether you stay close to the park or in PN.

CITY: Torres Del Paine, Chile

HOW LONG: 3 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We splurged a little and stayed at a hotel near the park entrance to save some back & forth driving. Estancia Dos Elianas ended up being the perfect little spot! The room was so cozy and the heat cranked, which was much needed after chilly days in the park. Breakfast was included as well. There were cute cats & a dog on the grounds as well.

Don’t count on access to gas or an ATM once in the park, so be prepared. We found a hotel 5 min from that ended up selling us some gas from a gas canister – when in Patagonia!!!

WHERE TO EAT:

Honestly either bring your own food or bring your wallet lol. Because we had splurged on a hotel and a rental car, we decided not to buy food while at the park. Knowing we wouldn’t have access to a kitchen, we brought ingredients to make sandwiches for lunch & packs of ramen since all we would need is some hot water to cook that. We got very creative haha.

We found that the refugios or other cafes that are supposedly open in the park were sometimes closed or were very expensive. The only thing we bought was a hot chocolate at Hosteria Pehoe. It was $5 but the views were worth it.

WHAT TO DO:

Again, obviously the most popular thing to do here is the W Trek, O trek or hiking to Grey Glacier. We did none of those things. As I mentioned earlier, because we weren’t sure of our dates as we planned our South American adventure, Sonja & I didn’t want to lock ourselves into anything ahead of time. Instead, we spent 3 days exploring the park with our rental car. Some of our new friends from Puerto Natales met us in the park and joined us for 2 of the days as well. The park felt very empty since everyone who was here was doing one of the more popular hiking adventures. Here’s what we did do to fill our three days:

Mirador Condor – beautiful lookout, but it’s a steep 40 min walk up. We loved watching the condors soar above us.

Mirador Cuervos – our favorite hike! You pass by the beautiful waterfall and continue on your way until you see the backside of the Towers.

Lunch by the lake right about here – we ate our sandwiches right on the lake with gorgeous views
Hot chocolate at Hosteria Pehoe

Base Towers hike – this was our one monster hike! It’s a day hike along the W Trek. It took us around 9-10 hours with some stops along the way. The top was absolutely incredible. The water is such a beautiful, intense blue. Sadly, other than that, we didn’t love this hike. The hike itself wasn’t THAT stunning, and there were so, so many people. It felt like a Disneyland line trying to all pass each other along a very narrow path. It’s hard to tell people not to do the hike since it’s the iconic spot in the park, but I would recommend starting earlier than all the people coming via the bus aka start earlier than 9am.

Just drive around the park for views like the below

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

This park is stunning! Take your time, and enjoy the park beyond the W Trek. We loved having the park to ourselves. Our introduction to Patagonia lived up to the hype!

CITY: El Chalten, Argentina

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Rancho Grande hostel. The customer service was pretty bad and the downstairs was a restaurant so it was sometimes hard to distinguish who was staying versus just eating. Luckily the upstairs was just backpackers. The beds were not great but got the job done. We were worried it would be hard to meet people but we ended up finding our tribe. The kitchen was horrible and disgusting, but when prices are sky high, you make it work. Overall I would try to find a different hostel or airbnb before staying here, but it’s not the worst place in the world.

WHERE TO EAT:

Since it was so expensive here, we did lots of cheap backpacker dinners at the hostel, but here were out highlight finds in town:

Domo Blanco – delicious ice cream for a relatively affordable price (this town is expensive okay). $4 for a small but 2 flavors and all you can pour sauces!!! My dream.
Andrea’s – new bar with cute vibes and great bartenders.
La Wafletaria – great after a hike!! Lots of waffle options to choose from.

WHAT TO DO:

Hiking, hiking, and more hiking! Honestly if you don’t like hiking, then there wouldn’t be a reason to come here haha. This town is known as the “hiking capital” of Argentina. It’s like a ski town but for hiking. Most trailheads are walking distance from town, which is so cool! The two big hikes we took on:

Lomo del Pliegue Lombado – This is a fabulous hike that is a local favorite, but not one of the most popular hikes. It’s stunning and we passed maybe 20 people so you have the trail to yourself. We started at 10 am and got back at 4pm. 22km total with 1000m of elevation. Trailhead is walking distance from town.

