2 Weeks in Patagonia: The Ultimate Argentina & Chile Itinerary
A suggested itinerary for how to spend two weeks in Patagonia, visiting all the highlights in both Argentina and Chile, including the Perito Moreno glacier, El Chaltén’s famous hike to Laguna de los Tres, and the iconic Torres del Paine National Park.
Few destinations in the world offer the marvel you experience when visiting Patagonia for the first time: The mountains, the multicolored lakes, even the clouds reflect pure magic – the kind of experience you look back on and vividly recall the feeling, for that’s how strong the moment was.
Patagonia remains one of travelers favorite places for years to come and even though you could easily spend months in the region without seeing all there is to see, most people don’t have that much time.
For those looking to experience the full magic of Patagonia, this itinerary is meant to hit the highlights of Patagonia (both the Argentinian and Chilean sides) in two weeks. We’ve outlined:
- All the must-do treks
- How long to stay in each place
- Transpotation logistics
Planning a trip to Argentina and Chile and looking for the ultimate Patagonia trip? Our handy guide will help you decide what activities to do, where to stay and when to go.
Logistical considerations
To make the most of your time, we recommend flying into Argentina and out of Chile, or vice versa. You’ll only find nonstop flights to/from Puerto Natales from elsewhere in Chile, and the same goes for El Calafate in Argentina.
That said, international flights to/from Santiago are almost always significantly cheaper than those into/out of Buenos Aires. The domestic flights within Chile also happen to be much prettier, with stunning views of the Andes and glaciers of Argentina from your window seat.
We’ve started this itinerary in Argentina and ended it in Chile. We recommend this route to warm up with day hikes in El Chaltén before taking on a multi-day trek in Torres del Paine.
Day 1: Travel to El Calafate
Start your trip in Argentinian Patagonia, at one of the most incredible sights you could travel to: The Perito Moreno glacier.
The Perito Moreno glacier is a true travel bucket list kind of place, so much so that we’d say any trip to Patagonia is not complete without seeing it! And as an added benefit, it doesn’t really require much of you physically – which means you can recover from a long flight without wasting a day of your precious two weeks.
To get to the glacier, you’ll base yourself in El Calafate, a small town on the shore of Lago Argentino.
Logistically, you’ll rarely have time to visit the glacier the same day you arrive, but of course this will depend on your schedule. We recommend leaving a buffer between arrival flights and any guided tours. Of course hiccups and disruptions happen everywhere, but domestic flights in Argentina can be a particularly unreliable experience unfortunately.
How to get there: There are multiple nonstop flights from Buenos Aires to El Calafate every day.
Day 2: Perito Moreno glacier
One of the reasons the Perito Moreno is so famous is simply that it’s so accessible. If you’re on a budget, you don’t need to do anything fancy here – hop on the bus and you’re there.
Start your adventure in Los Glaciares National Park with this world renowned location. There are a series of walkways that give you an excellent view of the glacier, and you can easily spend hours just walking around and taking pictures from the different viewing platforms. The changing light, the different angles, the chunk of ice the size of an apartment building that broke off and crashed into the water when I happened to be looking right at it – it was amazing, to go ice trekking or kayaking through the icebergs?
How to get there:The bus trip from El Calafate to the Perito Moreno takes about 90 minutes each way.
Day 3: Travel to El Chaltén + short hike
On Day 3, you’ll likely arrive in El Chaltén in the early afternoon. Once you’re all settled, there are a number of short hikes you can do that only take a few hours:
- Mirador Fitz Roy
- Mirador Cerro Torre
If you’re trying to maximize your time in El Chalten, we recommend doing a partial version of one of the more famous hikes. The trail to Laguna Torre has a gorgeous viewpoint (Mirador Cerro Torre) that’s only about an hour into the hike. Similarly, you can reach Mirador Fitz Roy on the trail to Laguna de los Tres in about an hour and a half if you’re up for a bit of a strenuous hike on Day 1 here.
One final option for an awesome view over El Chaltén, Fitz Roy, and Cerro Torre is the Paredón trail.
Browse our Patagonia Trips!Days 4-6: El Chaltén
El Chaltén is known as Argentina’s “capital of trekking,” and some of the most iconic photos come from its most famous hikes – Laguna de los Tres and Laguna Torre. We consider these as two of the three must-do hikes here.
Unfortunately, the weather in Patagonia often does not cooperate for three days in a row! This is a good reason to consider traveling straight to El Chaltén after visiting the Perito Moreno – it will be tiring, but you might kick yourself if you end up missing out on a day of nice weather by postponing the trip until the next morning. That’s not to say streaks of good weather are very uncommon though. El Chaltén, in both summer and autumn, can experience multiple days in a row with very little rain and mostly clear skies.
We recommend prioritizing the Laguna de los Tres hike, because it’s both 1) the toughest and 2) most iconic hike here. Laguna Torre is significantly easier and shorter by a couple of hours, so this is the one to do if the weather looks like it might change partway through the day.
One of the reasons people love El Chaltén is that it’s logistically uncomplicated to hike here – you can simply walk out of your door and up a mountain.
Day 7: Back to El Calafate and onward to Puerto Natales
Head out from the Argentine side of Patagonia this afternoon, our next stop is Puerto Natales in southern Chile.
Traveling from El Calafate to Puerto Natales without any delays at the border takes between 5 and 6 hours. So if you’re up for a very long travel day, you can drive from El Chaltén to El Calafate and then continue on to Chile that same day.
If that sounds like too much, you can drive from El Calafate to El Chaltén on your last day in El Chaltén (Day 6 on this itinerary).This way, you can spend the night in El Calafate and head to Puerto Natales the following day.
Alternatively, you can spend one more night in El Calafate on Day 7 and do the longer trip to Puerto Natales on Day 8. This is not our first recommendation as you’ll be heading to Torres del Paine the following day and won’t have much room for error as it takes time in Puerto Natales to get yourself ready for Torres del Paine.
But of course, that depends on what you plan to do in Torres del Paine. If you don’t need to buy any food or rent any camping gear, it wouldn’t be such a big deal to arrive in the late afternoon or evening and head out into the park the next day.
Day 8: Puerto Natales
So let’s assume you’ve decided to arrive in Puerto Natales on Day 7. The sheer size of Patagonia and the distances between points of interests mean you have a kind of forced rest day here.
Honestly, we believe you’ll be grateful for it. The setting is beautiful and peaceful – right on the water, with snow-capped mountains visible in the distance. There are lots of nice coffee shops and places to eat, which you should definitely take advantage of since many of you will be eating trail food for the next five days!
Days 9 to 13: Torres del Paine
With five days in Torres del Paine, you have a couple of options. One is to do a traditional W-trek.
If you hike east to west in five days, you might even have time for one additional activity in the park on your final day. That could be kayaking next to the glacier, an ice trek, or the short hike to Salto Grande and Mirador Cuernos from Pudeto Pier.
Alternatively, you could hike the W in four days and spend an unrushed day doing one or two of the shorter day hikes in the park (e.g. the Cóndor and Cuernos lookouts, which can easily be done on the same day, or Cerro Ferrier).
At the end of your fifth day, head back to Puerto Natales.
Day 14: Puerto Natales to your next destination or home
And that’s a wrap (sadly) on this 2-week itinerary! The good news is that if you have more time, there are tons of other beautiful places to see in Chile and Argentina, such as Bariloche (Lake District), Tierra Del Fuego (Ushuaia), Punta Arenas, etc.
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