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Need help! Exploring Lakes District, Northern Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego.

Hi, I have an upcoming trip to Chile in mid-November. I will be traveling solo. My itinerary so far is shaping to be divided into 3 chunks. I am having trouble picking where to go. Your input will be much appreciated!
I will be flying into Santiago. How easy is transportation from Santiago to somewhere in the Lakes District? Or from Santiago to Northern Patagonia?

  1. Spend the first 5-6 days in the Lakes District. Not sure if I should divide this time between Lakes District and Northern Patagonia. Or if I should skip Lakes District altogether and head to Northern Patagonia instead.

  2. 5-6 days on the W Trek

  3. And finally 5-6 days in Tierra del Fuego. Not sure if I should split this time between Tiera del Fuego and Easter Islands or do one or the other. How does one get to Tierra del Fuego from Puerto Natales? What are some of the things to see and do in the area?
    Thanks.....

Posted by
1601 posts

The distances are so vast that I think you are going to have to fly for most of the major legs. To give some perspective, I believe if you were just flying from the Northern tip to the Southern tip of Chile, it would require around 8 hours of flying.

I have only traveled as far south as Puerto Montt and this was around the same time you are heading there (late Nov) and was planning to do the lakes crossing into Argentina but the weather was quite bad - lots of rain so we changed plans and went N of Santiago to Valpo, etc. The W trek has always been on my bucket list so will look to learn from your experience as I want to do this in the next 3-4 years.