Patagonia is known for its rugged mountains, technicolor lakes, and world-class hiking trails. Honestly, there’s so many incredible hikes here, it can be a bit overwhelming to try and pick which places to explore in your limited time here. My husband, Justin, and I recently spent two months exploring Patagonia and getting as many kilometers under our hiking boots as we possibly could. And, after all our adventures, we put together this list of 7 of the best hikes in Patagonia, so you can experience the best of what this special corner of the planet has to offer.
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Easy hikes in Patagonia
1. Lake Pehoe Boardwalk
- Length: 1,000 feet (304 meters)
- Elevation gain: 36 feet (11 meters)
- Trail map: There unfortunately isn’t a trail map available for this one on AllTrails, but you can access this boardwalk from this parking lot, near the Explora Hotel.
- Located in: Torres del Paine National Park
- What pass or entry fee is required? For foreign visitors to Torres del Paine, you’ll need to purchase a 32,400 Chilean peso entry ticket if you’ll be in the park for 3 days or less, or a 42,600 Chilean peso entry ticket if you’ll be in the park for 4 days or more. You can pick up your ticket here.
If you’re visiting Torres del Paine and are looking for an awesome bang-for-your-buck pathway, you’ll climb a short set of stairs up to this wooden boardwalk and get one of the most jaw-dropping views in the park—the turquoise waters of Lake Pehoe and, beyond, the unbelievably jagged mountains of the rugged Cordillera del Paine mountain range. If you can swing it, I’d suggest coming here in the early morning—the landscape looks ABSOLUTELY stunning with the soft, golden light.
If you’re up for something a bit more intense, you’ll find the Mirador Condor trail nearby. This trail is only 1.5 miles long, but definitely on the steeper side. Still, your hard work will pay off—the overlook provides a birds’ eye view of the lake’s Gatorade blue waters and, true to its name, you have a decent shot of seeing condors!
2. Perito Moreno Boardwalk
- Length: 2.9 miles (4.7 km)
- Elevation gain: 731 feet
- Trail map
- Located in: Los Glaciares National Park in El Calafate, Argentina
- What pass or entry fee is required? Los Glaciares requires that foreign visitors purchase an entry ticket for 45,000 ARS per day in the park (I know—pretty steep, right?), which you can pick up here. Pssst… I included some intel on how to save money on your Los Glaciares entrance fee in the Tips for Hiking in Patagonia section below.
The Perito Moreno glacier is probably the most famous in all of Patagonia, given it’s one of the few glaciers that are actually advancing AND, at 97 square miles, is one of the largest glaciers on the planet. Luckily, it’s also super easy to explore this area, thanks to several interconnected metal catwalks and stairways surrounding the glacier that offer epic views of its jagged ice spires and the electric blue water of the surrounding glacial lake.
Hiking around the Perito Moreno glacier is kind of like a choose-your-own adventure. There’s a series of six interconnected trails along the aforementioned metal boardwalks that, if walked together, total a little under three miles.
It’s super easy to make this trail shorter and easier, though, if you prefer—simply pick and choose which of the interconnected trails you want to take! Each of the trails are clearly marked with a different color—the purple trail (Sendero Accessible) is actually handicap accessible and the orange trail (Sendero Central) offers the very best views of the glacier in the park.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to kick up the adventure even more, there’s more challenging pathways, with a bit more stairs, like the red trail (Sendero Inferior). Or, for even more adrenaline here, consider kayaking around the Perito Moreno glacier, like this tour option, or even hiking on the glacier itself, like with this tour.
Moderate hikes in Patagonia
3. Laguna Esmeralda Trail
- Length: 5.4 miles (8.7 km)
- Elevation gain: 826 feet
- Trail map
- Located in: Ushuaia, Argentina
- What pass or entry fee is required? It’s FREE!
Laguna Esmeralda is inarguably one of the most popular things to do in Ushuaia—and for good reason! This trail is absolutely STUNNING, taking you across a rushing river, snaking through a dense lenga forest, and arriving at an alpine lake, surrounded by enormous, glaciated mountains.
Best of all, it offers the perfect amount of challenge for most hikers. You’ll encounter a bit of elevation gain while climbing to the lake and I wouldn’t be too surprised if you found a decent amount of mud on the trail—but otherwise, it isn’t overly physically demanding or technically challenging.
