Hotel Las Torres Review – Ultimate All-Inclusive Experience in Patagonia

Hands down, the most iconic property within Torres del Paine National Park is easily Hotel Las Torres. It’s a hotel that is engrained with the fabric of Patagonia and an important part of its history, present, and future.

In this Hotel Las Torres review, we’ll go through in meticulous detail everything you need to know about what it’s like to stay here including what the all-inclusive stay is like, the food, drinks, the types of rooms available, excursions, exclusive tips and more.

Hotel Las Torres Review

If you’re looking to stay within Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, the first place you should look at is Hotel Las Torres whether it be as a traditional hotel stay or as an all-inclusive package.

There’s a little something for everyone here and for all budgets but we’ll make the case for why we really enjoyed staying 4 all-inclusive nights during our 10 day Patagonia itinerary.

The Las Torres Reserve

Before we cover Hotel Las Torres in depth, we should explain a bit more about the entire Las Torres Reserve which the hotel is part of.

If you’re a bit confused about who runs what, and how Torres del Paine National Park operates, you’re not alone. Frankly, a lot of it has to do with how national parks in other parts of the world work and also the common words that get intertwined with everything.

We go through much of this in our Torres del Paine Travel Guide but let’s take a different approach by just getting right to the words themselves.

• Torres del Paine – This is the name of the national park and is located in Chile just north of the town of Puerto Natales.
• Patagonia – This is the name of an even larger region that spans both southern Chile and Argentina. This means that Torres del Paine National Park is only one small part of it. That said, many people will use Patagonia interchangeably with talking about Torres del Paine and Los Glacieres national parks because those are the most common places to visit in Patagonia.
• Las Torres – This translates to “The Towers” but can see this being confusing because when you Google it, you get Hotel Las Torres. Las Torres mainly refers to the famed granite tours and so you also have Mirador Las Torres which is Spanish for the Viewpoint of the Towers. It can in fact mean any of these so you’ll need to know the context in which it’s used.
• Las Torres Reserve – While Torres del Paine National Park is managed by a government organization called CONAF, there’s a large piece of private land that’s now collectively called the Las Torres Reserve. This not only covers the land but it is also the umbrella organization of Hotel Las Torres, Fantastico Sur, NGO AMA, and individual conservation projects.
• Hotel Las Torres – This is the name of the hotel that this review is focused on. This is on the Las Torres Reserve and is run by the same organization. Sometimes its full name is referred to as Hotel Las Torres Patagonia.
• Refugios – These are called mountain hostels by the Las Torres Reserve even though everyone really calls them refugios. These are located all around the primary mountain range of Torres del Paine and is what makes up the W Trek and O Circuit. They’re accompanied by campsites as well. The ones that are on their private property are run by the Las Torres Reserve (previously called Fantastico Sur). The other ones are run by a company called Vertice Patagonia. CONAF also has their own campsites but they are currently closed.
• Paine Massif – This is the primary mountain range of Torres del Paine National Park. This consists of multiple mountains and the most famous part of it are its 3 towers. This term is often used to indicate the primary focus of the park since there are other mountains in the area as well.

History

In 1979, Antonia Kusanovic Senkovic, a successful cattle farmer, purchased the ranch. As word about Torres del Paine in Patagonia got out in the early 90’s, more travelers started to come and they decided to build a small B&B with 9 rooms and a restaurant – this ended up being the foundation of Hotel Las Torres.

In 1996, they also started building mountain hostels (refugios) to cater to the growing backpacking crowd that was coming in.

By 2001, the property had developed enough to the point that they were able to brand it Hotel Las Torres Patagonia.

In 2013, they fully transitioned away from being a cattle ranch in their commitment to sustainability and preserving their special part of Torres del Paine National Park.

What Makes Hotel Las Torres Special

With options all around Torres del Paine National Park and its surroundings, why book a stay with Hotel Las Torres?

Location, location, location!

The biggest reason is its location. When you first look at the map of the national park, it’s hard to grasp where everything, but it is incredibly convenient being right at the trailhead of the Base of the Towers.

Here’s why:

• With the Base of the Towers being a primary attraction, like a ski-in-ski-out hotel, you can literally walk out of the hotel and start hiking.
• The hotel is gateway (or finish line) of the W Trek or O Circuit which is the only one of it’s kind.
• The Las Torres Reserve has exclusive access to Cerro Paine which is an under-the-radar summit that we highly recommend.

