For New Years in 2025 we decided to head down to Argentina and Chile for a quick 11 day trip! It was absolutely fantastic, even if it was too quick. We wouldn’t change much from our trip except to give us a few more days, especially in Buenos Aires and El Calafate.
This trip had a little bit of everything from big cities to spectacular hiking to delicious food, wine tastings, and even seeing a glacier! We loved both countries, but Argentina is easily one of our favorites. It has everything you can imagine and the people are wonderful. There is so much of the country we didn’t see, but what we did has only made us want to go back as soon as possible!
Before we get into our itinerary, here are a few tips for visiting Chile and Argentina:
- Both countries naturally have a lot of Spanish influence in the food and culture (and language), but there is actually a large Italian influence as well! The food has some Italian elements, and some Italian words are used interchangeably in every day language including Ciao (only for goodbye, never hello!)
- If you rent a car in Patagonia, especially in Torres del Paine, rent an SUV! The roads are quite terrible in Chilean Patagonia
- If you want to copy this trip, do it in reverse and start in Chile. The border crossings are easier with more drive yourself options in this direction than the direction we actually did
- In our experience every merchant accepted card. However, due to persistently high inflation we recommend bringing some US Dollars to tip tour guides. While not required, we found this was the preferred tipping method
Table of Contents
Day 1 – Buenos Aires
After our overnight flight from Houston we landed in Buenos Aires at 9am. The airport was packed! We must have landed with several other international flights, and there was very little direction of where to go. Unfortunately, the only directions we received as foreigners was to go to the non-Argentine line.
However, after waiting for 1.5 hours we learned that Americans over 18 can go through the “Argentine only” line as well. This line had passport and biometric scanners and took all of 2 minutes to go through. We definitely wasted a bunch of time waiting, but now we know. If you arrive in Buenos Aires and are over 18 then you should be able to go through the Argentinian line too!
After securing our bags we called an Uber, which was super simple and picked us up right as we left Terminal A. We only waited about 5 minutes before being picked up. Normally it is a 30 minute drive, though it took us 50 minutes due to some traffic.
In Buenos Aires we stayed at Miravida Soho Hotel & Wine Bar, a cute boutique hotel that was perfectly located in the Soho neighborhood. We loved the hotel and can’t recommend it enough. The staff is extremely friendly, the hotel is quite clean, and the rooms are large. The rooms use an actual key with a very heavy weight on it, so we would turn it in and pick it up at the front desk when coming or going. The main door is usually locked but the front desk was always around to let us in.
As the name suggests, the hotel also features a lovely wine bar. We signed up for a wine tasting here led by a sommelier that we’ll talk about more later.
After checking in we walked just up the street to Merienda for a coffee and tea. This is a very cute cafe that is highly rated with nice indoor and outdoor seating. The food looked really good, but we were saving our appetites for the next stop. They also had a delicious looking limonade (very popular in Buenos Aires), but unfortunately we were in desperate need of caffeine after our all night flight.
After our quick stop at Merienda we walked about 10 minutes for lunch at El Preferido de Palermo, an extremely highly rated sister restaurant to Don Julio. We did not have reservations, which are usually required, but you can get in for lunch if you are there right when they open at 12. If you have more than 2 people, or if you are going for dinner, reservations are highly recommended.
We were still able to snag 2 seats at the bar, which we actually loved. It was awesome watching them work, the food was incredible, and the service was fantastic. They are known for milanesa, which is similar to schnitzel, so we ordered the chicken one. We also ordered the potato pancake, tomatoes with olive oil and oregano, a green salad, and an Aperol Spritz for refreshment. Everything was so fresh and delicious!
After our wonderful lunch we walked about 20 minutes to Monumento de los Españoles to see the Jardín Japonés, aka the Japanese Gardens. The gardens are open every day from 10-6 and cost $8 per person to enter. They were very peaceful and beautiful to walk through. There were various stands selling food and drinks, so we each ordered a limon popsicle which was very nice and refreshing on such a hot day.
From the garden you can walk 28 minutes back to the hotel or Uber about 5 minutes. We had 45 minutes before our walking food tour to relax and cool off a little bit (even though it was late December Buenos Aires was quite hot!)
We met at 5:30 for our walking food tour with Sherpa Food Tours. It cost $115 per person and lasted about 4 hours total. The tour was incredible, and our guide, Gabi, was one of the best we’ve ever had. The tour mostly took us around Palermo Soho, the foodie center of Buenos Aires. We loved every second of the tour and highly recommend it!
We met Gabi at Picsa, an Argentinian pizza shop known for their unique sourdough crust pizza. We sampled this twist of pizza along with shredded beef empanadas. There is a bit of a divide over empanadas in Argentina – do you do ground beef or shredded beef? We sampled both at various times, and honestly both are incredible. The food of Picsa was a wonderful way to start the tour.
Along the way to our next food stop we paused outside of Todo Mates where Gabi taught us all about the famous Argentinian drink and why it is so important for Argentines. Sadly we weren’t able to try it as part of the tour, but thankfully they do walk in tastings in their shops so we made a note to come back the next day.
