PATAGONIAN ANDES

World → South America → Patagonian Andes

One of the best hiking regions in the world is the
PATAGONIAN ANDES Top 10

Patagonia …

The very name evokes. Inspires a wild, exotic urge to explore.

AT A GLANCE

• the most famous hikes are Paine and Fitz Roy
• cool kids have added the newly popular Huemul Route, some calling it better than the other two. Like Fitz Roy, Huemul is out of El Chalten. 
• but Patagonia offers much, much more
• great variety: arid desert, lush tundra meadows, rich rainforests, smoking volcanoes, towering granite spires, some of the largest ice fields on Earth
• here are the world’s most southerly established treks including the Dientes Circuit
• parts are similar to south island New Zealand and the Coast Range in BC, Canada
• 5 hiking districts (North to South):
  • The Araucania
  • Lakes District
  • Central Patagonia
  • Southern Patagonia
  • Tierra del Fuego
• most of the best hikes are challenging
• independent, self-sufficient hikers will love it
• hiking season is Nov-Apr. Feb-Mar is the best weather

WHY WE LIKE THIS REGION

• sparsely inhabited. There are places here never ever seen by any man.
• glaciers at low elevation (no risk of altitude sickness)
  
• some treks have alpine huts (refugios) providing meals & basic supplies. But most require you carry a tent.
• steaming thermal springs
• easy-to-climb volcanoes
• Lake District called “Switzerland of South America”
• few biting insects at higher elevations
• few dangerous animals of any kind

CONSIDERATIONS

• conversational Spanish almost essential
• some nations pay an expensive reciprocal tourist visa fee if you arrive by air. In 2018 Australians and Mexicans paid that fee. Americans did not.
• access to The Lake District is easy by bus from Santiago, Chile. Or, better, from Bariloche, Argentina.

• the more time you have for your trip, the better, in this part of the world. Logistics are time consuming.
• the trails are busiest Jan – Feb
• the west coast is too WET, even for us. Stay inland.
• In fact, the major downside to Patagonian hiking is the weather. Wind, cold, rain. Be prepared for everything.
• Public transport is limited to some of the best hikes.
  

https://besthike.com/australasia/