If you are deciding in between O trek or W trek, do it all on your own or hike with a guided group. My preference is O trek over W, do everything on your own, and go solo if you had this thought in your mind but a little scared. Here are a few reasons:
- O trek is a perfect multi-day backpacking for beginners and solo travelers. The trail is well marked. Campgrounds/rest stations are located within every 7-10 miles. There are constant flow of people on the trail, including backpackers, porters and park rangers.
- You will realize O takes you deeper in the park – it’s not physically harder, but give you more time to embrace the beauty of this place. It’s quieter, less crowded, with more solo travelers. The people you meet on the way, you will meet them everyday. You know each other from firstly greeting each other, passing by each other, to enjoying a view together, taking each other’s photos, to cook ing together, chatting together and in the end, deciding to walk a distance together. You share thoughts and real life inspirations on this trail.
In this blog, I will share step-by-step to get you started in all logistics from getting there to book accommodations and routes review.
How to get there
Step 1. Get to Puerto Natales
Puerto Natales is the base city to explore the park. It’s a small, lovely town by Golfo Almirante Montt and 2-hr bus to Torres Del Paine National Park where O trek is located. It has everything you need to have a final prep for the O trek – from well-priced hostels/hotels to local groceries stores and hiking equipment stores.
There are multiple ways to get to Puerto Natales, depending on where you will be coming from. I was based in Los Angeles, and got to Puerto Natales by flight through LATAM Airline. Here are the three main ways to get to Puerto Natales with a combination of flights and buses.
- Flight only. Los Angeles/your initial city —> Santiago —> Puerto Natales.
- Flight + Bus: Chile bound.
- Flight: your initial city –> Santiago –> Punta Arenas.
- Bus: Punta Arena –> Puerto Natales (3-hour)
- Flight + Bus: Argentina bound.
- Flight: your initial city –> Burona Aires –> El Calafate
- Bus: El Calafate –> Puerto Natales (6-hour)
Step 2. Get to Torres Del Paine / Laguna Amarga bus drop-off (2hr)
From Puerto Natales, take a 2-hour bus to Torres Del Paine. The bus operator is Bus Sur and you can book it here. Most people take the earliest bus (~7am) to get to the park at 9am to start the day 1 of the O. There are also times at 12pm and 2:30pm.
Step 3. Get to Base Torres -Central/park welcome center to start the O trek (10min)
Once you get to the bus drop-off, there are park staff to check your park entrance tickets. After the check, you will take the shuttle from bus drop location to the park welcome center – Torres central. There is a 4,500 CLP or $5 USD charge cash only for the shuttle before onboard so prepare the cash with you. No need to book the shuttle in advance.
Park Entrance Ticket booking
Book the park entrance ticket in advance on the park pass official site. Select MÁS DE 3 DÍAS/more than 3days option. The fee is $46.2K CLP per adult as of March 2025. Download the PDF/QR code on your phone.
Camp Ground booking
O trek can only be hiked counter-clock wise. Here is my preferred route: Seron – Dickson – Los Perros – Grey – Paine Grande – Cuernos or Frances – Chileno. You do not need to take catamarans with this route. There are two self services ways to book the camp sites.
- Book directly from the operators’ website. There are two companies running the campgrounds and each manages a few sites adjunct to each other.
- Los Torres: Seron, Cuernos, Frances, Chileno, Central
- Vertice Travel: Dickson, Los Perros, Paine Grande, Grey
- Book through 3rd party site – Torres hike for all camp grounds together, pay a service fee and save time on booking. I personally used it and it was helpful to understand the trail maps. But if I would go to the O trek again, I would book it directly on the operators’ website to save the fee.
Bonus notes.
- You can skip camp grounds and do longer day hikes.
- You can stay in different campgrounds on the W side of the trek. Frances or Cuernos, Central or Chileno.
- You could try going to the campgrounds without reservations and walk in. At least in March, it’s not overcrowded and I talked to a few people who just walked in for the O trek.
Routes and Campgrounds Review
If you have read through the camping booking above, you are good to go with the everything logistically. But if you want to learn more about each campground and the routes, here is my personal review. One thing I love about the O trek is you go through a different campground every day and each of them has their own characters. So just thinking about where to arrive is something that drives my curiosity when starting the day.
