Tours from Puerto Natales

The five, compared

The table is the honest version: duration, price, rating and the date the price was checked, for each of the 5 tours. Nothing here is a range or an estimate.

Prices change. This is the price on the date shown, from the GetYourGuide Puerto Natales catalog l32145.

The two that go into the park

Puerto Natales is about 110 km from the Laguna Amarga entrance to Torres del Paine, and these two are the trips that cross that distance. They differ in one way that matters and one that does not.

Base Torres Small Group Trekking: 14 hours, US$115

This is the trip everyone books. 942 reviews at 4.8 out of 5 is the strongest review count in the whole region of this guide, and the small-group label is the real difference against the larger coaches. It walks to the Base of the Torres: out, up, and back to the vehicle in one day, with the third tower in front of you at the turnaround.

Base Torres Small Group Trekking — 14 hours · small group, US$ 115, 4.8out of 5 across 942 reviews, price checked 2026-10-28. Hotel pickup, transport, an English-speaking guide and the park entry are included. Lunch is not.

It is also the one thing in Patagonia that sells out. If your dates are fixed, this is the tour to book first — before the beds, not after.

Torres del Paine Full Day Tour: 12 hours, US$75

The same park, US$ 40 less, and without the walk. This one reaches Torres del Paine and shows you the park; it does not take you to the Base of the Towers on foot. For most people choosing a park tour, that is the entire point of the trip, so read the difference before booking the cheaper one.

Torres del Paine Full Day Tour — 12 hours · small group, US$ 75, 4.6 out of 5 across 394 reviews, price checked 2026-10-28. Hotel pickup, transport, an English-speaking guide and the park entry are included. Lunch is not.

The case for taking it anyway: it is the cheapest way into the park from this town, and it is the right trip if you are coming for the landscape rather than for the summit photograph.

The three that go onto the water

These do not go to Torres del Paine. They go out onto the Última Esperanza Sound and the lake inside the park massif, and they are the option for a traveller who has half a day and no intention of walking.

Grey Glacier, 3 hours, US$ 130

The shortest and the cheapest of the three. Three hours of navigation on Lago Grey, looking at the glacier face from the water. If you have half a day and you want a glacier, this is the one that fits.

3-Hour Scenic Boat Tour to Grey Glacier — US$ 130, 4.7 out of 5 across 211reviews, price checked 2026-10-28.

Grey Glacier Cruise Tour, 8 hours, US$249

The same glacier, five more hours of it. 4.9 out of 5 is the highest rating in the catalog, but it rests on 44 reviews, which is about a fifth of the count the 3-hour trip carries. Read that as a thinner measurement, not as a better boat.

Grey Glacier Cruise Tour — US$ 249, 4.9 out of 5 across 44reviews, price checked 2026-10-28. It is the most expensive trip that leaves Puerto Natales: US$ 119 more than the 3-hour trip for 5hours more of largely the same water.

Balmaceda and Serrano, 6 hours, US$120

The other two glaciers of the Paine massif, and the only trip here that reaches both. If what you picture when you picture Torres del Paine is a calving front rather than a lake, this is the one and the 3-hour Grey trip is the alternative. Together the two cover the whole water side of the park.

Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers Cruise — US$ 120, 4.7 out of 5 across 119 reviews, price checked 2026-10-28.

What the price does not cover

This is where the money surprises people, so it is worth being precise about which trip covers what.

• The two park trips include the park entry. The Base Torres trek and the Full Day Tour both list the park entry as included in their price (GetYourGuide catalog l32145, checked 2026-10-28). You do not pay a second ticket at the gate.
• The three cruises do not. The Grey and Balmaceda trips list the park entry among what is not included. If you are combining a cruise with a day inside the park, budget for the entry separately.
• No lunch in any of the five. All 5 list lunch and a box lunch as not included, and the park camping fees as well. On a 14-hour day you will want to eat before leaving the hotel.
• The refugios are a separate booking, and they go first.The park has its own bed system through CONAF, and it runs on a different clock from every tour on this page. Book the beds, then the tour.

How to fit them into the days you have

If you have three days in total, one of them goes to the park. The order that works is: the Base Torres trek on the day your dates are fixed, a cruise on the day the weather is least certain, and the rest for the town and the road.

If you only have two days, take the 3-hour cruise and a full day in the park. The 8-hour version does not buy you more of Patagonia, it buys you more of the same lake in weather that can turn.

None of this replaces a multi-day visit to the park. Torres del Paine covers about 2.420 km², of which roughly 1.700 km² is designated park area, and the classic W Trek takes four days: the Base Torres trek on this page is the single-day version of one of them, and it is the reason most people with less time take it.

If you have three days for the park itself rather than for Puerto Natales, these boat trips are not the trip. They are what you do with the day you have left over.

Three mistakes with these tours

• Do not book the Base Torres trek on the day your bus leaves. It is 14 hours on foot and on the water. It belongs in the middle of the stay, never at the end of it.
• Do not pay for the 8-hour cruise expecting a different glacier. It is the same Grey Glacier as the 3-hour trip, from the same lake, with more hours and a price US$ 119higher.
• Do not plan the park from Punta Arenas. It is about 250 km from there and about 110 km from here, and the tours for the park leave from this town. Trying to do both the Strait and the park in one day is how a whole day disappears into a minibus.

Book the one that fits

Each of the five, with the same price and the same date we checked.