Guide · Getting around

Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales, and on to Torres del Paine

The road from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales runs north across the Patagonian steppe to the gateway town for Torres del Paine. Here is how long it takes, how far the park lies beyond, and how a day tour fits it all in.

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Editorial team, puntaarenaswhalewatching.comUpdated October 22, 20267 min read31 sources

On this topic: the tour Punta Arenas: Full-Day Torres del Paine Tour 4.8 (177 reviews) 16 hours from$106per person Check availabilityCancel free of charge up to 24 hrs ahead

Quick answer

01Distance: About 250 km on paved road.¹
02By bus: Just over three hours by road.²
03On to the park: 112 km from Puerto Natales to the Sarmiento entrance.³
04Park tickets: Buy them at least 24 hours before you enter.⁴
05Day tour: Torres del Paine from Punta Arenas from $85.

The road north from Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales are linked by a paved road of about 250 km.¹ It is the main artery of southern Chilean Patagonia, and it runs through open steppe with long views and few towns. There is no need to plan anything clever: the road is straightforward, and the main decision is whether you drive, take a bus or join a tour.

Chile's tourism board says the bus north spends a little over three hours covering about 250 km of Ruta 9.² That makes it easy to land in Punta Arenas and head straight north if Torres del Paine is your first goal.

Driving yourself gives you freedom to stop for wildlife and viewpoints, but the distances are long and services are spread thin. Fill up before you leave each town, carry water and snacks, and allow extra time for wind, which can be strong on the open plains. Keep an eye out for guanacos and rheas near the road; the steppe is home to both, and they often graze close to the asphalt.

The day tour

Punta Arenas to the park and back

Early start

Pickup in Punta Arenas

Pickup is included on the tour.
Three hours

Van to Puerto Natales

A 3-hour drive north.
Puerto Natales

Photo stop

20 minutes in town.
Última Esperanza

Guided stop

45 minutes on the way in.
Torres del Paine

In the park

4.5 hours guided before the drive back.

From Puerto Natales into the park

Puerto Natales is still some way from the mountains. Ruta 9 covers 112 km to the Sarmiento entrance of Torres del Paine, or 129 km to Laguna Amarga.³ A second way in, road Y-290 by Lago Porteño, is 80 km from Puerto Natales.¹ The two routes enter different parts of the park, so check which entrance your plans start from before you book transport.

The park itself is old and celebrated. A decree of 13 May 1959 created Torres del Paine National Park, and UNESCO declared it a Biosphere Reserve in 1978.⁵ ⁶ It is the reason most travelers come this far north, and the reason the road from Punta Arenas is busy in summer.

Entry is controlled. You have to buy park tickets 24 hours or more before entering, so do not leave it to the morning of your visit.⁴ Tour listings say the same thing: the classic day trip and the glacier day both ask guests to buy their entrance tickets in advance. Keep a copy of your park ticket on your phone and on paper, because mobile signal can be patchy once you leave town.

Distances

How far it is, in kilometers

Road distances as CONAF and Chile's tourism board give them.¹ ³ ⁷

Day tours

Torres del Paine from Punta Arenas, side by side

Tour	Hours	Group size	Rating	From
Full day with Natales stop	16	Up to 14	4.80	from $106
Park and Grey Glacier boat	18	Up to 10	4.80	from $296
SUV day with Milodon cave	16	Up to 12	4.92	from $85

Hours, group sizes and ratings as each listing states them; prices are starting fares on GetYourGuide and the final price depends on your date.

Three ways in a day

Pick your Torres del Paine day

Most reviewed

Classic full day

Via Puerto Natales

Duration: 16 hrs
Rating: 4.80
Reviews: 177
Price: from $106

See this tour

Punta Arenas: Torres del Paine & Grey Glacier Full-Day Boat

Longest day

With Grey Glacier

Boat on Lake Grey

Duration: 18 hrs
Rating: 4.80
Reviews: 11
Price: from $296

See this tour

Punta Arenas: Full-Day Torres del Paine + Milodon Cave

Lowest price

SUV and cave

Small group

Duration: 16 hrs
Rating: 4.92
Reviews: 17
Price: from $85

See this tour

Decision helper

Bus, tour or a night in Natales?

