How to Get to Torres del Paine: There Is No One Distance, There Are Three

How to Get to Torres del Paine: There Is No One Distance, There Are Three

Almost every guide says "Torres del Paine is two hours from Puerto Natales" and leaves it there. The problem is that the park has several entrances, at quite different distances, and which one you use decides what time you start walking.

The three distances

• Serrano, about 80 km on Route Y-90. South of the park, boat trips, Grey.
• Sarmiento, about 112 km on Route 9. Lake Sarmiento and central access.
• Laguna Amarga, about 129 km on Route 9. Base Torres, and the start of the W and the O.

The regular bus takes about two hours to Laguna Amarga, and closer to four if it runs the full circuit of stops inside the park. When the walk to Base Torres is going to take you eight hours, those two hours are the whole day.

Before you set off you want your ticket already bought: since May 2026 it is sold online and in advance only.

How you get to Puerto Natales

• From Punta Arenas. About 250 km on Route 9, a little over three hours by bus. That is where the region's main airport is, Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.
• Flying straight to Natales. Teniente Julio Gallardo airfield operates in season. It saves you the bus leg, but there are far fewer flights.
• From El Calafate. There are buses across the border. It is the combination half the world puts together, because it pairs Perito Moreno with Paine in one trip.
• From Santiago. There is no way in without going through Punta Arenas or Natales. It is about three and a half hours of flying to Punta Arenas.

Bus, tour or rental car

• Regular bus. Cheapest, with fixed times to the gates. Against it: it drops you at the gate, not at the lookouts, and you depend on the return schedule.
• Guided tour. You go in, you see it, you come back without thinking about logistics. Against it: less freedom over your own pace.
• Rental car. Total freedom, and you can leave before dawn. Against it: gravel, strong crosswinds and no services along the way.

We run the transfers from Puerto Natales and also the full day into the park, which solves the whole day without you having to line up bus times.

One warning about the car that is in no brochure. The crosswind on the steppe is serious, and gusts reach 150 km/h. Opening the car door facing into the wind is the most common and most expensive way to damage a rental in Patagonia. We have watched it happen more than once. If you want to understand why it blows like that, we explain it in the piece on the weather and the wind at Paine.

Some perspective

Until the 1950s, what is now the park was a dozen sheep stations, and the wool left on foot. From the stations in the southwest — Río Paine, Geike, Zapata — the drive to Puerto Natales took between three and twelve days. From Cerro Paine station in the northeast it was six days to the Bories meat plant.

Today that same journey is two hours sitting down.

And if you know how to get there but not where to stand, have a look at the park map with the circuits and the lookouts.