We briefly stopped in front of the below mural to talk about a dark part of Argentina’s history – “The Disappeared.” During this period of terror roughly 30 thousand people were disappeared by the dictatorship and never seen again. There are several murals and plaques all throughout the city that mark the last spot that many of these people were ever seen. Sadly, most of their fates are still unknown to this day.
Our next stop was Fuego y Vino. We loved the ambience of this restaurant! Here we tried a delicious Malbec wine, grilled cheese, chorizo sausage, a half of a traditional Argentine steak, and a green salad. While rich, the food was absolutely phenomenal and we loved getting to sample different delicacies.
Next we were off to El Preferido. We were very surprised to see El Preferido included in a walking food tour due to its popularity. However, we were not upset about it at all! We loved the restaurant and going back allowed us to try different things. We tried the chickpea bread, salami, prosciutto, and their house red wine. As expected it was all delicious! At this point we were all getting quite full and were ready for dessert.
We then had a quick stop at Lucciano’s to try dolce de leche, one of the most famous desserts in Argentina. You will see this all over the city and it is a flavor at every gelato shop. You must try it at some point! It was so good.
Dolce de leche was just an appetizer for our final stop of the night for gelato. We were able to pick any flavor, but by this point we were pretty full so we just wanted something light. We ended up getting lemon with red berry drizzle and were very happy with our choice! It was a great way to end the evening.
Some food ideas in Buenos Aires:
- La Biela- Recoleta
- Selena Cafe- near Jardin Japones
- Cafe Tortoni- between Retiro and San Telmo
- Cafe Le Caravelle for coffee- must get the all Italian cappuccino
- Pizzeria Guerrin for traditional Argentinian pizza
- San Telmo Market
- Bar El Federal
- Desnivel – traditional Argentine grill
- Floreria Atlantico- nice cocktail bar- Retiro
- Presidente- cocktail bar
- Don Julio Parilla – Palermo
- El Preferido- pretty interior with great food and wine- Palermo
- La Alacena- Italian- Palermo
- La Cabrera- Palermo
- Cucina D’Onore- Italian Puerta Madero
- El Mercado- Puerto Madero
- Tres Monos- Wine Bar in Palermo
- Drinks at Trade Sky Bar- panoramic views of the city
- Spanish Cortado coffee while in Argentina
- El Querandi for an authentic tango show and desserts
Day 2 – Buenos Aires
We started our first full day with our included breakfast at the hotel. We were able to order one thing each off the menu, so we ordered a fresh fruit platter and an omelet that was made fresh. It was very good, but just give yourself a bit of time to enjoy it!
We then Ubered 15 mins to the meeting point for our half day bike tour at Plaza San Martin. Give yourself some extra time to catch an Uber, as we found that multiple times we’d have to wait 5-7 minutes just to connect and then another 7-10 minutes for it to arrive. The city has a lot of traffic lights so driving takes a bit longer than you might expect.
The bike tour was about 4 hours long and starts in San Martin Park before taking you to many of the highlights of this beautiful city. We really loved this biking tour because we had limited time in the city and we were able to see so much of it and learn so much about the city. We highly recommend it for a first time visit!
Our first stop was at Puerto Madero on the water, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in South America. From there you cycle down to two historic areas La Boca and Camanito. Unfortunately we only had about 30 minutes to explore Camanito, which wasn’t quite enough time to fully enjoy it. We wish we would have had slightly more time to soak it in as it is a really cool area.
The last stop of the tour is at Plaza de Mayo which features Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace. After four hours in the heat we were ready for something refreshing, and our guide Kevin obliged by pointing out Rapanui, an excellent gelato place at the corner of Plaza San Martin.
After freshening up at the hotel we walked over to Todo Mates to do the mate tasting we weren’t able to do the day before. We loved the experience and we were so happy we were able to do this in Argentina. Our tasting guide walked us through the history of mate and why it is so important for Argentines. We love tea and quite enjoyed the mate. The making of mate is one of the most unique processes we’ve seen and it was fascinating to experience it. This is an absolute must on your first trip to Argentina!
After our mate experience we Ubered to San Telmo Market for a very late lunch. We really wanted to see this 125 year old market while in Buenos Aires. We recommend going to the market for food rather than shopping (which was the original intent of the market anyway) as the stores looked a bit janky. There are a ton of food stalls that all looked incredible and it was difficult to choose where to eat!
We just picked one to get a steak sandwich and of course an Aperol spritz. The sandwich was absolutely enormous and we couldn’t finish! The portions are huge and the food was amazing. Choripaneria was very popular stall in the market known for their sausage sandwiches.
At 6pm we had our wine tasting at the Miravida Hotel. It’s $10 cheaper if you stay at the hotel and book it through them, but even if you don’t stay there you still should absolutely do it! On this trip we unfortunately didn’t have time to go to Mendoza, but we still wanted to try Argentinian wine while in the country and this was the perfect place to do it.