Hard hikes in Patagonia
4. Laguna de los Tempanos
- Length: 7.2 miles (11.6 km)
- Elevation gain: 2,165 feet
- Trail map
- Located in: Ushuaia, Argentina
- What pass or entry fee is required? Yet another awesome free hike!
Ushuaia is frequently called the “End of the World”, thanks to its location on the southern tip of Argentina. And some of its landscapes, such as along the Laguna de los Tempanos trail, truly lives up to that name!
For a decent portion of the trail, you will climb along the slopes of a dark and moody lenga forest. For the last mile or so of the hike, though, you’ll pop out of the treeline onto a lush moor and get to enjoy views of the surrounding massive mountains. After a rocky and STEEP final push to the top, you’ll reach the milky waters of Laguna de los Tempanos and beyond, the cracked ancient ice and dramatic moraines of the Vinciguerra Glacier—it seriously looks like something from another planet!
In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated hikes in Patagonia. We LOVED it and saw barely anyone on the trail with us.
Plus, it’s a GREAT option if you’re an adrenaline junkie—if you go on a guided tour, like this option, you can actually hike around the shore of the lake and onto the face of the glacier itself! I just wouldn’t recommend doing this without a knowledgeable guide with you. Unfortunately, due to climate change, there’s a LOT of crevices on the glacier, so it’s too dangerous to climb on your own!
5. Laguna Torre Trail
- Length: 11.1 miles (17.9 km)
- Elevation gain: 1,873 feet
- Trail map
- Located in: Los Glaciares National Park in El Chaltén, Argentina
- What pass or entry fee is required? Los Glaciares requires that foreign visitors purchase an entry ticket for 45,000 ARS per day in the park, which you can pick up here.
To be honest, the Laguna Torre Trail is a bit of an underdog in the famed hiking mecca of El Chaltén—-most visitors that are short on time here only hike the neighboring Laguna de los Tres trail to marvel at the dramatic spires of Mount Fitz Roy. But, in our experience, Laguna Torre may actually be more of a stunner than Laguna de los Tres, with hunks of icebergs, the ENORMOUS Glacier Grande, and the rocky pinnacles of Cerro Torre on full display.
This hike is also a great option for hikers who are trying to gain some more confidence with challenging hikes. Laguna Torre isn’t technically demanding and even the elevation gain isn’t too bad—the only “hard” thing about this hike is how long it is!
So, if you’re up for even more of a challenge than this trail by itself, it’s common for hikers to combine the Laguna Torre and Laguna de los Tres trails into a circuit that’s typically completed as an overnight backpacking trip. Better yet, other than your entry fee to Los Glaciares, you don’t need a permit or reservation to stay in the park’s backcountry campgrounds.
6. Laguna de los Tres Trail
- Length: 13.7 miles (22 km)
- Elevation gain: 3,454 feet
- Trail map
- Located in: Los Glaciares National Park in El Chaltén, Argentina
- What pass or entry fee is required? Los Glaciares requires that foreign visitors purchase an entry ticket for 45,000 ARS per day in the park, which you can pick up here.
The Laguna de los Tres trail is the most popular hike in El Chaltén, taking you up to a jaw-dropping viewpoint of the impossibly jagged spires of Mount Fitz Roy and two glacial lakes along its slopes.
On your way to the endpoint, you’ll see some of the most incredible landscapes that Patagonia has to offer—Río de las Vueltas snaking through a dramatic valley; the vibrant blue ice of the Piedras Blanca glacier, tucked between mountains; and the rugged peaks of Mount Fitz Roy, towering in the distance.
Laguna de los Tres is inarguably GORGEOUS (especially if you luck out with clearer weather than we did!), but also SUPER crowded. The last push up to Laguna de los Tros is along a series of incredibly steep, rocky, and narrow switchbacks, zigzagging up the mountain slope, and we were stuck in human traffic jams for most of our hike up and down this portion! So, if you’re looking to enjoy peace and quiet along this trail, I’d suggest hitting it bright and early (like, near sunrise early)—and, even then, I wouldn’t expect solitude here!
