Puerto Natales - A Day of Adapting

Monday, January 5, 2026 

As the closest city 75 minutes away, Puerto Natales is considered the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. It is our home base to attempt Chile's best hiking in Patagonia: the Base of the Towers.

We used our first full day to adapt to the extreme conditions of the Patagonian climate. We are here in summer for its warmest weather (40-65F) and longest days (17 hours). Unfortunately saddled with those optimal conditions is the wind, most forceful during the summer and a key player in the defining characteristics of the Patagonian climate. A geographical phenomenon, they are a byproduct of warm equatorial air meeting cold Antarctic air. With few land masses around, the Andes are a funnel for these winds as they circle the globe.

In other words, it is very windy here.

Puerto Natales reminds me of the folktale 'The Three Little Pig'. The homes look like they were built to withstand the wolf - with sheets of galvanized metal passing the test.

We noticed right away there are no trash cans in Puerto Natales. Instead they put their trash bags in metal cages, or conveniently tied to trees, that are staked to the ground to not blow away.

Other than going to Torres del Paine National Park, there are very few things to do in Puerto Natales. My guess is that most people visit the prehistoric cave outside town where they discovered the Mylodon – a large ground sloth which died during the Ice Age.

Instead we chose to hike the 1800-ft high hill at the edge of the town. It is a short 3.5-mile (roundtrip) hike to the top of Cerro Dorotea. I read that its difficulty is low to medium, which sounded like a good warmup for our upcoming hikes. In hindsight, I should've realized that assending 1600 feet of elevation in 1-1/2 miles might not be "easy". Shortly after our steep climb began, so did the joking from the peanut gallery: "Easy casual walk … I think by my 10th or so trip I would know not to trust mom."

Cerro Dorotea is just a ‘walk’ up this hill

"I need to change up my outfit," said Jeremy. We used shedding and adding clothing layers as an excuse to catch our breath. 

The reward for our "walk" was the incredible view of Puerto Natales and the mountains and glaciers that surround the area of the Última Esperanza Fjord.

Overlooking the town of Puerto Natales

Fascinated by the largest flying birds on the planet, I was really hoping to see the Andean condors that nest in the walls of Cerro Dorotea. No luck today.

It was very windy at the top. The wind gusts in Patagonia can get up to 70 mph.

After getting some groceries and taking a break at the house, we headed back out to rent hiking poles and get dinner. The rental place gave us some good tips about the hike:

• bring dry clothes to replace the wet/sweaty ones so you can stay warm at the top
• Bring hot water, again, so you can stay warm at the top
• Don't walk the ~3 miles from Laguna Amarga (the main entrance to the park) to the Visitors Center (trailhead); take the shuttle. Nobody walks and I never considered it an option.

Dinner was a big disappointment. We walked a mile away from town to a place known for its bbq'd foods - only to find out that they weren't serving anything bbq'd from the menu, and worse, they were out of beer.

On our tired walk back to the house, Greg evaluated the town, as we always do when we travel. Could we live here? Would we come back? "I'm not getting that vibe," he decided, mostly due to the strong winds.

Logistics:

• Cerro Dorotea hike - It's a short ~10-minute uber ride to the trailhead just to the north of town, where local farmer Juan de Dios Saavedra collects a token trailhead access fee ($5,000 Chilean pesos per person). Total active hiking time was 2 hours plus an hour we spent at the top.

The trailhead to Cerritos Dorothea is on Farmer Juan de Dios Saavedra’s property

Cerritos Dorothea trail map

• Hiking poles – I made a reservation at Day Zero. Each pair was pesos 7,000/day. Paying by credit card was ok or 10% cash discount (including crisp USD bills). Best of all was that we could pick them up after 5pm the day prior and return the day after before noon (or that night by 11pm).