Chile Guide
Southern Patagonia
Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
One of the world's stunning geographical features is the Paine Massif (56km northwest of Cerro Castillo), the unforgettable centrepiece of the PARQUE NACIONAL TORRES DEL PAINE (daily 8.30am–8pm; summer CH$10,000 for foreigners, CH$4000 for Chileans; winter CH$5000 for foreigners, CH$3000 for Chileans). Rising above the flat brown pampa, the massif features a small range of mountains topped by weird twisted peaks and unfeasibly smooth towers. Wandering around the giants' castles and demons' lairs is one of the highlights of any trip to Chile. On the eastern side are the soaring, unnaturally elegant Torres del Paine ("Paine Towers"), the icon of the park, and further west, the dark-capped, sculpted Cuernos del Paine ("Paine Horns"), which rise above the moonscape of the Valle del Francés ("French Valley"). To the east of the park is the broad ice river of Glaciar Grey, and on the plains at the mountains' feet large herds of guanacos and the odd ñandú still run wild.
That said, if you're coming here to taste wilderness you may be disappointed, as the park is usually full of people and fully equipped with refugios, campsites and hotels. The compensation for this development, though, is that the park is well managed, there's hardly any litter on the trails, people generally camp only in designated sites and erosion is being kept to a minimum. And should you get lost, the guardaparques will come out to look for you, as all the campsites and refuges in the park are linked by radio.
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