We absolutely loved this wine tasting and will definitely be doing it again when we go back. The ambience of the wine cellar is lovely and we were able to try 6 wines. Our sommelier taught us so much about the wine regions in Argentina and the history of wine making in the country. We loved the wine so much we bought 7 bottles! This was a truly wonderful experience that we highly recommend.
As soon as the wine tasting was over we Ubered ~25 minutes to El Querandi for an authentic tango show with dinner and desserts. The tango show was absolutely amazing and we were so excited to experience this while in Argentina. The food was excellent and the dolce de leche dessert was so good. The dancers were incredibly talented and put on a wonderful show. The show ended around 11:00pm so it ended up being a somewhat late night after a very full day!
We didn’t have nearly enough time in Buenos Aires, so here are a few things we didn’t get to see or do that we will definitely do next time:
- Dinner at Parrilla Don Julio- need a reservation- open 3 months out
- Teatro Colon – the Opera House
- El Ateneo- beautiful bookstore- 15 minute walk from Teatro Colon
- Get coffee at Le Caravelle for an alle Italian cappuccino open 9:00am to 7:00pm
- See Cafe Tortoni – oldest cafe in Buenos Aires 11 minute walk from El Ateneo
- Try Pizzeria Guerrin for traditional Argentinian pizza open 11:00am to 1:00am
- Pass Avenida 9 De Julio- The main street of Buenos Aires- very large- Has a large monument
- Get drinks at Floreris Atlantico open 4:00pm-2:00am and Presidente open 8:00pm-2:00am
- Parque Lezama
- Bar El Federal
Day 3 – El Calafate
We started the day with breakfast at our hotel before heading to the local city airport for our flight down to El Calafate. Thankfully we had heard from people we met on our walking food tour that the airport is typically very busy, and they were definitely right! If you are checking a bag the line is very, very long. The kind travelers recommended we give ourselves 3 hours at the airport, and we definitely would have been stressed if we didn’t have that buffer.
We ended up waiting about an hour to drop our bags off for Aerolineas Argentinas. It was actually pretty well organized and there was staff providing instructions and guidance, there was just a ton of people there. The line actually splits depending on your destination (international, north, central, south), so make sure you are in the right line!
After we dropped off our bags we flew through security. Based on our experience we think about 2 hours before boarding is best to make sure you can drop off your bag in time. The good news is there is a nice lounge with Priority Pass access so if you have extra time see if you can get in there!
We landed in El Calafate around 5:20pm, but it’s a very small airport so our bags came out immediately. Taxis also are lined up when flights land, so getting a taxi was very simple. The taxi into town took about 20 minutes, and by 6pm we were already in our room at the hotel – the whole process was super easy and quick!
We knew we needed to rent a car and we would have rented it from the airport, but unfortunately none of the agencies would allow us to rent at the airport and return it in town. Instead we decided to just rent the car in town for a single day.
In town we stayed at Hotel ACA El Calafate which we thought was in a great location and was fairly cheap. Breakfast is included, though it is fairly bare with only breads and jams. However, scrambled eggs can be had upon request which made it pretty good overall!
For dinner we walked over to La Tablita for dinner, but it’s extremely popular and unfortunately it was fully booked that night. Luckily they had openings for reservations the next night so we were glad we walked over even though we couldn’t get in this first night!
Instead we made our way to Ikura Sushi because we happened to be craving Asian food. It is very tiny in true Japanese restaurant form with only 14 seats. We were very lucky that there was a table for 2 available. We each got a Shoyu Ramen and two of their house specialty Patagonian rolls. We also got two orders of salmon nigiri as that is our favorite. We both really enjoyed the food and they played good music. The broth in the ramen needed a tad more flavor and salt, but overall it was a nice meal.
El Calafate has amazing restaurants! Here are a few more:
- La Trinchera Wine & Beer
- Pure Vida – tacos
- La Tablita- know for their lamb BBQ- get Lamb al Acador
- Isabel -to try guanaco and their stew
- Buenos Cruces Restaurante for fresh pasta
- La Churreria- Churro shop
- Calafate Coffee Roasters
- Cafe Brown
- Miles Coffee House
- Panaderia Don luis- very popular bakery for sweets, cakes, pastries, and empanadas
- Go to Heladeria Acuarela for calafate berry ice cream
- Mako Fuego y vinos- need a reservation but highly rated
- Not a restaurant but make sure you explore around Avenida del Libertador. There are a ton of cute shops and restaurants!
- Go to Heladeria Acuarela for calafate berry ice cream and dolce de leche ice cream. It is delicious. You pay first for what you want and wait for them to call your number to serve you.
Day 4 – Perito Moreno Glacier
Our full day in El Calafate was dedicated to visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier located in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. You typically won’t need to buy tickets in advance and can buy them when you arrive.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is an absolute must do while in Argentinian Patagonia. It forms part of the Southern Patagonia Ice Field which is a network of more than 60 glaciers across Argentina and Chile and the second largest ice field in the world outside of the polar regions.
The glacier sits on the shores of Lago Argentina, the largest lake in the country. The glacier has two distinct faces: the North and South face. It covers an area larger than the entire city of Buenos Aires – an incredible 98 square miles! Currently it is advancing at a rate of nearly 2 meters per day and is one of the most famous glaciers in the world.