Tres Torres – This is the classic, famous hike up to the Fitz Roy (the inspiration for the Patagonia logo). We decided to do it for sunrise with some new Argentinian friends we made. One of their mom’s dropped us at the Rio Electrico trailhead so we could do a through hike instead of an out & back from town (but this is an option). We started at 2am & got back at 11am. We arrived at the top right at sunrise at 6am. 3000 ft of elevation and around 14 miles so not for the faint of heart. If you want to do the Rio Electrico start (which ultimately makes the hike slightly easier and shorter), you’ll have to arrange for a taxi to take you there.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

You could spend many days here and still have hikes to explores for the first time. Other than the prices, I don’t have any complaints. It’s a very cute mountain town that is small enough to start to feel like you’ve lived there for years by day 3. You quickly start to recognize people in town & I never tired of the views. Anywhere between 4-7 days is great here (as long as you like hiking). Have I made that clear?! 🙂

CITY: El Calfate, Argentina

HOW LONG: 4 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Red House Hostel and had a mixed experience. The hotel itself was cute, clean, and in a pretty good location, but the staff were rude. Breakfast was from 7-10 but the pancakes would run out at 7:30am… which is odd, like just make enough if you know people are staying there. Also the common area shuts at 11pm sharp so there is no place to hang and play cards or make a phone call home if time zones don’t align with Argentina. I had to spend 2 hrs in the freezing cold to speak to a friend. I still think it’s not a bad spot, but just consider the above. It’s a small hotel so very easy to meet people!

WHERE TO EAT:

We did lots of cooking at the hostel but here are the two places we went that I would recommend:

Buenos Cruces – yummy homemade pasta + great ambiance. Lovely service as well!
Helados Tito – delicious ice cream!
Waffle Como En Casa – The waffle was great, but the best part was sitting outside in their patio in the sun. We spent a few hours here reading and playing cards after eating!

WHAT TO DO:

The main, almost only, thing to do here is visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. And boy is it a stunner! If you have enough people, renting a car can be cheaper & more efficient than taking the bus or a tour, but plan ahead because rental cars can get pricy last minute (if you can even find one). We were quoted $250 per day so we decided to just do the tour. We opted to upgrade and include the boat ride for an extra ~$85. It was pretty cool to see the glacier up close, but if you are on the fence, I would say the boardwalks also do a comprehensive way to see the glacier (just $55).

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I loved the glacier. It was a total highlight for me. I had been saying “what’s the big deal about glaciers” since every other one we had seen was just firmly fine. This one knocked my socks off. Do not miss seeing this thing. You probably only need 2 nights here (to allow for one day visiting Perito Moreno), but we are happily traveling a bit slower these days to allow for some lazy ready & monopoly deal days. This was a perfect spot for a few extra days.

BUDGET FOR 16 DAYS IN PATAGONIA:

Patagonia is not a cheap travel destination in South America. Most people here are on vacation, rather than long term backpackers. It also tends to be more remote locations so it’s more expensive to get goods there.

Accommodation: $629 ($39 per night) – Our hotel in Torres Del Paine brought the average up a bit.
Food: $350
Groceries: $83
Activities: $376 (Park entrance fees, tours, Sonja’s birthday)
Local Transportation: $322 (includes a rental car for 3 days)
Miscellaneous: $110 (laundry, gifts, postcards, etc)

Total: $1870 (Daily average: $119)

Transportation to next destination: $177 (Flight to Ushuaia)

Easter Island

November 20, 2024Leave a comment

Pro tips:

Book flights ahead of time and be flexible on your dates. We found that flights were either $800 or $330 roundtrip. Luckily we were able to build our time in Chile around the dates that were $330 for flights. There is only 1 flight per day in/out of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) as of publishing this and was only serviced through Santiago.
Don’t forget to fill out the Single Entry Form (FUI) before you get to the airport (we filled it out a week in advance). You will head to a different security line at the Santiago Airport (look for the signs pointing you to the right direction) and you will be asked to show your FUI.
Update the time zone on your phone manually. Strangely when we landed, the time zone didn’t update it automatically like every other time I have travelled. Sonja & I headed down to the beach for sunset and were very confused with how the sun was still so high, yet was supposedly going to set in 30 min. We felt like we were in the twilight zone until we figured out we were 2hrs behind. We literally spent the whole day thinking it was 2 hours later than our phones were telling us. Thankfully we figure this out on our first evening as we would have been two hours early to our early morning tour the next day…
We read very conflicting information online about whether there would be ATM’s on the island and whether we would be able to use credit cards. Given this we took plenty of cash (after scrambling to find an ATM that was open in Santiago). Turns out, there were two ATM’s on the island and other than our accommodation, literally everyone took credit card. My recommendation: take some cash, but you will likely be fine using your credit card 🙂
We also read conflicting info on how good the grocery stores would be as well as how expensive restaurants would be so we actually brought a bunch of easy ingredients/groceries with us like ramen noodles. In hindsight it was probably overkill as the grocery stores were decently stocked with basics and restaurants were plentiful and truly weren’t much more expensive than Santiago.
Cell service was honestly great! No stress about connectivity in town, although some of the more remote parts of the island were dead zones.

