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Hiking the famous W-Trek in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile without a guide in March 2024 is the most rewarding adventure and intimate way to experience Patagonia!
We hiked the W-Trek in Patagonia without a guide in 5 days / 4 nights after seeing how expensive guided tours were…although planning how to hike the W-Trek can feel overwhelming, this detailed guide will walk you step-by-step to make planning your Patagonia trip easier.
In this detailed W-Trek itinerary and travel guide, I’ve included everything you need to know about how to hike the W-Trek in Patagonia without a guide, including:
Want to make the most of your Patagonia trip? Check out my detailed 2-week travel guide for best hikes and must-do activities in Patagonia (Argentina & Chile)!
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Located in the heart Patagonia, the W-Trek is a 47-mile, multi-day hike in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park that features some of the most iconic views in the entire world, including the famous Torres del Paine viewpoint. This W-shaped hiking trail gives visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in the diverse landscape that makes Patagonia so breathtaking, including the vast glaciers, turquoise lakes, and granite spires! Most hikers complete the W-Trek in 4 to 5 days.
Below, I’ll break down the day-by-day itinerary of how we hiked the W-Trek in 5 days and where we camped each night along the W-Trek.
In the Torres del Paine National Park map below, the W-Trek is the "w-shaped" trail marked by the orange dotted line. You can either hike the W-Trek from west to east (what we did) or from east to west. This W-Trek map will give you an idea of how long it takes to hike each segment.
After backpacking the W-Trek in Patagonia in March 2024, I found the W-Trek to be moderately challenging. Sure, the W-Trek is nearly 50 miles long, but we spread out the hike across 5 days and 4 nights. The majority of the hike is along well-maintained and well-marked trails with minimal elevation gain. This multi-day hike also does not require any specialized skills like bouldering, rappelling, or route-navigating, which made hiking the W-Trek without a guide easily doable.
The two most challenging sections of the W-Trek were those that required steep elevation gains, including:
These sections will require some level of fitness to complete. But if you are a beginner hiker that wants to do the W-Trek, you can always skip the optional hike up the French Valley (#1 above)...this is what my dad decided to do!
And when it comes to hiking to the Base of the Towers lookout point, it’s doable for beginner hikers as well. Just make sure to give yourself enough time to complete the hike, take as many breaks as you need, and bring enough food and water. It may have taken my 60-year-old mom the whole day to complete the hike to the viewpoint at Base of the Towers, but she damn did it!
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You do not need a guide or tour company to hike the W-Trek in Patagonia!
With guided tours ranging from $1,300 - $3,300 per person, hiking the W-Trek with a guided tour can be expensive.
My family and I backpacked the W-Trek in 5 days without a guide and found it easily doable since the hike is not technically difficult; you don’t need any specialized skills like route-finding, rappelling, or bouldering.
The W-Trek is easy to navigate and the trail is well-maintained with sufficient signage. In addition, the trails are so populated that even if you got turned around, there were plenty of people to ask for assistance! Hiking the W-Trek on your own (without a guide) is not only easy to do, but much cheaper.
If you want to hike the W-Trek without a guide, you will be required to take on a lot of the legwork to plan the trip and book accommodations in advance. Figuring out how the logistics for the hike and how to book campsites and refugios through the multiple vendor websites is more challenging than the W-Trek itself! But it can be done as long as you start planning your trip early (we started planning 8-months in advance and I feel like we could’ve started earlier!).
However, the extra planning work you do in advance on your own can save you a lot of money and make hiking the W-Trek more affordable.
In my opinion, the major benefit of booking a guided tour for the W-Trek is hassle-free trip planning, especially when it comes to booking lodging along the W-Trek. As mentioned above, the biggest challenge for us when it came to planning our W-Trek hike without a guide is figuring out how to book accommodations. Not only are there various types of lodging options to figure out, but there are multiple vendors with their own websites to navigate for making reservations. The other added difficulty we experienced when planning out our W-Trek self-guided hike is that a lot of the campsite reservations were not available for our desired dates.
If you’re looking to hike the W-Trek without worrying about planning out the complicated logistics and making all of the challenging lodging reservations (and just want to show up), booking a guided tour for the W-Trek may be valuable for you!
The W-Trek can be hiked even if you are a beginner hiker! As mentioned above, the majority of the hike is along well-maintained, populated trails that only require a few sections of steep, challenging hikes (which can be skipped). My only recommendation is to build up your fitness level before your hike to be as prepared as possible.