7. The W Trek
- Length: 45.7 miles (73.5 km)
- Elevation gain: 9,671 feet (2.948 meters)
- Trail map
- Located in: Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
- What pass or entry fee is required? For foreign visitors to Torres del Paine, you’ll need to purchase a 32,400 Chilean peso entry ticket if you’ll be in the park for 3 days or less, or a 42,600 Chilean peso entry ticket if you’ll be in the park for 4 days or more. You can pick up your ticket here.
After spending seven months exploring South America, perhaps my favorite experience on the entire continent was hiking the W Trek, a multi-day hut-to-hut hike where you pass enormous glaciers, technicolor alpine lakes, and the dramatic spires of Torres del Paine.
The W Trek is typically hiked as a five day, four night backpacking trip through Torres del Paine National Park. That being said, there’s not too much that’s typical about this hike—it’s probably the most choose-your-own-adventure hiking experience you could dream of!
Some hikers opt to hike the trail’s almost 50 miles in as short as three days, while others decide to tackle the O Trek, an even longer circuit through the national park. You can either bring all of your own food or camping gear on this trek—or, alternatively, stay in the refugios in hostel beds or fully equipped tents and buy your meals at their restaurants.
Regardless of how you hike the W Trek, you’ll get to enjoy one of the very best hikes in Patagonia and some of the most stunning scenery on the planet.
If you’re short on time, you can also just tackle portions of the W Trek as day hikes, such as the Torres del Paine hike to see the iconic spires (which is, BY FAR, the most popular hike in the park) or the Glacier Grey trail.
Pssst… the W Trek is one of the most sought after hikes on the planet and, accordingly, securing accommodations and transportation here can be logistically challenging. We wrote a whole guide with everything you need to know about hiking the W Trek, but, if you’re short on time or patience, you might want to consider going on a tour where they do all the heavy lifting for you, like this self-guided option or this guided option.
When to hike in Patagonia
The best time to hike is the warmer months in Patagonia from October through April. You’ll have the best chance for clear skies and pleasantly warm temperatures from December through April. We spent early January through the end of February exploring five different areas of Patagonia and had BEAUTIFUL weather during our visit.
You can absolutely still visit Patagonia in the cooler months (May through September), but you should expect lots of wind and seriously cold temperatures. Additionally, some of the trails listed in this article may be inaccessible due to heavy ice or snowfall or have additional restrictions. For example, to hike in Torres del Paine in the winter months, you are required to go with a knowledgeable guide, due to unpredictable trail closures and dangerous conditions, like increased avalanche risk.
Tips for Hiking in Patagonia
There are discounts available for visiting Los Glaciares National Park
If you’re anything like me, your eyes might water a bit at the thought of spending 45,000 ARS per person per day to visit Los Glaciares National Park in El Calafate and El Chaltén. Luckily, though, there are a few discounts that you can take if you’re planning on visiting the park for multiple days (for example, visiting the Perito Moreno glacier one day and spending a few days in El Chaltén during your visit).
For example, you can get half off your second consecutive day in the park (you must purchase your tickets for the first and second day at the same time in-person and tell the attendant you want to take advantage of the discount) or by purchasing a Flexipass online, which gives you a 33% discount for booking a three day pass, which can be used over the course of a six month timeframe.
Come prepared for all weather
Justin and I had glorious weather for Patagonia, but we still experienced pretty much every kind of weather imaginable—sun, wind, rain, sleet, and everything in between.
Come prepared with sunscreen, lots of warm layers, a good rain jacket (here’s the kind I have and here’s the one that Justin uses), and rainpants if you’re going on a lengthier hike.
Book early
Patagonia is becoming one of the most popular vacation spots for outdoor adventure lovers. Accordingly, given its remoteness, accommodation and transportation options can be PRICEY and, more importantly, super limited—for example, it’s not unusual for some of the refugios in Torres del Paine National Park to book up close to a year in advance.
So be sure to plan out your Patagonia itinerary well in advance and make reservations for your accommodations and transportation as soon as you can!
There you have it—some of the very best hikes in Patagonia! I hope you love your visit to this special corner of the planet as much as we did—it’s seriously some of the most stunning landscapes in the world! Do you have any questions about hiking in Patagonia? Let us know in the comments below!
