Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas: which gate to Torres del Paine

The short version

Use Puerto Natales for Torres del Paine and Punta Arenas for the Strait of Magellan. That is the whole answer, and everything else on this page is the reasoning behind it.

Puerto Natales is about 110 km from the Laguna Amarga gate of the park, and most of the park's tours — including the Base Torres trek, which has the largest review count of any trip in this guide — depart from there. Punta Arenas is 250 km from the same gate, on a longer road that passes the fort, Puerto del Hambre and Cape Froward before turning inland.

What each city is actually for

Punta Arenas is a working port city of about 140,000 people and the capital of the Magallanes Region, and of the Chilean Antarctic and South Atlantic territories. It is the only city in the region with an international airport, which makes it the arrival point for almost every itinerary. More importantly for a traveller, it is where the water is: the fort at Fuerte Bulnes, the penguin islands of Magdalena and Marta, the full navigation of the Strait, the whale route and every Cape Horn excursion all leave from here.

Puerto Natales is smaller — a few thousand people — and exists for one reason: Torres del Paine. It grew up as the port for the coal mines at Punta Arenas, turned to sheep, and then tourism arrived and rebuilt its economy around the park. Its whole reason to exist in a travel plan is that it is the closest town to a gate.

The three-day version

If you have three days, do this: one full day in Punta Arenas, one more in Punta Arenas, and transfer to Puerto Natales for Torres del Paine. In practice that means one day on the water and one day at the fort or with the penguins, then the Base Torres trek on the third — which is a fourteen-hour day, so it is a long day to be the one before a flight home.

If you have four days, add a buffer. If you have five, you can do the W Trek properly and still have a day for the Strait. The four-day W Trek is the classic Torres del Paine itinerary; the Base Torres day trip is the compressed version and it is a legitimate choice, but it is a long walk rather than a walk through the park.

One thing to get right in the ordering: the Base Torres trek is the one thing in this region that genuinely sells out, with 942 reviews behind it. Book it first, then build the rest of the trip around it, and only then buy the flights.

Getting between them

The route follows the north shore of the Strait for 247 km, and the scheduled bus takes about three and a half hours. It passes every landmark on the water route, which is one of the nicer things about a bus journey in this part of the world — you are driving along the same coast the boats are navigating.

There is also a ferry at the Primera Angostura. People often assume it is a shortcut between the two cities. It is not: it is a seasonal passenger service for the strait crossing itself, useful for its own sake and for the view, but the road is the direct connection.

There is no train and no direct flight between the two towns. The nearest airport to Puerto Natales is Punta Arenas'.

If you can only pick one

Pick Punta Arenas if your interest is the water, the history, the ships and the wildlife, and if you want the flexibility of a city with real infrastructure and an airport. Pick Puerto Natales if your interest is landscape and walking, and if you would rather wake up in a place that is a five-minute drive from the thing you came for.

Choosing neither is also legitimate. There is a third option for people whose interest is the region as a subject rather than as a destination: the Strait's history, the two oceans, the 1881 treaty and the chart of 1881 can all be read without leaving a desk. But if you are going to travel, three days split the way above is the shape that works.