Even if you have no camping or backpacking experience (or just don’t like to camp or backpack), you can still hike the W-Trek! One of the most unique things about hiking the W-Trek are the amenities available for all types of visitors to Torres del Paine National Park. Since there are various types of accommodations you can book in advance along the trail, including fully furnished tents (at the premium campsites) or dorm-style refugios, you can hike the W-Trek without carrying camping gear on your back. If I were to hike the W-Trek again (or attempt the O-Trek), I plan to book premium campsites and only hike with a hiking daypack so my poor knees don’t have to die again while backpacking with all my gear…work smarter, not harder!
In addition to the various lodging options available along the W-Trek, there are tons of markets and restaurants along the trail for hikers and visitors to purchase food, fuel, and other supplies. Which means that you can lighten the load in your backpack even more, making the W-Trek less challenging.
The best time of year to hike the W-Trek will depend on your preferences.
We hiked the W-Trek at the end of March during shoulder season and highly recommend this time of year! The contrasting fall foliage brought the landscape to life (even more)! Although Torres del Paine was still busy, the crowds were manageable on the trails and at the accommodations.
Regardless of what time of year you decide to hike the W-Trek, be prepared for unpredictable weather and winds! Patagonia is famous for its unpredictable weather, even throughout the day.
It cost us $343.35 per person to hike the W-Trek in 5 days / 4 nights in March 2024. This total cost is inclusive of transportation, entrance fees, campsites, and a meal option we purchased. We opted for the most budget-friendly W-Trek option, which required us to backpack the W-Trek without a guide, carry all of our own camping gear, and cook our own meals.
How much it costs to hike the W-Trek in Patagonia will be totally dependent on:
Below is a breakdown of the total cost for us to hike the W-Trek in Patagonia, carrying our own camping gear and cooking meals each day.
In total, we spent $60.35 per person on transportation for the W-Trek.
If you are hiking the W-Trek, I am assuming you will be spending more than 3 days in Torres del Paine. Below are the Torres del Paine National Park entrance fees for 2024:
My brother booked our entrance fees for Torres del Paine in 2023, so we paid $55 per person.
As mentioned earlier, the type of lodging you book along the W-Trek will greatly influence how much you end up spending. Since our goal was to hike the W-Trek as affordably as possible, we carried our own camping gear and made reservations for whatever campsites were available for our travel dates (they book up quickly!). Here’s how much it cost us to camp 4 nights as we hiked the W-Trek:
To camp 4-nights along the W-Trek, we spent a total of $178 per person.
Since we backpacked the W-Trek, we also carried in our own food for the 5 day hike and cooked every meal.
However, we did splurge one of those dinner meals offered at Cuernos for $50 per person. The dinner included soup, main course, bread, water, and dessert.
Although the food was delicious, I don’t think the dinner option was worth $50 per person because of the portion size…I was still SO hungry after dinner, even after backpacking nearly 17-miles!
Instead of purchasing the dinner package, I’d recommend just ordering food at the restaurants or bar where you’ll be spending the night!
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An amazing amenity you’ll find as you hike the W-Trek is the option to rent hiking and camping gear. This came in clutch when we realized that my husband’s sleeping pad we packed had a hole in it after he spent his first night sleeping on the deflated pad! So we rented my husband a sleeping mat at each campsite for about $9/night.
Below are costs to rent camping gear if you’re hiking the W-Trek. These are prices at Camping Gray when I visited in March 2024:
To keep the cost of hiking the W-Trek as budget-friendly as possible, I recommend bringing your own camping gear.
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There are a variety of accommodation types in Torres del Paine that cater to all types of visitors and budgets. The 4 main lodging types you’ll find hiking the W-Trek are:
The campsites on the W-Trek are either operated by Vertice Travel or Las Torres Patagonia, both which are authorized vendors in Torres del Paine National Park. They each have their own online reservation system, which can make booking W-Trek campsites confusing.
Below is a list of the campsites along the W-Trek and which vendor operates each. Take a look at my detailed 5-day W-Trek itinerary (below) to see where I camped each night on the W-Trek so that it’s easy for you to make your camping reservations using the hyperlinks below:
I highly recommend making camping reservations in advance…I mean far in advance. Even though we planned our Patagonia trip 8 months in advance, we had difficulty finding campsite availability for our desired hike dates.
Puerto Natales, Chile is the closest town to Torres del Paine National Park, where the W-Trek is located. The easiest and cheapest way to get from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine is by bus, which takes 2 hours and costs $13 per bus ticket.
