After the half day penguin tour in Punta Arenas, we picked up our rental car, stocked up in the supermarket and headed to Torres Del Paine National Park. All the research we did indicated that roads are paved, or a very good gravel when inside of the park. We hired a small two wheel drive, little Toyota Yaris, and it did really well on the trip.
As we headed up Ruta 9 towards Puerto Natales we started to see snow cap mountains in the distance. It took about 3 hours to get from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. We fueled up in Puerto Natales and continued driving.
We decided to base ourselves close to the national park in Rio Serrano instead of staying in Puerto Natales and driving to the park every day. To get to Rio Serrano, After Puerto Natales we took road marked Y290 on google maps. This is definitely a much less popular route than longer but fully paved Ruta 9. The route we took was partially paved but in a very good condition. We made it absolutely fine in our compact two wheel drive. The views along the way were stunning and it was definitely worth trying this route.
In a little over 2 hours we reached Rio Serrano view point offering breathtaking panoramic views of Torres del Paine and surroundings. There are several lodges and hotels in Rio Serrano area. We stayed at Hotel del Paine. Accommodations in Rio Serrano are not cheap but for us it was definitely worth it. We woke up every morning with the view of Torres del Paine and ended the day watching sun reflecting on the mountains. Food was very good and the restaurant has Torres del Paine and Rio Serrano views. We were definitely very happy we decided to stay in Rio Serrano area.
On our first full day in Torres del Paine we decided to start with two short hikes. We went to Condor Lookout and Cuernos Lookout with Salta waterfalls. Here is a write up on Condor and Cuernos hikes.
The next day we decided to tackle the 20km Torres base lookout hike. It was the hardest hike we ever did (we are not exactly hikers to be honest) but it was really rewarding. Here is more on Torres base hike.
After Torres base we needed a recover so on the third day we headed to Lago Grey hotel and took a boat ride to see Glacier Grey. Here is more on Glacier Grey trip.
On the last full day and still suffering from the consequences of our big hike (resulted in a bit of a knee problem), we went for a drive around the park and to Laguna Azul (Blue lagoon) in search of wild life. We saw many guanacos and birds and even a puma! More on our Rio Serrano to Laguna Azul drive and wildlife here.
After 4 full days it was time to head to the next adventure. We got up early and headed one last time through the Torres del Paine National Park to Ruta 9, Puerto Natales and on to Argentina border.
The drive along Ruta 9 is not as scenic, we felt, as the one we took into the park towards Rio Serrano but it was definitely faster and with new to us beautiful views. We saw cattle, condors (in the distance) and vultures, and even a rhea – South American relative of ostrich and emu.
We left hotel in Torres del Paine in Rio Serrano at 8 in the morning and made it to Puerto Natales by 11am. We fueled up and continued driving, leaving the stay in Puerto Natales till later when we come back from Argentina and go on our fjords exploration navigation.
