Puerto Natales in Fiordland Chile
Puerto Natales in Chilean Patagonia is the starting off point to see the finest mountain and lake scenery in South America.
Torres del Paine National Park is a tourist mecca for South America, rivaling Machu Picchu as a must-see destination. However, there is plenty else to do and see in the region. Puerto Natales has become the starting point to visit the many glaciers of fiordland either as day cruises or luxury multi-day cruises offered as package tours. Day trips include a visit to the Milodon Cave, a boat cruise up the adjacent fiord to view nearby glaciers, or a two day trip across the Argentine border to see the mighty Perito Moreno Glacier.
How to get to Puerto Natales? There are three ways, given in ascending order of comfort and descending order of time. What you might see on the way depends on the weather which can be notoriously bad e.g., rain, snow, gales. If you get a fine day consider yourself lucky.
Hardy backpackers like to torture themselves by taking the weekly Navimag ferry sailing from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, a journey of 3 days, winding southwards along the Pacific fiordland coast. Horrendous stories abound about cramped conditions, fog, rain, rough seas and sea sickness.
Less traumatic is to travel by bus. This 2 day journey starts from Valdivia, Chile and crosses the Andes into Argentina to follow the sealed Atlantic coast highway to Rio Gallegos and thence west following the Strait of Magellan to Punta Arenas. Puerto Natales is a pleasant 247 km bus ride NW from Punta Arenas. You see a lot of countryside on the way.
By far the best way is to fly to Punta Arenas from Santiago or Puerto Montt; this is painless, quick and very comfortable. On a fine day you see the whole Andean mountain chain with its snowy peaks and volcanoes. Weather permitting your pilot will do a circuit of the magnificent Paine Mountains before loosing altitude to land at Punta Arenas.
Puerto Natales, population ca 20,000, is a fiordland port established in 1911 to service the sheep industry of Patagonia. Today there are still lots of sheep around but tourism is now the life blood of the region. It is a very pleasant place to stay for some rest and recreation. Finding accommodation in Puerto Natales is not a problem. Conveniently within a square kilometer of the waterfront is a concentration of hospedajes (guest houses), motels and hotels interspersed with rustic bars, restaurants and travel agents ready to send you off on an adventure somewhere. Local Chileans may trot by on horseback or have their pet sheep or goat grazing on the grassy street verge.
There are some fabulous up-market estancias and tourist hotels within the region which can be checked out from the VisitChile Online Travel Agency. For budget travelers the Hostelworld website has reviews and online booking. Some of the nicest hospedajes are run by little old ladies who make a modest living catering for international travelers. You will find them listed in Chile guide books, or by word-of-mouth from other travelers.
The day cruise to see some glaciers is an inexpensive favorite. At 8.30 am every day a ship takes tourists up the local fiord to the Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers and returns by 8.30 pm. The cruise follows the winding Seno Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope Sound), so named by a 16th century Spanish navigator who became lost in a maze of channels while searching for an outlet to the Pacific Ocean.
At Condor Cliff giant black vultures glide overhead and dive to squabbled over a carcass. Towering above is Monte Balmaceda (2035m) which has a glacier coming off its eastern slope reaching almost to the sea. Now the ice melts about 200 meters back from the water. After 4 hours cruising the boat stops at a jetty in the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park for the passengers to take a 1 km bush and lake walk with lunch at the snout of the Serrano Glacier. It is an amazing landscape of icebergs and mountain tops shrouded in mist. The peaks of the Torres del Paine massif can be seen from the boat, about 35 km up the Serrano Valley.
More extensive luxury cruises take in the visits to larger glaciers further north, including that of Glacier Pio XI, the largest glacier outside of Antarctica. It has an ice front on the sea 6 kms across with a height of 75 meters, equivalent to a 20 story building! Hold on to your hat when a bit breaks off into the sea! The Skorpio III 5 day cruise to see Pio XI leaves Port Natales on Saturday and returns the following Thursday. The ship takes 125 passengers in luxury, with frequent guided landings and later lectures about the ecology and geomorphology. The VisitChile website gives details of cruises available from Puerto Natales.
A wonderful half day trip is a visit to the Cueva del Milodon. About 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, a giant hairy sloth roamed the Patagonian pampa. Bones and skin were found in 1896 in a huge cavern 24 km north of Puerto Natales. It was a giant herbivore, now extinct, named "Mylodon darwini". The main cavern measures 80m wide and 30m high and extends 200m into the cliff. A replica of the milodon, about 3m tall, stands at the entrance. Also, of interest to anglers, close by is Lago Sofia which offers good fishing for rainbow trout.
A good two day tour promoted is a 4-wheel drive trip across the border into Argentina to see the huge Perito Moreno Glacier. This SUV tour takes12 passengers and leaves Puerto Natales at 2 pm and arrives in the Argentine tourist town of El Calafate by 7.30 pm. Accommodation is arranged to suit budgets.
Next day takes in a drive to Los Glaciares National Park and allows for several hours roaming around the catwalks in front of the glacier. Every 15 minutes or so there is a crash as huge chunks of ice collapsed into the lake. The glacier's sheer magnitude impresses - its frontage onto adjoining lakes extends several kilometers.
El Calafate is a windy stopover for hordes of tourists. It has sidewalk cafes, many restaurants, craft and curio shops. Trees bow to the wind. Dust eddies in from the treeless pampa. Brash and bracing no doubt, but comfy Puerto Natales, to where we returned next day, is my favorite.