The W Trek in Torres del Paine: Itinerary, Refugios and How to Book

The W Trek is the classic way to see Torres del Paine: four to five days on foot, roughly 70–80 km, tracing a W-shaped route between the park's three great sights. It's not a technical climb, but it is a logistics puzzle — and the booking, not the walking, is the part that catches most people out. If you'd rather sample the park in day trips, see our guide to Torres del Paine day hikes instead.

What the "W" actually is

The route draws a W because it runs up and back down three valleys along the park's southern face. From one side to the other, the three arms are:

• Base Las Torres — the steep climb to the glacial lake beneath the three granite towers, best reached at first light. This is the eastern arm.
• The French Valley (Valle del Francés) — the central arm, climbing between the Cuernos and a hanging glacier to the Mirador Británico.
• Grey Glacier — the western arm, following Lago Grey to the face of the ice and its floating icebergs.

You can walk it east-to-west (starting at the Las Torres sector) or west-to-east (starting with the catamaran across Lago Pehoé to Paine Grande). West-to-east is popular because it saves the hardest climb — the towers — for a strong, acclimatised finish, and puts the wind more often at your back.

Booking: the part that trips everyone up

There is no single booking site, and this is the crucial thing to understand. The refugios and paid campsites are run by two private operators, split by geography, and you often have to book across both for one trek:

• Vértice Patagonia — the western side: Paine Grande, Grey, plus Dickson and Los Perros on the longer O circuit.
• Fantástico Sur (Las Torres Patagonia) — the eastern side: Torres Central, El Chileno, Los Cuernos, Francés and Serón.

CONAF, the park authority, handles park entry — but its old free campsites (Italiano, Paso) have been closed since the pandemic and remain shut, so don't build a plan around them. Book 4–6 months ahead; for the December–January peak, that means reserving around October–November. Beds sell out first, in that order of popularity. An aggregator like TorresHike lets you see live availability across both operators in one place, which saves a lot of cross-checking, though you can also book each operator direct.

Two ways to sleep: refugios (dorm bed, hot shower, cooked meals, heating — roughly US$120–150 a night with meals, and no need to carry a stove) or camping (your own tent on a paid platform, far cheaper, but you carry the gear and food). A mix of the two is the usual first-timer's compromise.

A typical west-to-east itinerary

The most common four-day shape, starting with the morning catamaran from Pudeto to Paine Grande:

• Day 1 — Paine Grande out to Grey Glacier and its miradors, then back (or overnight at Grey). The western arm.
• Day 2 — Paine Grande to the French Valley: up past Italiano to the Mirador Británico for the amphitheatre of peaks, then on to Los Cuernos or Francés.
• Day 3 — a shore-hugging traverse under the Cuernos to the Las Torres / Central sector.
• Day 4 — the pre-dawn climb to Base Las Torres for sunrise on the towers, back down, and the bus out.

Add a day if you want to walk Grey as an overnight rather than an out-and-back, or if you'd rather not rush the towers. For getting to the trailheads in the first place, see getting to Torres del Paine.

Gear and conditions

Patagonia's weather is the real difficulty. Wind can top 100 km/h and all four seasons can pass in an afternoon, so pack in layers with a genuinely windproof shell, waterproofs, a hat that won't blow off, and broken-in waterproof boots. Trekking poles save your knees on the long descents and steady you on the exposed, gusty stretches. Carry it light — if you're in refugios you need no tent or stove — and take everything back out with you; the park's leave-no-trace rules are enforced and the place is worth keeping pristine.