In order to get there you can take a tour (plenty of them leaving from El Calafate) or you can rent a car and drive yourself. We opted to rent a car for the day, so we picked it up from Alamo when they opened at 9am. The rental agencies are very small, so you definitely need a reservation in advance! We were out the door of the car rental agency by 9:30.
The drive to Perito Moreno took about an hour and 20 minutes, but it is a very easy drive and scenic drive with excellent roads the entire way. You basically just stay on Route 11 for 45 miles, though once you enter it gets a bit windy along the shores of Lago Argentino. The cost to enter is 45,000 Argentinian Pesos per person, but parking is free once you arrive at the glacier itself. You can pay by card, but you must have the physical card and instead of Apple Pay.
There are two visitor center areas – the first is the main lower car park where you’ll park if you drive yourself. There is a restaurant and toilets, and this is where the blue boardwalk starts. This is where you can take the free park shuttle to the second visitor area, the upper car park. The second visitor area is where most of the boardwalks begin. There is another restaurant/cafeteria here, a gift shop, and toilets. Once you’re on the boardwalks there are no more toilets.
We started by walking the Blue Sendero de la Costa trail from the first car park to the Acceso Principal (main entrance) which took roughly 40 minutes. Some people say this is a “moderate” trail, but we found it to be quite easy. It is beautiful and quiet, with stunning views of the glacier that keep getting better the further on the trail you go.
After 40 or so minutes, the Blue Trail merges with the Orange Central Trail. This is an easy trail that offers some of the closest and best views of the glacier. Because of the views this is also the busiest trail in the park.
After exploring the Blue and Orange trails we decided to stop at the Perito Moreno Cafe for lunch. It was delicious! They have soups, salads, hot and cold sandwiches, and various drinks including coffee, wine, and sodas. We were pleasantly surprised that if you ordered coffee you receive a mini apple crumble with it that was very, very good! While we recommend eating there, you can also bring food from in town.
After lunch we explored the Red Sendero Inferior trail. This is listed as challenging, but honestly it is still rather easy and only has that description because of the a few hundred steps. We found the views from this trail to be some of the best, and we stopped and admired them many times. At one point we were mesmerized to see the glacier calving – an experience we won’t soon forget!
The last two trails are the Green Trail and the Purple Trail. The Purple Trail connects with the main visitor’s center and is designed to provide wheelchair access to some of the best views of the glacier. The Green Trail is more of a forest trail and doesn’t provide any really great vantage points of the glacier itself.
Once you are done exploring you can take the free shuttle back to the lower car park or you can walk back along the blue trail. We decided to walk back and would recommend you doing the same!
After about 5 hours we left the glacier just after 4pm. We just needed to return the car by 8pm (when Alamo closed), so that gave us plenty of time. On the way into town there is an Axion gas station where attendants will pump the gas for you.
After we dropped the car off we explored around Avenida del Libertador. We stopped in many of the shops and bought different souvenirs including little guanaco, a glacier bookmark, and calafate berry jam!
Before dinner we stopped back in La Trinchera Wine Bar for a glass of wine. We tried 3 different Argentinian wines and each were super good. We also were getting hungry by this point so we ordered their 3 lamb empanadas as an appetizer for dinner. They were so good and were definitely some of the best we had on our trip!
We then made our way to La Tablita for dinner. Just as a reminder, reservations are required! We were so happy we were able to go here because the food was amazing! We ordered the lamb (which they are famous for), grilled vegetables, and the pumpkin sorrentinos – essentially Argentinian raviolis! We loved the Zuccardi Malbec wine here and the lamb was the best we’ve ever had. Everything was delicious and you must make sure you don’t miss out on this place!
FOr dessert we of course had to go to Heladeria Acuarela for the calafate berry and dulce de leche ice cream. It did not disappoint once again!
A few more tips on visiting Perito Moreno Glacier:
- If you want to do one of the boat rides over to the glacier, Southern Spirit is highly recommended. 1 hour long and leaves from the Puerto F. P. Moreno right near the main car park. $52 per person.
- There is another boat excursion you can do that takes to around the other side of the glacier but you have to drive 10 minutes to the port so not nearly as convenient and we think the side of the glacier you see with Southern Spirit is better.
- You can also kayak from the same port as Southern Spirit. It seemed they only did 2 kayaking excursions a day as we saw one in the morning around 10:45am and one in the afternoon around 3:30pm. It looked amazing to get closer to the glacier to really get a scale for how tall it is.
We didn’t have enough time in El Calafate, but if you had another day you could also go to an estancia (essentially an Argentinian ranch) like this one. It is a great introduction to Patagonian culture and looked like a ton of fun!
Day 5 – Head to Torres Del Paine
This was a very full travel day that enabled us to get to the Chilean side of Patagonia. We started the day with a quick 5 minute taxi ride to the bus station for our 8am bus to Puerto Natales.