Choose the option that fits your time

I have one free day I want Grey Glacier too I want to hike for days I am on a budget I also want whales and penguins

A day tour

The classic tour covers the park in 16 hours.

The glacier tour

It adds a boat on Lake Grey in an 18-hour day.

Bus to Puerto Natales

It takes a little over three hours.²

SUV and cave day

It starts from $85.

Stay in Punta Arenas

The whale and penguin boats leave from there.⁸

Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine in a single day

If time is short, you can go from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine and back in one long day with a tour. The most reviewed option drives 3 hours by van to Puerto Natales, stops there for 20 minutes, spends 45 minutes around Última Esperanza and then 4.5 hours guided in the park before heading back. The whole day is listed at 16 hours.

It is a lot of time in a vehicle for a few hours of mountains, and that is the trade-off. In return you see the park without arranging transport, a bed in Natales or park buses. For travelers based in Punta Arenas for the whales and penguins, it is the simplest way to add Torres del Paine to the trip. Bring snacks and water for the van, and a warm layer for the viewpoints, where wind off the lakes can be fierce.

A second tour adds a boat to Grey Glacier and runs 18 hours with a group of at most 10. Grey Glacier runs 28 km from the Southern Ice Fields to Lake Grey, and its front walls reach 30 meters high.⁹ A third day trip by SUV takes a small group of up to 12 for 16 hours, with stops including Lago Sarmiento, Laguna Amarga and Grey Lake.

Map

From Punta Arenas to the whales, the penguins and beyond

The strait south of the city to Cabo Froward and Isla Carlos III, the penguin islands and Tierra del Fuego, and the wider south from Torres del Paine to Ushuaia.

Map of the Strait of Magellan south of Punta Arenas with Fuerte Bulnes, the San Isidro lighthouse, Cabo Froward and Isla Carlos III in the western channels — South along the strait

Map of the eastern strait with Punta Arenas, Isla Magdalena and Isla Marta, Porvenir, Parque Pingüino Rey on Bahía Inútil and the Primera Angostura crossing — Penguin islands and Tierra del Fuego

Map of southern Patagonia with Punta Arenas airport, Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine and Ushuaia — Southern Patagonia

1
Punta Arenas
Capital of the Magallanes region, founded in 1848.¹⁰ ¹¹
In Google Maps ↗
2
Fuerte Bulnes
Inaugurated in 1843; a national Historic Monument 58 km south of the city.¹² ¹³
In Google Maps ↗
3
San Isidro lighthouse
70 km south of Punta Arenas and more than 100 years old.¹⁴
In Google Maps ↗
4
Cabo Froward
Where the American continental landmass ends; the whale boat passes it for 30 minutes.¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗
5
Isla Carlos III
Humpback presence around the island peaks from December to March.¹⁶
In Google Maps ↗
6
Isla Magdalena
About 7,000 pairs of Magellanic penguins nest here, 35 km northeast of the city.¹⁷ ¹⁸
In Google Maps ↗
7
Isla Marta
Sea lions and imperial cormorants; landing is prohibited.¹⁹ ²⁰
In Google Maps ↗
8
Porvenir
About 2 hours by ferry from Punta Arenas.²¹
In Google Maps ↗
9
Parque Pingüino Rey
King penguins at Bahía Inútil, 115 km from Porvenir.²²
In Google Maps ↗
10
Primera Angostura
The 20-minute ferry crossing to Tierra del Fuego.²³
In Google Maps ↗
11
Punta Arenas airport
20 km north of the city, with daily flights from Santiago.²⁴
In Google Maps ↗
12
Puerto Natales
About 250 km north of Punta Arenas by paved road.¹
In Google Maps ↗
13
Torres del Paine
National park since 1959, 112 km from Puerto Natales to the Sarmiento entrance.⁵ ³
In Google Maps ↗
14
Ushuaia
293 km beyond the San Sebastián border.²⁵
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Before you head north

Book

Park tickets at least a day ahead
Bus seats early in summer
A spare day in case of weather

Bring

Warm layers and a wind shell
Water and snacks for the road
Cash for stops along the way

Cost calculator

What a park day costs your group

Starting totals for each tour, by group size.