It’d be only fair to mention though that because Hotel Las Torres is on the eastern side of the park, attractions to the west such as Lake Grey (Lago Grey) are more of a drive to get to.

More than just a hotel

Hotel Las Torres and the broader Las Torres Reserve are truly stewards of Torres del Paine. With such a large part of the park belonging to reserve, they are actively involved in the conservation, sustainable tourism, and regenerative travel.

As an example, they’re part way through a massive project to add a new section of trail up to the Base of the Towers as an alternative to the early section that’s degraded significantly with the amount of foot traffic annually. This would replace the original path carved out by horses with one that’s specifically designed for people with proper grading, steps, and drainage.

They are the guardians of this part of the national park and so your stay with Hotel Las Torres not only pays for the physical good and services but it also paves way for the stewardship role that they have.

In fact, each stay at Hotel Las Torres directly supports their NGO, AMA Torres del Paine, with the aim of reducing the impact of tourism on the national park.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, we can get into tour Hotel Las Torres review.

All-Inclusive Experience

Normally when you think about all-inclusive experiences, you think about copious amounts of sunshine, soft sand beaches, and coconuts in a tropical destination. In this case, it’s similar except the idea is that you don’t stay in the resort but the idea is to go out and explore.

The Hotel Las Torres all-inclusive stay is closer to what we did at Elephant Plains in South Africa. To that end, a stay at this property is almost identical to the African safari model where all of your meals and activities are included. If you ever think about the Amazon Jungle, our stay at Refugio Amazonas in Peru was also like this as well.

Here is everything that’s included with an Hotel Las Torres all-inclusive package:

• Stay in one of their suites
• All meals (including the Patagonian BBQ)
• Open bar (with the exception of premium beer, wine, and spirits)
• Unlimited excursions offered by Hotel Las Torres with a bilingual guide
• Visit to Cerro Negro Ranch (only if you’re transferring in from Punta Arenas and the schedule works)
• Scheduled transportation to and from Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales, or El Calafate
• Entrance ticket to Torres del Paine National Park

What it doesn’t include:

• Spa treatments and services
• Private transfers or transfers at non-scheduled times
• Boat cruise ticket (i.e. Lago Grey Navigation)
• Laundry services
• Premium drinks
• Travel insurance (you definitely want this in Patagonia and we recommend World Nomads!)
• Phone calls
• Unscheduled meals
• Tips

This type of package is meant to be all-encompassing where besides getting to either the Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, or El Calafate airport, you really don’t have to worry about anything else.

Booking Process

One thing you’ll really appreciate with Hotel Las Torres is that there’s a professional team behind the scenes that makes your pre-trip extremely easy.

WhatsApp

During you trip planning phase, if you have any questions, the easiest way to get in touch with them is actually through the mobile messaging app called WhatsApp. It may seem unusual at first but one thing you quickly realize about Latin America is that all businesses are run through this app.

Similar to a chat box on a website, this gives you direct line of communication with one of their sales/customer service reps where you can have a real-time chat. It’s actually quite convenient and you’ll find that they’re much more responsive through WhatsApp.

Something other interesting you’ll find is that they also like leaving voice messages. Again, this is quite common in Latin America.

Their WhatsApp phone number is at the footer of the Hotel Las website and they have buttons for it throughout.

Email

The traditional way to reach out to them is through e-mail and this will certainly work as well. Similar to WhatsApp, you’ll be able to ask questions, work out logistic details, make special requests, etc.

Your confirmations and official communications will still be done via email.

Booking Online

Booking your stay at Hotel Las Torres is quite simple online if you know exactly what you’re looking for. They have their own booking system that goes beyond filling out a contact form.

The website will allow you to look at live availability of dates, rooms available, discounted prices, and for you to be able to enter in special promos such as our below. All of the rates are quoted in USD and are also paid in USD.

Something worth noting is that for most reservations, 15% of the total must be paid upfront as a deposit and 85% must be paid 31 days before the check-in date. You’ll need to pay the deposit through through PayPal (they are switching for a platform called WeTravel soon) which accepts all the main cards. There is also an option to pay via an international bank transfer if you have a US bank account.

The exception is with early bird pricing which requires payment in full when booking.

This means that you would have paid in full by the time you arrive.

Cancellation-wise, they allow for cancellations up to 31 days before check-in without penalty. Changes work the same way.

Lastly, it’s worth noting that Hotel Las Torres is not open all year round. They close in the winter so their season normally runs from September to April.