You have to check in at the counter at the bus station with your passport and ticket. You also need to fill out an entry form online that will allow you to enter Chile. It’s essentially a customs declaration ensuring you aren’t bringing any controlled fruits or vegetables across the border. You do need to enter the crossing point, so don’t be afraid to ask to ensure you pick the right one. It was a rather chaotic scene with different busses going to different destinations, and we didn’t end up leaving until 8:25.
Overall, we really did not enjoy the bus experience. The bus is so much slower than driving and we constantly had cars passing us because of how so it was going. We would highly recommend just driving yourself across the border, however that means you need to start your trip in Chile and end in Argentina. This is more expensive but the convenience probably outweighs the expense.
No rental car agencies allow you to rent in Argentina and return in Chile. We did find one small company that seemed to allow a cross border one-way drop off from Chile to Argentina, but you must start in Puerto Arenas. The fees for this can be >$200, but we think it’s still worth it. There may be other companies that allow travel in this direction as well, so we highly recommend planning your trip in the opposite direction of what we did.
The bus stops once at Hotel La Esperanza about 2 hours in for a bathroom break and the opportunity to grab a quick drink or bite to eat. Later you’ll go through Argentinian customs and then Chilean customs. On the Chilean side we had to bring our backpacks off the bus and they searched them while having dogs sniff through our luggage. They also print something called a PDI which you must hold on to until you officially leave Chile. Make sure you don’t lose it!
We didn’t arrive in Puerto Natales until almost 3:00pm. Honestly, it was a brutal travel day but at least Torres del Paine made up for it. Perhaps just do a Chile trip and an Argentina trip, but this was a very long travel day.
Once we arrived in Puerto Natales we took a taxi from the bus station to Europ Car to pick up another rental car. We rented an SUV which is super, super important and we’ll talk about that more later! We picked up our car and drove into town for a very late lunch.
We ate at Cafe Artimaña and it was truly amazing. We each got the Artimaña limonade – a must get because it is so refreshing. We each got a different shredded beef sandwich. They were delicious, just wayyyyy too big. We probably should have just split, but we really enjoyed them. The pastas also looked really good!
We left Puerto Natales and started driving to our hotel around 5pm. The drive took about an hour and thirty minutes, with the first half being nice paved roads and the second half being not great gravel roads. This is why renting an SUV is so important! The roads in Torres del Paine are, as one fellow traveler said, atrocious. We thought he was exaggerating until we experienced them for ourselves – do yourself a favor and rent an SUV.
We made it to our hotel, Pampa Lodge Quincho & Caballos, around 6:30. We absolutely loved this hotel and will 100% be coming back here the next time we visit. It is a gorgeous hotel with incredible views. The hotel is very popular so make sure to book 6 months or more in advance! They offer different excursions including hiking, horseback riding, and other sightseeing! Horses also roam the grounds freely which is a nice touch.
Each of the rooms has a mesmerizing view of the mountains, and at times we were tempted just to sit all day and admire it. The rooms are all updated and clean. There is a bar that is open for wine and beer every night from 3-9:30 to sip and enjoy the lovely view. There is also a very nice restaurant called Don Pascual which we ended up eating at each night.
One thing to note is that there is only one place to get gas within Torres del Paine National Park. It was actually right next door to Pampa Lodge at Rio Serrano Hotel. Yes, it is very expensive but if you don’t get it there you have to drive all the way back to Puerto Natales.
We made dinner reservations at Don Pascual each night we were staying at Pampa Lodge. We aren’t sure if this was strictly necessary, but it did mean we had a great view along the windows each night! This first night we had a salad and steak, both of which were very good as expected!
Day 6 – The Base Towers
This day was dedicated to one of the most iconic hikes in Patagonia, the Mirador Base Towers hike along the El Chileno Trail. This is a 13.5 mile out and back trail that takes roughly 8 hours and is definitely on the challenging side. We highly recommend that you buy your tickets in advance to Torres del Paine as they can potentially sell out in busy times! You can buy them on PasesParques.cl and can buy single day or 3+ days for a set price.
Emily highly recommends bringing a mini hairbrush to Patagonia as it is extremely windy! This will help get the tangles out after it is blown around all day long.
We left our hotel at 7:30 for the 1.5 hour drive to the Base Towers Welcome Center. You’ll want to bring a packed lunch of some sort and luckily the hotel offered a fantastic one with a chicken sandwich, apple, trail mix, and a cereal bar. We just shared one for the two of us and it was plenty big to give us some energy.
We arrived at the Welcome Center by 9am. The parking is free, though we were told it closes at 10am as they don’t want people starting the hike too late. By 9 the parking was beginning to get full, so we recommend arriving no later than 9:15. There is a cafe with food and drinks, along with some really cool souvenirs in the Welcome Center. From the parking lot you’ll walk 1 mile to Hotel Las Torres where the trail officially starts.
The base towers is probably the most iconic hike in Chilean Patagonia and an absolute must do. It is very difficult in our opinion, probably one of the harder hikes we’ve ever done. Make sure to bring layers for the ever changing weather. We were blessed with a gorgeous clear, sunny day however some areas of the hike are like going through an extreme wind tunnel. The weather changes extremely quickly and even a sunny day can turn cloudy or even snowy very quickly!
