W-Trek: the complete guide for backpackers
The W Trek on your own for 265 €, against the 1500 the agencies ask. Smart, comfortable, for everyone.
Patagonia had always lived in my imagination as a distant, almost unreachable place. When I found out I'd be going to Brazil for COP30, I realised it was time to turn that dream into a real journey. Torres del Paine and its W Trek were at the top of the list, until I ran into the prices: 1200, 1500 € asked by the agencies. Luckily I didn't give up: almost the whole route can be done independently, for a fraction of that. Three quarters of the W in three days, for 265 €, everything included.
But it wasn't a survival W. It was a smart W.
Saving money didn't mean suffering. No tent with my teeth chattering through the freezing late-April nights, no twenty-kilo backpack dragged for days. I used the Paine Grande refuge as a fixed base, conveniently right by the ferry pier, moving light towards the two western arms of the W. A warm bed, my little stove for my meals, a few small luxuries in the right place. The result is a route that's efficient on both fronts at once, cost and effort, and exactly for that reason suited to everyone. Here's how.
What the W is (and the O)
Torres del Paine National Park, in the far south of Chile, is one of the icons of the Andes: granite mountains, turquoise lakes, forests and glaciers. Its name comes from the three Towers, vertical spires nearly three thousand metres high.
The W Trek is the most beloved way to discover it: 70–80 km that trace a «W» on the map, touching the park's three key points. It usually takes 4–5 days. There's also the O Circuit, which loops the whole massif in 7–9 days on its wilder, more remote side: when I went it was already closed for the season. A good reason to come back, at another time of year, to discover new wonders.
The weather, the real master
At fifty degrees of southern latitude, exposed to the westerly winds that circle the globe without meeting land, Torres del Paine has an unpredictable and often fierce climate: sun, wind, rain and snow in the same day are the norm. The star is the wind, going from a breeze to gusts over a hundred an hour. We learned it climbing Fitz Roy for sunrise, reaching the top inside a snowstorm with gusts over 105 km/h and five metres of visibility. In Patagonia the mountain always decides.
6–20°C, up to 17h of daylight. Stable but crowded, extremely windy, bookings months ahead.
From 5°C to freezing, snow possible. Red and gold lenga forests, empty trails.
Cold and snow, calmer winds. Many services closed, some sections guide-only.
Leftover snow and mud, then nature blooming again. Few visitors.
I went between 25 and 27 April, the last week before the refuges closed. A period to respect, but one that gives you the contrast between white snow and red forests, and a huge practical advantage: I booked everything one or two days ahead, with total flexibility and much lower prices.
Sleeping in Puerto Natales
The gateway to the park is a small, quiet town on the fjord, two hours from the entrances, walkable end to end. This is where the trek is prepared and wrapped up. For a self-guided W the right choice is a hostel with a kitchen, gear rental and luggage storage: it's where I rented the stove and prepared my food for the trail.
The refuges along the W
Six refuges, three operators. Understanding who runs what is the real key to the budget.
The Grey glacier side, with reasonable prices: this is where I built the itinerary.
The Towers side. The highest prices in the park: avoided by doing the Base as a day hike.
Free but bare-bones: no refuge, no services. Your own tent only.
In summer: book months ahead on at least two different systems. It's this complexity that's the barrier the agencies build their prices on. The move that slashes the cost: Vertice only, zero nights in the east.
The itinerary, day by day
Paine Grande as a base in front of the pier, light movements, Base Las Torres as a day hike from Puerto Natales. Sleeping bag, stove and food in the backpack.
Base Las Torres
Puerto Natales → Base Torres → Puerto Natales · day hike
We set off at dawn from Puerto Natales, by car with a group of friends met in El Chaltén. An hour and a half of road and we're at the visitor centre, where the climb begins. The sky is low and grey, the wind is blowing and a few snowflakes fall, but the energy is sky-high.
Ahead of us are 22 kilometres round trip and about 1500 metres of total ascent. There's only one rule: start early, before ten. The last kilometre, the hardest, is controlled by the rangers, who require you to clear it by 1 pm in autumn and 2 pm in summer. It's a steep climb over scree that tests your legs: medium difficulty, tiring but within reach of anyone with a bit of training.
We brought a packed lunch: sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese, jam and peanut butter for a sugar boost halfway along. Light, cheap, and it frees us from depending on the inflated refuge prices.