TIP: As we covered in our Torres del Paine Travel Guide, high season is between November and March and these slots can booked up quickly so if there’s a specific date in mind, we recommend booking at least 6 months out.

Transfers

The Hotel Las Torres team has you covered once you arrive or when you’re ready for your stay. This could be upon landing in Patagonia or connecting with other adventures in the region.

For most people, that means taking a flight from Santiago to either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales in Chile. For those coming from Argentina, El Calafate is another city where they can do pick ups from. They can also do pick ups from within Torres del Paine if you’re already in the park (how it worked for our 10 day Patagonia itinerary).

Coordinated in advance, you’ll work with the reservation team by letting them know either your flight information or the hotel where you’d like to get picked up.

Transfers are included in the all-inclusive package but only for their scheduled times. These are frequent enough but they aren’t private and they only run at specific hours and days depending on the time of year.

They use modern and comfortable 5 row Mercedes-Benz vans for their transfers which are quite spacious inside and some are even equipped with two USB outlets per row.

For your departure, it works similarly where they’ll make sure you can get to one of the 3 cities. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the airport so again, work with the Hotel Las Torres team. From an itinerary standpoint, this could work out well as an intermediate point as you’re moving from Chile to Argentina or vice versa.

TIP: The package includes a traditional barbecue at Cerro Negro Estancia but only for those coming in from Punta Arenas. If you don’t, you simply lose this benefit. As a result, it might be working that into your plans. The reason why they include this is because it’s a long transfer from Punta Arenas to Torres del Paine, and this ranch is perfectly situated in between.

Check-In Process

Upon arrival, you’ll be greeted by the friendly front desk staff. As your bags are handled by your driver and organized in the lobby area, you’ll be guided to one of the focal points of the lobby which has a circular table with a map of Torres del Paine.

Your host will guide you through some paperwork regarding your reservation including confirming your information. They will also photocopy your passport and PDI receipt.

As an all-inclusive guest, you’ll be given a bracelet to indicate you have full privileges at the property.

Lastly, you’ll be provided keys to your room. Gathering your personal belongings, you’ll be guided there and your luggage will follow just behind.

It’s at this point that your adventure truly begins!

Hotel Las Torres Layout

Hotel Las Torres isn’t your traditional-style hotel and having come from humble beginnings as a ranch, to throwing up a small lodge for early tourists, to now, it fits the remarkable location.

The fulcrum is the center part of the hotel and the largest building. This is where you’ll find reception, Bar Pionero, and the souvenir shop.

To the left and to the right are the two primary wings of the hotel. Each wing has two floors which can be accessed by stairs at the mid-way point of each wing. This means they do not have elevators at the property.

On the left side of the property is an extension wing that is the newest part of the hotel. A short boardwalk connects it from the main part of the hotel but that does mean that you’ll have to go outside. This new wing, while newer, looks largely the same as the other parts of Hotel Las Torres and also two floors.

The right side of the hotel also connects with the Excursion Center which sits in between sections of rooms that we consider the main wing.

TIP: In the Excursion Center are books that you can borrow, there’s a filtered water dispenser, and coffee as well.

Coirón Restaurant is a separate building on its own on the far right and a short walk from that is the Wellness Center & Spa.

Keep going a little further outdoors and you’ll also reach the stables for all of the horseback riding excursions and baqueano cultural experience.

Exterior

When it comes to the exterior, there are cobble stoned walkways on the front side of the hotel that allow you to walk from section to section of the property. Along the way, you’ll see plenty of artifacts from when the area was a working farm.

The back side of the hotel doesn’t a paved walkway but there’s nothing preventing you from walking around. This is also where the Regenerative Garden is located.

Extending out a bit further in front is the official path that hikers make their way in and out of the W Trek, O Circuit, or day hikes up to the Base of the Towers.

Property Close Up

From the hotel’s website, it’s hard to get an idea of the layout of the property so what we’ve done with the images below is label the different parts of Hotel Las Torres so it’s super clear.

Property Wide Angle

For perspective, the below is a wider shot of where Hotel Las Torres is in perspective of the Towers are and Acenscio Valley which is what you follow up along the W Trek to get to the base.

Welcome Center

Lastly is the Welcome Center that’s mentioned by the property. This is a new building that is meant to be an info center, cafe, restroom, and parking lot for those doing the W Trek, O Circuit, or day hiking to the Base of the Towers (Mirador Las Torres).