CITY: Easter Island/Rapa Nui

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

There are tons of hotels, B&B’s and guesthouses around the island. We stayed at Hostal Vieroto, which ended up being exactly what we needed. We loved the location right across from Playa Poko Poko, which offered a man-made swimming hole and grassy area under the palm trees to read your book. It’s about a 3-5 min walk to the main strip of restaurants and the beach where the turtles swim. The property wasn’t fancy by any means, but the beds were comfy and the bathrooms were clean. The kitchen wasn’t great but it did the job (we wish it was cleaner & was better stocked with cooking utensils). The owner also had two cute big dogs roaming about.

WHERE TO EAT:

We honestly ate a ton at the hostal, but I’d recommend the following three spots:

Mikafe for ice cream in the afternoon. It’s very close to the turtle beach!
Oheho Surf Cafe – Great reasonably priced restaurant for lunch or dinner. Food was fantastic, especially if you like fish!
Iti Lafken – we had lunch here and it was a great choice.

WHAT TO DO:

Summary of options in Rapa Nui:

Pro tip: You need to purchase your Rapanui National Park Ticket ahead of time (we bought ours at the visitor center in town using a credit card). Also, most parts of the park require you to visit with a tour guide so a tour is basically the only way to go.

Must do: Full day tour of all things Moai (We booked ours through Hahave, and would recommend them). We learned all about the history of the Rapa Nui people, everything they know about the Moai, and had a stop at the beach. Pro Tip: the completo (Chilean hot dog) at the beach is worth a try.
Half day tour – You visit Rano Kau Volcano Crater & learn about the bird man competition. We actually thought this tour wasn’t great. We wish we had just hiked ourselves up to the crater and done it without a tour.
Sunrise tour – Sonja did this (as we know I am not a morning person) and raved about it. Pro tip: take a look at the weather beforehand as you’d hate to wake up at 5am just to have a cloudy sky.
Scuba Diving – it was definitely not the best diving I’ve ever done, but it was novel to see a (fake) Moai being integrated into the coral. It was also my first time scuba diving in South America

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, totally blew us away. We both expected to learn about the Moai statues & the mystery surrounding how they were moved around the island. We didn’t expect a tropical paradise full of sunshine, turtles & beaches AND incredible Moai statues. I can’t recommend this place enough. It just was so special to be in the middle of the ocean learning about this beautiful culture.

BUDGET FOR 5 DAYS IN EASTER ISLAND:

Easter Island is definitely not a cheap spot to visit, but it also wasn’t as expensive as I feared.

Accommodation: $153 ($30.60 per night) – my half of the room since I split it with Sonja
Food: $78
Groceries: $20
Activities: $211.60 (National Park Entrance ($75), two tours, & scuba diving)
Local Transportation: $0

Total: $462.6 (Daily average: $93)

Transportation to next destination: $328 (RT Flights to/from Santiago)

San Pedro de Atacama + Santiago

November 16, 2024Leave a comment

Pro tips:

Currency is not complicated here (unlike Argentina or Bolivia). You can pay by credit card most places and to get cash, just use any ATM. FYI ATM fees can be pricy (but doesn’t matter if you have a debit card that reimburses ATM fees like mine does).
When you cross the border into Chile, you will receive a slip of paper called the PDI. DO NOT LOSE IT. You need it to leave the country!
Chile is definitely a more expensive South American country, but the infrastructure is generally better.
In South America, domestic flights tend to be much, much cheaper than international ones so if you can try to fly domestically and then do border crossings by bus, you can often save money. For example, we fly from Santiago down to Patagonia but stay on the Chilean side (Puerto Natales). Then we will take a bus to El Calafate (Argentinean side) and will do the border crossing by bus. Then we fly to Ushuaia from there, successfully avoiding any international flights.

CITY: San Pedro de Atacama

HOW LONG: 5 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

I loved my hostel here! When I began searching for the right spot, every review of Hostal Mamatierra mentioned how clean it was. It lived up to its reputation! It was so cozy, clean and had the best hostel breakfast I’ve had in a while. Pancakes, fruit, & eggs in addition to cereal & yogurt. Very easy to meet people and it’s small enough that you actually end up talking to almost everyone over breakfast or in one of the hammocks. Easy to book tours through the front desk as well. Beds were comfy and the rooms were cleaned every day! Overall a 10/10, can’t recommend enough!