4 buses run daily from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine at 6:45 am, 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 2:30 pm (this last one is only available during peak season from November - March). The bus ride from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine Visitor Center (“Terminal Laguna Amarga” bus stop) is 2 hours.
There are a couple of buses available from the Torres del Paine Visitor Center back to Puerto Natales, scheduled for 3:00 pm, 8:15 pm, and 8:20 pm.
I recommend booking bus tickets to Torres del Paine in advance, especially during peak travel season!
I've created a list of all of the camping and hiking gear and clothes to pack to hike the W-Trek. Again, I packed all my own camping gear, fuel, food, and supplies.
You can hike the W-Trek either from west to east, starting at Paine Grande ("Star A" in the map), OR from east to west, starting at the famous Las Torres ("Star B" in the map).
Since we wanted to end our W-Trek experience with the iconic views of the granite towers that make Patagonia so famous, we hiked the W-Trek from west to east. The detailed itinerary below will show you how to hike the W-Trek from west to east in 5 days. If you want to hike the W-Trek from west to east instead, just reverse this itinerary!
Below is the overview of our 5-day W-Trek itinerary (hiking from west to east): make a table?
Today is the day you’ve been waiting for…DAY 1 of the W-Trek! Hiking the W-Trek from west to east, you’ll start your hike at Paine Grande.
Below is the step-by-step guide on how to get from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine, then to Paine Grande where you’ll start the W-Trek (if hiking from west to east).
(Step 1A) Ride bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine (2 hours, $15/person)
Catch an early morning bus to Torres del Paine from the Terminal Rodoviario bus station in Puerto Natales. It will take 2 hours to get to Torres del Paine from Puerto Natales by bus.
Although you can buy bus tickets in-person at the bus station, I highly recommend buying your ticket to Torres del Paine in advance, especially in peak season.
Make sure you book the correct bus destination when you purchase your bus tickets to make sure you are dropped off at the correct spot to start your W-Trek hike (this will depend on whether you want to hike from west to east or east to west).
Since we were hiking the W-Trek from west to east, here’s how we got from Puerto Natales to Paine Grande, the starting point of our hike in Torres del Paine National Park:
(Step 1B) Ride the catamaran to Paine Grande (30 minutes, $30 per person)
Once you get off the bus in Pudeto, take the short walk to where you’ll pick up the 10:30 am catamaran to Paine Grande.
You can only purchase catamaran tickets onboard. Make sure to bring cash (chilean pesos or USD) to purchase tickets. It costs 25,000 Chilean pesos or $30 USD to ride the catamaran from Pudeto to Paine Grande.
Your W-Trek adventure officially begins…NOW! As you hike from Paine Grande to Camping Grey, you’ll experience some elevation gain on the first section of the hike. Make sure to look back for beautiful views of the turquoise Pehoe Lake!
Enjoy the incredible views of the lakes as you make your way to your first viewpoint of Grey Glacier, which is epic by the way.
Once you’ve reached Camping Grey, check-in at the reception desk, set up camp, and relax for the rest of the night. You can even grab some food and beers at the nearby restaurant or take a hot shower before calling it a night.
This day hike starts and ends at Refugio Grey, the same spot where you just camped overnight. Which means you don't need to carry all of your gear for this part of the hike. Fortunately, there is a storage closet by the entrance to Refugio Grey to store our backpacks and camping gear while we hiked to Glacier Grey.
One of the most adventurous parts of this hike was hiking across not one but TWO SUSPENSION BRIDGES with epic view of the vibrant icebergs and expansive Grey Glacier as you make your way to the viewpoint!
After enjoying the serenity and vastness of Glacier Grey, hike back to Camping Grey to fuel up, rest, and pick up any gear you left before hiking back down to Paine Grande.
After cooking some lunch after our hike to Mirador Glacier Grey, we hiked back to Paine Grande along the same trail you hiked on Day 1.
Once you reach Paine Grande, check-in, set up camp, and cook dinner. If you’re lucky, try to catch the mesmerizing sunset views by Pehoe Lake!
If you plan on hiking up the French Valley (“Frances Valley") to the Britanico Viewpoint, the middle part of the “W” of the W-Trek, brace yourselves. Today will be your longest and toughest day hiking the W-Trek…my knees definitely died more than once!
Fortunately, you can do what my dad did and skip hiking up the French Valley if you don’t feel up to it to shorten this day of hiking and head directly to Cuernos for the night (more on this in Step 2 below).