In reality, your transfer van will come through its gate but guests of Hotel Las Torres won’t really need to come here but if you want to, it’s a 15-20 minute walk from the hotel.

In the below image, you’ll also see Central Refugio and EcoCamp.

Guest Rooms

Hotel Las Torres has 3 categories of rooms to choose from – Superior Ciprés, Superior Canelo, and Premium Suite.

We found that the website doesn’t provide too many photos of the rooms, making it hard to get a clear picture of what they’re like so for this Hotel Las Torres review we’ve made sure to include a lot here.

Upon arrival in any of these rooms, you’ll be greeted by a welcome platter of snacks and a special bottle of wine by the Chilean Viu Manent vineyard.

Something worth noting is that none of the rooms have TV.

Superior Ciprés

These are their most common rooms and is 22m² in size. This room is perfect for couples and are located in the newest part of Hotel Las Torres, being in the far left wing of the property if you refer back to the layout.

The Superior Ciprés is the standard room they offer and is designated to fit 1-2 people plus small children. This room can be set up with a king bed or two twin beds (not single as mentioned online).

These rooms can have views of the mountain or the Patagonian plains (pampa view).

The decor of these rooms fits the landscape Hotel Las Torres is in and its roots in Patagonian culture and Indigenous history with decor of masks, natural woods, and warm tones.

In the room, you’ll find the following features:

• Side table with lamp on each side of the bed
• Desk with stool and small lamp
• Luggage rack
• Single vanity bathroom
• Bathtub with towel rack, shower head, and curtains
• Bathroom amenities including sewing kit, shower cap, body lotion, shampoo+conditioner, facial soap bar, and blow dryer
• Open closet, hangars, shelving, and drawers built into the wall by the entrance
• Security safe
• Radiator-style heater (not quite central heating as is indicated on the website)

This is a cozy room that’ll have everything that you need but what’s missing is that extra space to move around. If you’re looking for something a bit more spacious, jump over to the Premium Suite.

When it comes to electrical outlets, there is a pair behind the desk, behind each nights. This means that you have 3 available without unplugging the lights, and 6 total. There is also a pair in the bathroom with one used by the hairdryer.

Superior Canelo

These are their smallest rooms at 20m² and is the exact same as the Ciprés except for the fact that it’s in the central wings of the hotel and is just a tiny smidge smaller.

It’s a room that’s also marketed for small families primarily because they can offer a 3 single bed configuration. That’s why they say that you can have up to 4 people in this room + children under 3.

The bathrooms and built-in wall closet is identical to the Ciprés.

These rooms can also have either a view of the mountains of the Patagonia pampa which simply means the front side of the hotel that overlooks the plains.

The rate of the Canelo is the lowest out of all the rooms so I’d say this is a great option if it’s available because you’re really not losing out on anything.

Premium Suite

This room is for those wanting a much larger space, a personal hot tub/jacuzzi and a guaranteed view of the mountains.

Equipped with a king-sized bed, you’ll have a lot more space for lounging in this room with its own living room with large ceiling-height windows that provide awesome views of the Paine Massif.

In the room, you’ll find the following features:

• Side table with lamp on each side of the bed
• Bench in front of the bed that doubles as a coffee table for the living room
• Two single chairs for the living room and small wooden table
• Larger desk with stool and mini-fridge
• Luggage rack
• Single vanity bathroom
• Full-sized jacuzzi (hot tub)
• Shower instead of a bath tub
• Bathroom amenities including sewing kit, shower cap, body lotion, shampoo+conditioner, and facial soap bar
• Open closet, hangars, shelving, and drawers built into the wall by the entrance
• Security safe
• Radiator-style heater (not quite central heating as is indicated on the website)

This is a treat-yourself kind of room!

Dining

One of the main highlights of any stay at Hotel Las Torres is the world-class dining experience.

At the property are two restaurants – Bar Pionero and Coirón Restaurant.

Bar Pionero (Pioneer Bar)

This is center of action of Hotel Las Torres, where guests come together for meals, drinks, conversation, and relaxation.

Below the canopy of glass and huge panes of glass that face the Torres del Paine mountain range, are dining tables and comfortable sofas that allow you to enjoy each other’s company while sipping on one of their beautifully crafted cocktails and having either lunch of dinner.

Even though these are classified as bar food, the dishes are anything but plain or casual. On the menu are a selection of delicious burgers, pizzas, salads, special platters, soups, and appetizers.