Overall the hike took about 7 hours, and it was one of the most rewarding hikes we’ve ever done. We loved it, and even though it was very challenging we can’t recommend it enough!
After our hike we drove about 1.5 hours back to the hotel to relax and enjoy the wonderful view before our dinner reservations. We enjoyed the hotel’s happy hour and chatted with a lovely family from Georgia while admiring the view of the mountains.
This day happened to be New Year’s Eve, so we made sure to have reservations at the hotel’s restaurant – which was a good thing because it was absolutely packed! They had a special menu which was delicious and we had a really great night. They had an all you can eat salad bar and dessert bar, along with the choice of different starters and a main dish.
Day 7 – Lago Grey
We began our last full day in Torres del Paine with a delicious included breakfast at our hotel.
This day was dedicated to seeing potentially the second most famous landmark in Torres del Paine, Grey Glacier. In order to see Grey Glacier you’ll want to book tickets for the Lago Grey Navigation boat through Hotel Grey. Be aware, tickets sell out very fast! There are 3 (sometimes 4) “navigations” each day, essentially round trip excursions around Lago Grey.
There is 1 stop on the excursion at Refugio Grey, an important camp site on the famous W Trail. Each navigation takes about 2.5 hours, with one leg bringing you up close to the 3 different faces of Grey Glacier. Tickets are on the expensive side (100k Chilean Pesos for a one way journey), or are discounted for a round trip (in which you never get off the boat). Unfortunately, if you book 2 one way tickets you don’t receive any discount. If you plan to explore around Refugio Grey, like we did, you’ll need to have 2 one way tickets.
We booked our tickets 3 months in advance and the first navigation at 9am was already fully booked. Instead we had to settle for the 1pm boat, though it ended up being nice to sleep in a bit and we actually had plenty of time. We booked the 5:45 boat back from Refugio Grey, giving us about 4 hours to explore. Just make sure you book far enough in advance to secure your tickets!
The check in for the Lago Grey boat is at Hotel Lago Grey which is a 40 minute drive from Pampa Lodge. Check in is at 12 and we wanted to make sure we gave ourself plenty of time so we left the hotel at 11.
Hotel Lago Grey has a tiny gift shop and a nice restaurant. We actually tried to make reservations at the restaurant for dinner this night, but reservations can only be made in advance by hotel guests. They said you can check the restaurant on the day of, but unfortunately they were already fully booked. The food did look good though!
Check in was smooth, but the boat leaves from a different area so you actually need to drive another 5 minutes down the road to a different parking lot. From here there is a 30-40 minute walk along the beach to where you actually board the boat. It is extremely windy along the beach walk, so be prepared and hold onto your hats! We saw two people’s hats fly off into the freezing water.
We arrived at the boat around 12:45 with plenty of time to spare for our 1pm departure. The boat is very comfortable and your ticket comes with a free welcome drink – either a pisco sour or a calafate sour. After 45 minutes we arrived at Refugio Grey, though unfortunately we didn’t go to the face of the glacier. If you take the early or late departure you’ll get to see the glacier up close!
After exploring the Refugio, we started the hike to the suspension bridges overlooking Grey Glacier. This hike features 3 suspension bridges, each one taking you closer to the glacier and featuring increasingly stunning views along the way. We only had time for the 1st and 2nd suspension bridges, and this took about 2.5 hours and covered a bit over 5 miles. The third bridge is supposed to be spectacular, but unfortunately it is another 2 miles past the 2nd bridge and we didn’t have time for the additional 4 miles before we had to catch our boat.
One tip – don’t turn around right after the 2nd bridge! Continue another 5 minutes or so for one of the best views of the glacier!
The boat picked us up at 5:45pm and we arrived back at Hotel Lago Grey at 6:45. We made our way back to Pampa Lodge well in advance of our 8:30 dinner reservations at Don Pascual. It was once again a big hit. We just loved our hotel and the staff so much! We can’t recommend it highly enough.
Day 8 – Torres del Paine
Unfortunately today we had to leave Torres del Paine, so we sadly said goodbye to Pampa Lodge and began to explore some things we hadn’t seen yet in the park. We first drove 30 minutes to Salto Grande, a powerful waterfall. There is plenty of parking at the trailhead, though it can get crowded with tour buses. It is a short walk to the waterfall and it is extremely beautiful with all the greenery and bright blue water.
If you’d like to do a bit of a hike, there’s a 1.5 mile trail that leads to a beautiful lookout at Mirador Cuernos. This would make it a total of about 4 miles round trip, but the payoff would absolutely be worth it if you’re up for it!
We then made our way to Hosteria Pehoe for lunch. The food was fantastic and very well priced for being in the park. The views from the restaurant just made everything perfect. It is beautiful and we could have sat there and enjoyed it for hours.