Since today is the longest day hiking the middle section of the W-Trek, we woke up before sunrise to break down our tents, repack our backpacks, and cook breakfast. It was rough waking up so early (especially since our tent neighbors seemed to be having night tremors, leading to a lack of sleep on our part), but starting our hiking as the sky was fiery red during sunrise is truly an experience that took my breath away!
Once you reach the Italiano campsite, decide whether you want to do the optional hike up the French Valley (the middle part of the “W”). The hike up the French Valley to the Britanico Viewpoint gives you an incredible 360° view of the beautiful granite spires, lakes, and the French Valley that make Patagonia so famous. Hiking up the French Valley adds another 7.2 miles of hiking to your day.
If you decide to skip hiking up the French Valley, skip to “Step 3” below.
If you do decide to hike up the French Valley to the Britanico Viewpoint, you can leave your backpacks or any gear you don’t need at the Italiano campsite office, since you will be returning this way before you hike to Cuernos.
I found hiking up the French Valley difficult due to the rocky terrain and steep elevation gain…my knees struggled hiking back down, but at least the views of the valley and lakes were a beautiful distraction! Also - pay attention to the signs…it can be easy to get off trail at certain sections.
The last climb up to the Britanico viewpoint was super steep and had my muscles BURNING…my mouth breathing was also insane but the views at the top made it all worth it. You’re completely surrounded by perfect views of granite towers, glaciers, and the valley that you can’t get at any other part of the park!
After a lunch/snack break, head back down to Italiano campground. Keep your ears open…you may hear thunderous avalanches on the nearby glaciers!
Hike towards Cuernos, where you’ll spend the night. The majority of this hike is along the turquoise Nordenskjöld Lake, which is one of the most beautiful lakes in Torres del Paine! About 30 minutes before reaching Cuernos, we took a quick dip in the lake and that water was COLD…the kind of pick-me-up I needed to finish the rest of the hike.
At Cuernos, we checked-in and set-up our tents before heading to the dinner meal we had purchased. We also had to store any foods and smelly supplies at the office since Cuernos was having issues with rats.
Similarly to Day 3, you’ll have the spectacular views of Nordenskjöld Lake for half the hike before you make the steep climb to Chileno campground. I found this day of hiking incredibly tranquil with diverse landscapes! My favorite moment was running into a group of horses enjoying the meadow as we hiked through.
The last part of the hike up to the Chileno campground is steep and challenging…multiple breaks and lots of huffing and puffing are guaranteed. But take your time, you’ll make it up that damn hill!
After checking in and settling into our first premium campsite, we cooked some dinner and ate some more at the restaurant.
Today is the day you get to see the world famous granite spires that you see on all Patagonia postcards…Las Torres! But you’re going to have to WORK for these views…prepare yourselves for a STEEP STEEP hike up to the Las Torres Base viewpoint!
If you want to attempt seeing Las Torres at sunrise like us, start your hike early. We started hiking from Chileno at 5am…hiking in the dark is no joke! Luckily, we followed the headlamps of hikers ahead of us to make our way to The Towers.
Although we made it to the Las Torres Base Viewpoint before sunrise, it was cloudy, rainy, and cold as the sun came up, with poor visibility of the granite spires. But we still enjoyed the breathtaking views! The crazy part is that my mom and her friend started the hike from Chileno to Las Torres Base Viewpoint about 5 hours after us (around 10 am) and got to the base of The Towers in the early afternoon with picture perfect views of the granite spires and turquoise lakes!
Remember that steep hike up to the Chileno campground from Cuernos that you did on Day 4? You get to enjoy hiking down that bad boy as you make your way to Las Torres Hotel/Central to finish up your epic W-Trek adventure.
Once you make it to Las Torres Hotel/Central, rest up, refuel, and enjoy souvenir shopping…you freaking deserve it. Celebrate the fact that you just kicked ass and finished the W-Trek!
Sadly, now that you’ve finished the W-Trek, it’s time to leave Torres del Paine National Park. If you hiked the W-Trek from west to east, you’ve finished your hike at Las Torres Hotel/Central.
Take a shuttle from Las Torres Hotel/Central to Laguna Amarga. Bring cash so you can buy tickets on the bus for $4.34 per person (4,000 CLP).
Once you’re at Laguna Amarga (the main bus stop in Torres del Paine), catch a bus back to Puerto Natales.
Thinking about hiking the famous W-Trek in Patagonia? DO IT!
Hopefully, this comprehensive W-Trek travel guide makes it easier for you to plan how to hike the W-Trek without a guide, where to camp, how to book campsites in Tores del Paine, and how much it costs to hike!
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