The bar itself is beautifully decorated with beautifully strung lights and a sense of where the magic truly happens and award-winning cocktails come alive. Using local ingredients including those out of their regenerative garden combine with a creative upcycling of materials to create copper straws and etched serving glasses from old bottles, turn into liquid gold.

If that’s not enough, they have a small cabin next to the garden that brews their very own craft beer that you can also try.

You’ll truly love the vibe of this restaurant and thanks to your all-inclusive bracelet, you can always just come here to hang out and work if you need to, while staying well-hydrated.

This restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. Their hours are 10AM to 11PM with the kitchen closing at 10PM.

TIP: At the bar, ask the bartender to surprise you. If head bartender, Frederico, is there, he has all sorts of drinks up his sleeves and loved all of the creations he made.

Coirón Restaurant

Blending modern cooking with traditional cuisine, Coirón Restaurant is the main eatery of the property for dinner (not open for lunch) and one that all-inclusive guests will be enjoying.

With similar rustic decor and large windows with a view of the mountains, their chef does an astounding job of utilizing the fresh produce from their own farm and fusing common Chilean dishes with a creativity and flair you’d expect to find in a Michelin-star restaurant.

On the menu, you’ll find a mix of everything from tender meats, refreshing salads, creamy risottos, hearty soups, and grilled fish.

There’s also a special section of the restaurant dedicated to the traditional Patagonian BBQ. Centered by a massive open fire pit with matching chimney, this is where you’ll be able to have the one special meal you can’t miss at Hotel Las Torres.

This meal is quite the spectacle. With the tables aligned at the outer perimeter of the circular room, all with a prime viewing of lamb being grilled over the flaming charcoal, and an assortment of other meats and potatoes.

TIP: I’d recommend either making a reservation for the Patagonian BBQ before you arrive or right at check-in to make sure you get a spot since seats are limited and is only offered every 4 nights.

Breakfast

Breakfast at Hotel Las Torres is from 7AM-10AM. The location of breakfast is entirely based on occupancy. During low season, it’s Bar Pionero and at high season, it’s Coirón Restaurant.

The food is served in a buffet style with a spread of typical Chilean cold cuts, bread, pastries, sausage, grilled vegetables, and more.

There’s also juices, yogurts, milk, coffee, and fruit.

Lastly, they also have custom-order eggs and omelettes available straight from the kitchen.

All-Inclusive Factor

By being all-inclusive means that all of your meals are included where you can eat and drink as much as you want. All you have to do is show your wrist-band or let them know what room you’re in and they’ll have you taken care of.

When paying, you’ll still need to sign a cheque but there won’t be any additional charges. If you wish, you can indicate a tip on the bill. However, you can also tip at the very end of the stay which we’ll get to further down this article.

Packed lunch

What you should keep in mind though is that while many excursions are designed to allow you to have lunch back at the hotel, there are others that are full day activities which means that you’ll be supplied with a packed lunch instead.

Hotel Las Torres has 4 different types of sandwiches available to order and you have to let them know the day before so they can get it ready for you.

• Smoked Salmon – Slice of smoked salmon paired with rucula, crispy onion, fresh tomatoes, cream cheese with hints of lemon, and pepper sauce on ciabatta bread.
• Vegetarian – Grilled zucchini, sautéed mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, burnt peppers, lettuce leaves, fresh cheese, and olive sauce served on ciabatta bread.
• Chicken – A stewed chicken breast that comes with pickles, roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, and sweet mustard sauce on ciabatta bread.
• Beef – Finely rolled beef with oregano tomato slices, roasted peppers, stewed onion, cheese, and garlic sauce served on ciabatta bread.

What else goes into that packed lunch?

• Fruit
• Protein bar
• Trail mix

Premium drinks

In the list of all-inclusive services, you’ll see that it mentions that premium beer, wine, and spirits aren’t included. This might seem significant however when looking at the drink menu, there is only a very small subset of drinks that aren’t included.

In our experience, we could have all of the calafate sours, pisco sours, carmenere wine, beer, and creative cocktails we wanted without touching any of the “premium” items.

From the Bar Pionero menu, there are very few that are marked with as premium. The ones that are premium are:

• Pisco Sour Premium
• Grand Marnier
• Grey Goose Vodka
• Jack Daniels Single Barrel Whisky
• Waqar Pisco
• M. Gran Nobel Pisco
• Chivas Regal Whisky
• The Glenlivet Whisky

Activities and Excursions

Being nestled right at the base of the Paine Massif, Hotel Las Torres has the unique advantage of being right in the heart of the action. The breadth of offerings, quality of the guiding, and unmatched proximity is what really makes this property stand out from the others.

