Keep it Short and Sweet:
There isn’t much to do, would recommend spending minimal time in these spots based on your interests.
Tell me Everything:
Torres del Paine is the biggest attraction in Southern Chilean Patagonia, but surely there are other things to do, right? To be frank, not really. We like a low-stress timeline where we can make it work, especially in a windy location like Patagonia where flights are so often delayed or cancelled. We booked to fly into Puerto Natales two days before we started the O-Circuit, and to fly out of Punta Arenas three days after we finished. That gave us plenty of time to “explore” both towns. Did we do any exploring? Shit no.
Not only is there very little to do, but we were somewhat preoccupied. Pre-trek we spent exploring the supermarkets for the best hiking food locations (a favourite activity), and post-trek we spent eating and recovering – mentally, physically, and from illness, as we both caught a cold on the trek. So we don’t have much personal advice for the area!
Puerto Natales is cool for the landscapes, and for the sensation of how far you are – from everything. If you fly in, like we did, this will be your first stop for the famous Patagonian winds – a breeze sometimes, a gale others, but always there to keep you company. We were also lucky enough to have awesome views of the Torres & Patagonia in general as we flew over. It was actually a hilarious experience, with everyone in the right row getting out of their seats and leaving over the left row to get the view, too. So make sure you reserve a seat on the LHS of the plane!
Otherwise, Puerto Natales supposedly has some good bars and restaurants (all beyond our price range), and a few random things to do. The walk along the waterfront is quite nice – again, for getting a sense of Patagonia and the wildness of this place. There are a few statues to take photos with if that’s your thing. If you’re so inclined, you can hire a bike and visit a cavern which holds the remains of some dinosaurs – this did actually sound quite cool, but we only heard about it from some friend on the O-trek. We would advise doing this activity before you do any hiking – we were much too tired afterwards to even think about attempting it!
Punta Arenas is bigger and a bit dirtier – it’s got a proper port, so it’s more like a real town. This does mean there are a few more options to pick up hiking essentials, and many more options for where to stay. However, it’s still mostly just a landing port for tourists, and there is apparently not heaps to do. There are a couple of national parks nearby, though again – if you’ve just spend 8 days in TDP, you might be a little over that.
As we were recovering from the O Trek and knew we’d start the Dientes in a matter of days, so we weren’t very activity heavy in this town.
There are several museums if that’s your fancy – though they’re all a little pricey, so we can’t recommend any.
We heard from a friend that the penguin tours here are awesome – we took one in ushuaia and it was probably 50% more expensive, for the same breeds – so if you’re keen to see some birdies and have the time here, we’d recommend it!
Punta Arenas has a few microbreweries to visit, if you’re a beer lover and you want a relaxing activity.
Otherwise, we read that Pali Aike national park and the lighthouse, Faro San Isidro were both good places to visit for some walking.
In general – we’re glad that we had the days to chill out in our Airbnb and recover, but we wouldn’t really recommend spending more days than you need in either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales. Stay in the bush – it’s where life is best, anyway!