Next we drove to check out the Explora Hotel Walkways. The Explora Hotel is an all inclusive luxury (and we mean luxury!) hotel with insane views. We were able to walk around the inside to tour it and it was extremely nice. We then meandered around the walkways as well – it was really cool and definitely worth checking out even if you don’t stay there!
At this point it was time to make our way to Puerto Natales for the evening. We needed to make sure we got there by 6 to drop off our car, but we made it in plenty of time. Puerto Natales is a pretty small town with, unfortunately, not quite as much charm as El Calafate. There aren’t as many shops, though there are a bunch of very good restaurants.
For dinner we went to La Tapera Parrilla as we really wanted Argentinian food one more time. The traditional Patagonian lamb looked incredible. We were really sad they were out of their empanadas and lamb sorrentinos, but we still enjoyed our steak meal and our waitress was incredibly friendly.
In Puerto Natales we stayed at Loft by Toore Patagonia which was nicely located and had a nice view over the water.
Other food ideas in Puerto Natales:
Cafe Kaiken- Chilean
Cormoran- view of the lake, octopus
La Disqueria Restaurant
La Tapera Parrilla- Argentinian
The Singular- not right in Puerto Natales
Check into Loft By Toore Patagonia
Day 9 – Santiago
This day began as a moving day to Santiago. Sadly our hotel did not have breakfast. There is no reception, they just message you a code to enter your room. We would highly recommend you get a hotel with breakfast as there are not many options in town. Most places are lunch or dinner restaurants and there is practically nothing at the very small Teniente Julio Gallardo Airport.
We left for the airport at 8:45 and it was just a 10 minute drive so we arrived super quickly. Because we were there so early there was no line to check our bags and security took only 2 minutes. We saw that there was only one small cafe that sells a limited supply of premade sandwiches, cup of noodles, candy, coffee, and water. We decided (and don’t really recommend) to leave the airport and head back to town to get breakfast. 10 minutes and $8 later we were back in town.
We wanted to eat at Holaste, a specialty coffee restaurant but it is extremely popular and had a long wait – if you want to try it be there at 9am! Instead we ate next door at Vida. We ordered a cappuccino and avocado toast with poached egg, each of which was very good. It was a fairly quick breakfast and we were back at the airport by 10:20.
At this point there was a huge line for checking bags but only a small line for security. We were lucky we had already checked our bag earlier, because if not it would have been close whether we would have enough time. We recommend getting there early just in case!
Our flight on Sky Airlines left Puerto Natales at 11:20 and arrived in Santiago at 2:20pm. Sky is more of a budget airline, so the seats are very tight. Don’t make the same mistake as us and book right in front of the emergency exit row as those seats won’t recline at all!
Upon arrival in Santiago we picked up a taxi from the airport and drove 25 minutes to Hotel Cumbres Lastarria. This was a very nice, very affordable hotel in a great location. It is very comfortable and we highly recommend staying here when you visit Santiago! Santiago is a very large city, so choosing where to stay is important.
Just outside the hotel is a very cute street market. Emily ended up buying a lapis lazuli bracelet. This is a blue semi-precious stone that is only found in Chile and Afghanistan making it a really unique and special souvenir!
After checking in we walked 15 minutes to the Plaza de Armas, the city’s symbolic heart since 1541. This square consists of the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Central Post Office, tons of statues, and other historic buildings. Unfortunately, despite usually loving town squares, we were not huge fans of this one. It felt somewhat sketchy and there were a lot of outdoor markets that were fairly dirty.
We did find a nice soft swirl ice cream shop just outside the main square which we really enjoyed!
On the walk we passed the large pink Basilica de La Merced, a Chilean national monument that dates back to the mid 19th Century.
Another major site to see along the way is the Palacio de la Moneda, the President’s Palace. Unfortunately it was undergoing renovation when we visited, but you can see the changing of the guards at 10am (11am on the weekends!). We continued on from the palace to Santa Lucia Hill.
Cerro Santa Lucia Park was our final stop before dinner on our impromptu walking tour. We entered the park at Terraza Neptuno, a beautiful terrace featuring a statue of Neptune. The area is very picturesque with a fountain, multiple sets of stairs, and palm trees lining the path. We followed the paths all the way to the top of the hill which, on a clear day, would offer beautiful views of the Andes. We explored the park for a bit before heading to dinner.
For dinner we made our way to Bocanariz Wine Bar, an extremely popular restaurant just across the street from our hotel. We arrived at 6:20 without a reservation but luckily there were 2 tables open at the bar. From here we saw multiple people turned away, so definitely arrive early or make reservations!
The food at Bocanariz was absolutely amazing. We ordered 6 small plates to share and everything was so flavorful and delicious. Many of the dishes had a unique twist on popular foods. As you would expect there were a ton of wine options, including more than 30 wines by the glass! You can taste a wine, do a flight, get a glass, or of course a bottle. We highly recommend this restaurant when in the Lastarria area of Santiago!
