Globalista

So magnificent are the Torres del Paine, those granite towers rising 3,000 metres from peppermint-green lakes and flanked by giant twisting Cuernos (horns) del Paine, that they have become the iconic image of all Patagonia. Never mind that Patagonia occupies the entire southernmost cone of the continent and encompasses further flung wildernesses such as ice-fields and steppe, not to mention belonging mostly to Argentina. It’s Chile’s Torres del Paine national park that is Patagonia’s hiking mecca. And it is one of the most staggeringly beautiful places on earth, justifiably see-before-you-die stuff.

But therein lies the rub. This swirling mass of spires and peaks, whose walls are slung with gleaming glaciers and whose feet sit in lakes of all colours from turquoise to jade, is laced with some very famous hiking trails. In January, there’s a perpetual procession of Gore-tex, and silence is hard to come by. Choose carefully how you visit the park, and where you stay. The truly hardy, of course, will camp to complete top trails ‘the W’ and ‘the Circuit’ (requiring five and seven days respectively, in favourable weather). Most others opt for hotel explora, whose bedrooms offer unrivalled views of the towers themselves. But a new fast road from Puerto Natales has opened up new places to stay, with new ways to explore this astonishing landscape.