WHERE TO EAT:

Franchuteria – cute cafe with outdoor seating. Two locations in town but I preferred the one with the outdoor seating. Delicious baguettes and sandwiches. Huge portions. I ate lunch and had enough leftover for dinner. Great spot to play cards or chat with new friends from the hostel. Definitely my favorite place in San Pedro.
Adobe – pretty expensive but very cute restaurant. Live music and food was delicious. I had a cheese, mushroom, and onion quesadillas. Again, I had a lovely experience but the price comes from it being touristy, rather than exceptional food.
Ckunna – lovely spot slightly out of the main touristy bit. Pasta was delicious and my friends raved about their steaks. Great outdoor patio to enjoy dinner.
Roots Cafe Pizza – Went here for brunch/lunch & some monopoly deal with my new friends. Very cute outdoor space in the back. Really enjoyed it.
Astro Burger – A great burger in a kinda funky space. You don’t go for the ambiance 😉

WHAT TO DO:

There are sooooo many tours & activities in San Pedro! Your accommodation will likely have a booklet or packet for you to peruse with all the options. Also it felt like almost every other business in town was a travel agency who are happy to book you onto one of their tours.

Because the landscape is quite similar to that of Southern Bolivia, I opted to skip some of the (sometimes) pricy tours. The two I chose to do:

Valle de la Luna – was declared a Nature Sanctuary in 1982 for its natural environment and strange lunar landscape, from which its name is derived. It definitely has a Mars-like feel to it. It has various stone and sand formations which have been carved by wind and water. This tour usually includes a sunset stop + a little picnic which is fun. Pro tip: Make sure your tour will have an English speaking guide. I forgot to ask and my tour was in Spanish – whoops!

Astronomy Tour (Stargazing) – The Atacama Desert is one of the few locations on the globe with over 300 days of clear skies per year. When you add no light pollution and its high altitude, you have might have the best place for stargazing in the world. Do not skip this tour. We had a blast! It included a short film about astrology, naked eye stargazing, snacks + warm drinks, & stargazing through incredible telescopes! Pro tip: Pay attention how big/bright the moon will be and try to time your tour when it will be less obstructive.

There are many, many other tours like floating in a salty lagoon, hot springs, geysers and more. See here for a comprehensive overview of your options or just ask your hostel/hotel when you arrive 🙂

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Atacama is a very cute, but touristy spot in the north of Chile. It’s fairly expensive, but I really enjoyed it. It was a fabulous spot to spend 5 days, soaking up the warmth & sun after the cold mountains in Bolivia. I met fun travelers and loved my hostel. Highly recommend this on any Chile itinerary as the nature is stunning!

CITY: Santiago

HOW LONG: 6 Nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We cannot recommend Ventana Sur more if you stay in Santiago! It’s basically a home converted into a hostel, which makes it so cozy and incredibly easy to meet people. Free breakfast is yummy and everyone sits at one of two large tables so you get to know everyone. Each night people are hanging out, drinking socially and playing games. The neighborhood is wonderful and incredibly safe (huge perk). We loved being here and Ivan is a wonderful host!

WHERE TO EAT:

Auténtiko French Takos – weird fusion but it was pretty dang delicious. I had a cordon blue with avocado and there are French fries inside all wrapped up in a grilled tortilla. My friends didn’t love theirs but I quite enjoyed mine haha.
Bemvindo Cafe – cute cozy spot to work with a hot drink
In Pasta – Fabulous Italian restaurant. We had yummy mushroom pasta and fun drinks.
La Tranquera Pastelería – yummy empanadas with seating in front to watch the world go by
Ciudadano – delicious pizza. We ate here twice. It was great for eating 1/2 for dinner and then taking 1/2 for the bus ride the next day.
Mala Mia – vegetarian brunch spots. Lots of plants and colorful, creative plants
La Panadera – fabulous croissants for the morning or a long bus ride to your next destination
Doña Empanada – quick, cheap, great empanada spot.
Cafe de La Candelaria – cute indoor and outdoor seating. Fairly affordable cute brunch vibes

WHAT TO DO:

I had been to Santiago before so I honestly didn’t do much. Last time I was here I did a day trip to Valparaíso (Sonja did this while we were here), which is popular. We did do a walking tour with two women from our hostel, which is always a great option while in a big city to efficiently get a bit of history.

The highlight was accidentally stumbling upon Santa Lucia Hills. It’s a beautiful park with a peak offering 360 degree views of the city and surrounding mountains. Highly recommend visiting here.

Other friends from the hostel went on a wine tasting here that they raved about so might be worth checking out if that’s your thing.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Santiago was not my favorite place the first time I came here 6 years ago. This time I had a blast, mostly because of the peaceful, cafe filled neighborhood we stayed in & because the hostel was perfect! We met so many wonderful humans here.