Here are more restaurant ideas in various areas of Santiago:
Viticura:
- Mestizo
- Puelo Cafe
- La Cabrera- steak house
- Arca Bar
- Savia Bar- Japanese
Providencia:
- La Cabrera Isidora
- Diablo Vino y Fuego
Lasteria:
- Bocanariz Vinobar
- Galindo for pastel de choco- sweet corn pie filled with meat
- El Vira Polparilla
- Wonderland Cafe
Day 10 – Maipo Valley
The main adventure for day 10 of this trip was a tour of the Maipo Wine Valley from Santiago. We were picked up for this tour at 8am from our hotel in Santiago. In total we visited 3 wineries and a restaurant for lunch as well.
It was significantly cooler in the countryside than in Santiago itself! Thanks to the marine layer from the Pacific Ocean there are often dense, low hanging clouds that block out the sun for much of the morning. Definitely bring a sweater that you can leave in the car if it gets warmer in the afternoon! We expected the clouds to burn off around 10am, but unfortunately the hung around until 1:30pm.
Overall we loved this tour! The first winery, La Quirinca, is also a farm. We were able to learn about how the animals are incorporated into the winery and we even fed a few of them! After we tried 2 red wines along with different cheeses and nuts. We loved their wine and had such a good time feeding the llamas and horses!
The next stop on our tour was really unique and featured wine barrel themed buildings. We were given a wine to sip on as we toured the grounds, then had another 3 wines to taste in a more formal setting.
For lunch we stopped at Zinfandel, an excellent restaurant that was packed with locals. Lunch is unfortunately at your own cost, but the food and selection was excellent! The tour guide will give you the menu in advance to get an idea of what you want because there are so many options. We ordered the lasagna, beef gnocchi, and Peruvian ceviche – all of it was delicious!
The last winery of the day was Undurraga, by far the largest and the most beautiful. We took a tour of the grounds and gardens before trying 4 different wines. We especially loved their Sauvignon Blanc and bought a bottle to bring home.
We arrived back at our hotel in Santiago around 6:15 thanks to fairly light traffic. We dropped off our wine and walked 15 minutes from the hotel to the funicular station to go to the top of San Cristobal. You can walk up the hill which takes about 45 minutes, or you can pay ~$2.50 per person to take the funicular up from the Bellavista station. If you are staying on the Providencia side you can also take the gondola up.
We were going to take the funicular up and the gondola down, but unfortunately they were sold out of down tickets for the day and the last gondola ride is at 7:30. We enjoyed the view of the hazy Andes and seeing Sky Costanera from the top of San Cristobal. We saw a lot of families and people walking their dogs before walking down the hill.
We enjoyed going in the evening because it wasn’t too hot and the skies are generally clearer for better views. We thought about going in the morning but we learned that clouds hang around and block most of the views thanks to the Pacific Ocean and the Andes trapping the clouds along the coast. Both of the days we did not see the sun until well after noon!
One thing to note – the funicular and gondola are both closed the entire day on the first Monday of every month for maintenance.
After our hike down from San Cristobal we ended up in Bellavista, an area known for being less safe at night. Due to its reputation we didn’t want to be out after dark, so we grabbed a quick dinner at a pizza shop before heading back to the hotel.
Day 11 – Santiago
This was our last day in Santiago before we made our overnight flight back home. We decided to sleep in and enjoy breakfast at our hotel before Ubering to the Providencia area. We had heavily considered staying in this neighborhood, however after seeing it we were glad we chose Lastarria instead. Providencia is significantly more urban, while Lastarria has a much more defined culture.
Before heading to Providencia we were going to stop at the Museo Bellas Artes Lastarria but it is unfortunately closed on Mondays. It is a beautiful building from the outside and we think it would be a great way to spend an afternoon.
When we arrived in Providencia we walked to the Sky Costanera– one of the tallest buildings in South America. We did not go up, but the observation deck offers great views of the Andes. There is also a bar where you can get coffee or a drink. Instead we entered the mall it’s connected to and were amazed at how huge and clean it was. We decided to do a little shopping as there are so many stores to check out – pretty much anything you can imagine!
For lunch we were going to go to Mestizo, a restaurant with a beautiful outdoor terrace in Bicentennial Park but it was still pretty cloudy and breezy. We thought it would be chilly so we decided instead to go back to Bocanariz as we loved their food and wine so much the first time. We ordered many of the same dishes and they were just as good this time!
After lunch it the sun finally started to break through and it gradually become warmer, so we Ubered over to check out Bicentennial Park. It is a really beautiful park that we enjoyed exploring. The park features jungle gyms for children, large open grass spaces, outdoor workout equipment, and 3 bathrooms spread throughout. We ended our walk at Mestizo and would have loved to get a glass of wine or eat here as it is a lovely setting, but unfortunately we needed to head back to the hotel and start going to the airport. If you have nice weather, definitely get lunch or dinner here.
Getting to and checking in at the airport went very smoothly. Our overnight flight was easy, even though we were very tired the next day!
There you have it! Our incredible 11 day journey to the southernmost countries of South America. We definitely felt like we needed a few more days, especially in Buenos Aires and El Calafate, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time and had an absolute blast. Argentina is one of the most underrated countries in the world and easily a top 5 country for us now. We hope this will help plan your perfect South America adventure!