Classic full dayMost reviewedfrom $106 With Grey GlacierBoat includedfrom $296 SUV and caveLowest pricefrom $85

People 2

Total from$212

per guest from $106

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals multiply each trip's lowest GetYourGuide starting fare by your party size and convert it at the European Central Bank rate; your date and option fix the real amount at checkout.

Video

Torres del Paine (Chile) - Part 1: From Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales (by Scenic Gems)

The video stays switched off until you hit play.

Bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales

The bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales is the cheapest independent option and the easiest to plan. Expect a ride of a little over three hours.² From Puerto Natales you need separate transport into the park, so plan that leg before you arrive.

Book seats ahead in the summer high season, when the buses fill with hikers. If you are arriving by plane, check whether your bus leaves from the airport or from the city, and leave a margin in case your flight is late. A night in Puerto Natales before entering the park makes the next day far less rushed. A window seat and a charged phone make the ride pass quickly.

Remember that your park entry is a separate purchase from your bus ticket. The CONAF system requires it at least 24 hours before entry, and a bus seat without a park ticket will not get you past the gate.⁴

Stops worth making on the way

The Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument lies 25 km north of Puerto Natales and covers 189 hectares.⁷ From 1896 pieces of skin and other remains of the extinct Darwin's mylodon were found in the cave.²⁶ Early Patagonian humans lived there about 12,000 years ago.²⁷ The cave is large enough to walk into, and its size alone is worth the short detour.

Grey Glacier is a highlight of the park itself. The boat trip to the glacier lasts three hours and leaves from Hotel Lago Grey, about 100 km and 2 hours from Puerto Natales.²⁸ It is a long add-on to an already long day, which is why the tour that includes it runs to 18 hours.

Closer to Punta Arenas, Reserva Nacional Magallanes sits on the Brunswick Peninsula just 7 km west of the city center.²⁹ It has no regular public transport, so you need a car or a taxi, but it gives forest walks and views over the city without the long drive north.³⁰ Its trails are a good warm-up for longer hikes in the park and an easy half-day if the weather turns.

Arriving by air and heading north

Most travelers reach the region through Punta Arenas airport, which sits 20 km north of the city and has daily flights from Santiago.²⁴ That puts the airport on the way north, so if Torres del Paine comes first you can skip the city and begin the drive or bus ride straight away.

Coming the other way works just as well. Chile's tourism board describes the intercity bus from Puerto Natales as the main regional link, covering the 250 km to Punta Arenas on Route 9 in 3 hours.³¹ Many visitors end their trip with a few days on the strait for the whales and penguins, then fly home from Punta Arenas.

Whichever direction you choose, check the season. The humpbacks peak around Isla Carlos III between December and March, the same months when the park and the road north are busiest.¹⁶ Book the whale day and the park day early, and leave a spare day between them in case weather moves either one.

Punta Arenas vs Puerto Natales as a base

Choosing between Punta Arenas vs Puerto Natales as a base depends on what you came for. Punta Arenas is the starting point for the whale trip to the Francisco Coloane Marine Park, for the penguins of Isla Magdalena and for the ferries to Tierra del Fuego.⁸ Puerto Natales lies about 250 km up the road and 112 km from the park's Sarmiento entrance.¹ ³

Many visitors split their stay. A few nights in Punta Arenas cover the whales, the penguins and the city; a few nights in Puerto Natales cover the park at a gentler pace. The road between them is easy, and doing it once in each direction is no hardship. Splitting the stay also spreads the weather risk, because a stormy day on the strait can be a clear one in the mountains.

If you only have time for one base, think about your priorities. Wildlife on the water points to Punta Arenas; hiking points to Puerto Natales. A day tour from Punta Arenas is the compromise that lets you see both, as long as you accept a very long day in the vehicle.

Pick your date