With the all-inclusive package, you can basically pick and choose whatever day-excursions you wish and there won’t be any extra cost to you. The only exception is the boat cruise to Grey Glacier.

With 3 or 4 days at the hotel, you won’t be able to do all excursions so choose wisely!

Types of excursions

Currently, there are 21 different half and full-day tours within Torres del Paine. They cover a wide range of locations, difficulty, and interests.

Most are half-day tours which means that you’ll head out in the morning and be back for lunch. The longer excursions will have you back by mid-afternoon.

This is certainly biased as I was able to fit them in our 4 night all-inclusive itinerary but these are activities that you can’t miss:

• Mount Cerro Paine Horseback Riding & Hiking – The full day is totally worth it over the half-day tour because the view from the peak is simply incredible.
• Las Torres Base Viewpoint – If you don’t get to do this separately, this is your chance to do a guided hike up to the Base of the Towers!
• Baqueano Cultural Experience – You’ll love getting to learn more about the culture, something that’s quite hard to do elsewhere.
• Lake Nordenskjöld Horseback Riding Half Day Tour – This is a quintessential excursion that has you going out to this picturesque lake and covers a portion of the W Trek. We recommend doing this tour first to get comfortable with horseback riding.
• Regenerative Kitchen Garden – This is the impressive garden that supplies most of the greens at the restaurants and gives you an inside look at how they make it happen. This is great relaxing activity if you have any open slots.

By doing these activities, you’ll get the same feeling that I had, which is that you really don’t need to do the W Trek to see Torres del Paine National Park.

Lastly, if you’re doing a full day excursion, a packed lunch will be included.

Horseback Riding

Having a storied history of being a ranch (estancia in Spanish), Hotel Las Torres has a huge passion around preserving the traditional culture and lifestyle of Patagonian cowboys and girls. These are the baqueano – the horsemen and trail finders that were an integral part of every estancia.

As a result, they have arguably one of the best horseback riding experiences and we highly suggest that you do at least one or two of these because:

• Friendly for both beginners and advanced riders – These are incredibly well-mannered horses that even a newbie rider like myself was comfortable with.
• Get to places not easily done on foot – Almost all of the trails in the park were created for horses and with these excursions, you can get to areas that normally aren’t hiked to.
• Let the horses do the work – The huge advantage of horseback riding is that you won’t have to do as much hiking, getting you to scenic viewpoints faster and without expending as much energy.
• You’ll get to trot and gallop – Depending on your comfort, the guides and horses provide opportunity to go faster which is quite the thrill.

We share horseback riding tips and more in our Torres del Paine Travel Guide.

TIP: Ask the excursion staff about when they release the horses out in the morning or herd the horses back to the stable in the afternoon. This is always quite the spectacle.

Booking activities

To book activities, you can simply drop into the Excursion Center (also called the Calafate Room) that’s open from 9AM to 8PM.

This room has a lounge-like atmosphere where the excursion staff will walk you through the options available and be able to explain how they work with the help of their large poster-sized maps.

TIP: We recommend that if you’d like to do a tour on the day that you arrive, to arrange this ahead of time. Otherwise, make sure you visit the Excursion Center on the first day.

Guides

The guides at Hotel Las Torres are all professional trained, certified, and clearly passionate about the park.

Throughout my own stay, I thought all of our guides were incredibly patient, skilled, focused on safety, knowledgeable, and good photo takers.

Your excursion guides are an indispensable part of the experience and in many ways, make it as amazing as they are.

Restrictions

It’s worth noting that depending on the time of the year, not all excursions run every single day. Also, a group minimum of 6 (low season it can go down to 4) is required for an excursion to run.

As a result, you’ll really have to work with the excursion staff to figure out what’s logistically available.

This is why we recommend that you go with a 4-night all inclusive versus 3 nights because you’ll have more flexibility to move things around.

Need crampons? If you’re coming here in the off-season where there might be snow and ice, Hotel Las Torres actually has crampons that you can borrow for free!

Spa and Wellness Center

After a day on horseback or on your feet or if you’re looking for a little pampering, the Spa & Wellness Center will be your favourite spot in the hotel.

They offer a menu of massages, facials, herbal baths, hydrotherapy, sauna, and waxing.