Base Las Torres is the only stretch of the W that's comfortably done in a day, and that's exactly what we do: by evening we're back in Puerto Natales, without having spent a cent in the eastern refuges. We have dinner all together, then say goodbye. They go their own way, and from here on I take on the W alone.
Miradores Francés and Británico
Paine Grande → Valle del Francés → M. Británico → Paine Grande
Up at seven, bus to the boarding point on Lago Pehoé, the 10:30 catamaran to Paine Grande. Half an hour crossing, check-in at 11 and straight onto the trail.
A word on the refuge, because this is where you understand how you really save. Paine Grande costs 65 dollars a night in a shared dorm, but bare and basic: no gear, unheated rooms, sleeping bag required. The meal plans are a bloodbath, up to 110 dollars for full board.
The heart of the day is the two miradores of the W's central arm. From the refuge you walk through the lenga forest, which in autumn explodes with reds and golds, up to Campamento Italiano. From there you climb to the first viewpoint, Mirador Francés, which looks straight at the hanging glacier clinging to Paine Grande: if the wind falls silent for a moment, you hear it dumping avalanches of ice into the valley. Those with legs left carry on to Mirador Británico, the highest point of the valley, where the rock walls open into a 360-degree amphitheatre of peaks.
In all it's 26 kilometres and about 1800 metres of ascent, and you don't need to do the whole valley to take home the best: it's exactly these two viewpoints that are the reason to climb up here. Lago Pehoé, Paine Grande, the Cuernos del Paine, and the contrast between the valley's vivid colours and the white of the high peaks. In the whole day I crossed no more than five people. This is the real luxury of the low season: a place like this almost all to yourself.
The Grey Glacier
Paine Grande → Refugio Grey → suspension bridges → catamaran
Last day, and it starts with a small hitch: awake at 8:30, later than planned. A quick breakfast and off at 10 towards the Grey glacier. Let me say it right away: if you have to choose a single stretch of the W, it's this one.
This time the weather plays along, full sun but ferocious wind. From the Paine Grande refuge to Refugio Grey you walk about 11 kilometres, which I cover in three hours, arriving at 1 pm. But the highlight comes after: I carry on to the second suspension bridge, the viewpoint looking straight at the glacier's front. A curiosity: past Campamento Grey you're already technically on the O Circuit, no longer the W. That's where Grey truly reveals itself, and where you understand why it's worth the effort, the sweat, the battle against the wind.
In total 33.6 kilometres and about a thousand metres of ascent in seven hours. Refugio Grey is wonderful and cheap, and with more time I'd break the stage by sleeping there. But I had to get back for a ferry that over four days would take me to Puerto Montt, and which, given the unpredictable Patagonian conditions, no one even knew when it would really leave.
The last kilometres I did with my feet in pieces, I won't hide it. But it was the most beautiful of the three stretches, the one that on its own justifies the whole trip.
What I actually spent
My items, compared with what those who rely on an agency pay.
| Item | USD | EUR |
|---|---|---|
| Park entry (valid 10 days) | 55 $ | 48 € |
| Puerto Natales hostel (1 night) | 19 $ | 17 € |
| Day 1 dinner | 11 $ | 10 € |
| Refugio Paine Grande (1 night) | 65 $ | 57 € |
| Food shopping (3 days) | 45 $ | 40 € |
| Bus Puerto Natales ⇄ park (round trip) | 17 € | |
| Catamaran Lago Pehoé (round trip) | 48 € | |
| Rentals (stove, utensils, sleeping bag, poles, crampons) | 32,5 $ | 29 € |
| Shared car day 1 | 0 $ | 0 € |
| Total | 265 € | |
| Same experience, with an agency | 1200–1500 € |
Prices for foreigners (Chileans pay less). Conversion at 1 $ = 0,88 €. Rentals: stove 2 $/day, utensils 2 $/day, sleeping bag 6 $/day, poles 2,5 $/day, crampons 5 $. Entry is bought on pasesparques.cl; bus and catamaran in cash, in Chilean pesos.
The difference isn't in the trek, which is identical. It's in everything the agency puts between you and the mountain, and in the promise that you won't have to organise anything. But organising means three bookings and a well-packed backpack.
Where we slept
Puerto Natales
The better of the two. Welcoming, well kept, the right place to rest before and after the trek.
Very nice, but extremely cold in the cold season: in winter I don't recommend it.
Look for a hostel with an equipped kitchen, gear rental and luggage storage during the walk. Other names loved by trekkers: Erratic Rock, Yagan House, Puma House.