Day 1 – Seron, or Skip Seron (10mi, +656ft)
Seron is the first stop of the O trek. First day trek is easy. I booked the premium tent since there aren’t options on available with ground camping. To me, Seron is a little lack of characters. It started raining in the afternoon and I just stayed in my tent reading on the kindle. If I would do the O-trek again, I will likely skip Seron. It was an almost flat 8 miles and most people finished it in 3~4 hours. And a few people I met on the trail actually skipped Seron and chose to keep going to Dickson as the first stop.
- Reason to stay
- If you want to start the O Trek easy to phase it, Seron is a good stop to get used to camping, sleeping outside and the weather.
- The next campgroundis Dickson, which is my favorite one. Stay in Seron will give you more time on day 2 to enjoy Dickson.
- Reason to Skip:
- If you are on short timeline and need to spare a day.
- If you are unable to book online for a low budget ground camp.
- If you are physically strong and can cover more miles on day 1
Next time, I will actually skip Seron and keep going to Dickson.
Day 2 – Dickson, the camp by the lake and a enchanted beach, with Hawaii hippie music (11mi, +1233ft)
Seron to Dickson is 11 mile and very windy in the first part of the hike, but arriving in Dickson rewards you everything with lake, mountains and its beautiful beach. I also love the staff and shops here in Dickson. They play music with good vibes and have freshly baked bread in the minimart. At night, you can stargazing, you can do an evening walk alone the lake, a short jog, or some yoga on the beach.
Day 3 – Los Perros. Small, simple and characteristic, for you all early risers (6mi, +1673ft)
Los Perros is the most remote and un-equipment campground in my pov. It resides in the woods and the ground is wet when I was there. It’s the only campground without hot shower. I like it because it’s small and intimate. They have a hand drawing map in the station and many stickers, which I found hippie and cool. The checkout time is strict at 7am since the next day hike to Grey is considered challenging.
Day 4 – Grey. The first intersection with the W trek and the first glacier view. (9mi, +2723ft)
The hike to Grey felt a bit longer with the first section of John Garner Pass and a more challenging downhill, but it rewards you with the glacier view, which is one of my favorites of this trek. There are also three suspended bridge after the pass, which made the trek more fun. I went for speed for this trek. If I would do it again, I will take my time to picnic and chat with people on the glacier viewpoint closer to the camp to enjoy more of the park.
Day 5 – Paine Grande. Blue lake, Mountain View and Big Common Areas for all your kinds. (7mi, +1204ft)
The way to Paine Grande is shorter with the glacier view behind you. I consider it as a good easy trek. The lake is pure blue and it may take your breath away. There are a lot of people and big fun kitchen to cook in, chat in and read in. Take a beach walk or do some yoga.
Day 6 – Cuernos (pron: kuer·nos).
- Paine Grande – Italiano/Mirador Britanico: 8mi, +2592ft. Firstly you will arrive Italiano where you can leave your bag before up to Mirador. Note there are two routes to Italiano – 3 mi and 2mi. I went for the longer one it’s definitely beautiful.
- Mirador Britanico – Cuernos: 6mi, +406ft. There is about 40min to 1 hour walk from Frances to Cuernos and you will walk part of it on the beach. Booking either is good. Be aware of the platform camping when they only give you a platform. It took some of the engineering skills to get the tent on the platform in Cuernos with the strong rain and wind. Ask the staff for screws to repurpose the nails on the platform to fit your tent.
Day 7 – Chileno. Coolest bar and a better base for Torres sunrise hike. (9mi, +2398ft)
I was lucky to get a spot at Chileno, and also paid the most since it’s a premium camping. There is a welcome drink and I got a Calafate beer – definitely delicious. I got there early in the afternoon and hung out with friends all afternoon eating pizza, drinking hot chocolate and beer. Waiting for the most exciting morning the next day. There are a lot of people passing by this camp since the day hikes groups to Torres will also hang here. Vibrant vibes and I want to go back!
Day 8 Torres Del Paine Summit and Finish O Trek
- Chileno – Torres: 2mi, +1696ft
- Torres – Chileno – Central: 6mi, downhill
This is the last day of the trek. Start early to watch the sunrise. It is the most memorable moment of this trek and the view really touched me emotionally. It took me about 1hr 20min to get up to the Torres in the dark. It is really cold up there and bring all your layers and perhaps hot tea or coffee to enjoy this spectacular view!
Going down the trek back to the welcome center is easy and a bit crowded with people doing day hikes going up. I love the moments chilling at the picnic table at the welcome center, eating sandwiches and chatting with the friends you met on the trail. The day was sunny and warm. We all took the bus back to town together, got dinner and beer and desserts together. I truly love this trek and the people.
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