The spa is open from 12PM to 9PM and it’s highly recommended to make reservations ahead of time. During high-season, they get quite full especially since there are only so many hours between the ideal time of coming back from a full day tour and dinner.

The spa is not included in the all-inclusive package so these will be extra. That said, all-inclusive guests have a 20% discount (except for the sauna). There is also an option to have a massage in your hotel room at a 15% surcharge.

At the end of the treatment, similar to the restaurants, you’ll sign a bill with or without tips, and these will be automatically added to your hotel invoice at check-out.

TIP: Again, if you’re looking to do a spa treatment on the day you arrive, work with the reservation staff ahead of time to get your booking in.

Connectivity

An important feature we haven’t covered yet is the internet connectivity.

There are a few key things to note:

• There is basically no cellular signal from the hotel property being it’s so close to the base of the mountain.
• There is free and open wifi for all guests and it doesn’t require a password or special login.

With that, the wifi is quite easy to use. You connect, and you’re in.

From a speed perspective, we measured 11.73 Mbps for download and 2.35 Mbps for upload. It’s sufficient speed (and surprisingly fast for satellite-based internet) for most uses although as a content creator, I had some issues publishing video to social media.

Lounge Areas

The hotel has a few areas to relax and wind down that are worth sharing.

In the middle of each wing of the hotel where there are stairs to the second floor is a lounge space equipped with a comfortable sofa and windows that go the full height of the two levels.

The newest block of rooms, connected by boardwalk, also serves coffee.

Pionero Bar is also a fantastic area to hang out. On the outer edges of the space are couches with coffee table that anyone can use. You don’t need to be ordering a drink or food to use this area so feel free to take advantage.

Laundry

Hotel Las Torres offers laundry services for their guests and it works very similarly to standard hotels. This is convenient for those that want a fresh set of clothes for the current or next leg of the trip but it comes at a cost.

How it works? Go to the front desk where they’ll give you a form and plastic bag. Mark the number of items of each on the form, fill the bag, and drop it off back at the front desk. The turn around time is normally the next day. If you can get it in early in the morning, they can have it done by 4PM on the same day.

Cost

The price of an all-inclusive stay at Hotel Las Torres changes from season to season but here’s a rough idea of how much it will cost, per person for double occupancy in USD.

Nights	Room Type	Low Season	High Season
2	Superior Ciprés or Canelo	$1,705	$1,850
2	Premium Suite	$1,870	$2,025
3	Superior Ciprés or Canelo	$2,310	$2,600
3	Premium Suite	$2,475	$2,775
4	Superior Ciprés or Canelo	$2,875	$3,240
4	Premium Suite	$3,040	$3,415

This is by no means complete because the cost changes if it’s single occupancy, triple occupancy, and the extra charge for dates between December 22 to January 3.

Another thing to notice is that for the all-inclusive package, the price is the same between Ciprés or Canelo Superior rooms are the same. If there’s availability, they’ll always try book you in a Ciprés but like we said earlier, there are advantages with the Canelo.

The other additional costs would be tips, premium drinks, spa services, and extra services such as laundry and non-scheduled private transfers.

This can be even cheaper if you take advantage of some of the active promotions that they have.

Tipping

As with all of Chile, tips aren’t mandatory but are certainly appreciated.

What you’ll really appreciate about the all-inclusive experience at Hotel Las Torres is that you don’t have to carry any cash with you at all because there’s the option of paying your tips at the very end of your stay while also having full control over how it’s divided.

Ask the front desk for the envelope and form. Simply fill out the form, put the tips inside (CLP or USD) and when checking out, you slip it into a treasure-chest type of mailbox in the front-desk area.

The form is quite extensive, allowing you to either broadly divide the tips evenly or get to the level of tipping individual staff, and everything in between.

Of course, you can still tip in the traditional way by handing the tips personally if that’s what you’re comfortable with.

Hotel Las Torres doesn’t provide a tipping guide but I went with a guideline that was shared with us in an earlier part of the trip that we covered in the Torres del Paine Travel Guide.

• Guides – $10 – $15 USD per person, per day/excursion
• Restaurant Staff – 10% of your restaurant bill (this will be hard to track so use your best judgement here)
• Housekeeping – $5 USD per room, per night
• Drivers – $5 USD per person per day/trip

The only downside of using the tip envelope is that you can’t pay for it by credit card. That’s why, you might opt to do some of your tipping through the bills that you sign. However, keeping track of it all might be too complicated so find a system that works best for you.

Check-Out Process

The check-out time is 11AM and the process is quite easy.

You can have staff pick up your bags from your room or you can bring it down yourself.

At the front desk, you’ll hand over the key, settle the bill, and put your tip envelope into the special mailbox. You’ll be able to pay by cash or credit card.

Payment for international guests it’s highly suggested that you pay in USD because that’s what allows you to avoid paying the local 19% tax. If you decide to pay in CLP, you’ll be charged that tax.

At this point, you’ll likely be waiting for your transfer to take you to your next destination.

Recommendations

Having spent 4 nights at Hotel Las Torres, I’ve picked up on a few insider tips that I think will be valuable for your stay so make sure to take notes!

• Stay in the main wing – While we were told that the new wing separated by boardwalk was newer, it’s honestly more convenient to be in the main wing (left or right) because it’s connected to the central building/lobby so you don’t have to go outside.
• Reservations – As we’ve mentioned already above, the detailed planners should actually get your spa and excursion reservations in before you arrive so you can have everything ready. If not, do it first thing when you arrive.
• Photography – The sunrise is marvellous from the hill that’s in front of the hotel (image above). You’ll only get to see the tip of the towers but that golden glow at sunrise is something to behold.
• Best deals are in the off-season – September, October and April is the low season. Not only are rates cheaper but they’ll often run special promos to entice customers to book.
• Try all the cocktails – From pisco sours to local creations such as the Runacca, you should have as many as you can!
• Do Cerro Paine – The only way you can do this trail and summit is by going with Hotel Las Torres guides so I think if there’s one excursion you have to do, it’s this one.
• Screenshot your park pass – The reservation staff will send you your Torres del Paine National Park pass via e-mail before your arrival. Make sure you take a screenshot of it on your phone as you’ll need to show it when you enter.

Who is Hotel Las Torres For?

On the scale of tours packages available in Torres del Paine National Park of Patagonia, Hotel Las Torres is considered to be a more premium product which makes sense given it’s level of service, all-inclusive factor, and high quality.

Explorers looking for freedom and flexibility

The beauty of a 3 or 4 night all-inclusive stay that differentiates it from standard multi-day tours is that it’s choose-your-own-adventure. You can mix and match the activities that you’d like to do.

The same goes for dining. Instead of being told when to meet for dinner, you can take things at your own pace after a busy day in Torres del Paine.

Comfortable Patagonia

In the hands of the Hotel Las Torres team, all your needs will be taken care of and with them handling all of the details from end to end, you really won’t have to worry about much.

In the hotel, you’ll have a base of operations to work from where you’ll have a comfy bed to sleep in each night and you’ll have the most amazing food.

For the activities, you’ll get to do some of the best that Torres del Paine has to offer and you’ll be in control of what you want to do.

For the trekkers

At the same time the all-inclusive isn’t the be-all-end-all. You can also book rooms at the property without the activities and food or you can do a package that only includes breakfast.

A common traveler staying at Hotel Las Torres are those that are hiking the W Trek or O Circuit. Travelers stay here as a sort of reward or staging ground.

Instead of jumping right in, you get a place to get organized and fueled up after a long journey to Patagonia.

After the trek, the tranquility of the space, going to the spa, and eating gourmet food is an enticing prospect without needing a transfer. You literally hike right into your room so-to-speak.

Oh and if you just want to do the Base of the Towers day hike, you can do that while staying here whether on your own or guided.

Verdict

Hotel Las Torres is one of the premiere properties in Torres del Paine National Park thanks to being nestled right at the base of the mountains and right along the start (or end) orf the W Trek.

The property’s history, preservation of baquenao culture, and cozy ranch atmosphere make the all-inclusive stay supreme in so many ways.

What you appreciate about the hotel is that it’s so much more than just that. It’s more of a hub for your adventures than anything. By staying here, you get access to this part of the Paine Massif without having to do any lengthy transfers within the park. You get up, meet your guides, and go. There’s no wasted time.

Having also experienced a more rugged camping experience in Patagonia, the luxury of having your own room cannot be overstated either because you’ll have your own space to decompress, be able to reorganize your gear with ease, comfortably lounge at your own pace, and choose your own dining times without being tied to a big group.

Some guides will tell you that this hotel is only a 3.5 star hotel. For our Hotel Las Torres review, we give it a 4.5 star rating when you factor in the all-inclusive experience, location, food, drinks, and staff.

Frequently Asked Questions