In February 2023, my Swedish hiking partner Kim and I completed Chile’s W Trek in Torres del Paine, National Park— a lifelong dream. In this post, you’ll find a quick overview of the route we took, including how many steps/ miles/ kilometers we logged each day and where we stayed. You can learn more about the logistics of the trip here.

W Trek: Day 1

• Paine Grande to Mirador Lago Grey
• Steps logged: 24,345
• Roughly 11 miles, 18 km

We started our trek early by catching the 7 a.m. bus from Puerto Natales, Chile, to Torres del Paine National Park. The three-hour bus ride was smooth, and we saw guanacos, flamingos and emus along the way.

The bus dropped us off at Pudeto where we hopped on a catamaran that took us to our campsites at Paine Grande. We checked in, left our bags, and headed up to the lookout over Glacier Grey.

The hike was about four hours round trip, not including rest stops and photos ops. We headed back down after nearly getting blown off from the wind and hung out in our campsite with an exceptional view of the mountains.

A group of kind Chilean hikers gave us some hot water for our dinner of noodles since we hadn’t rented a cookstove. We prepped our wraps for the next day and shimmied to classic rock in the communal kitchen with the other hikers. It was a good entry hike before the harder days of Chile’s W Trek.

W Trek: Day 2

• Paine Grande to Camping Francés
• Steps logged: 42,950
• Roughly 20 miles, 32 km

We started the day around 8 a.m. and headed toward Camping Italiano, one of the free camp sites run by the government that’s currently closed.

The hike took around three hours, and we made a new friend (Stine from Denmark) along the way. At Camping Italiano, we ate lunch, left our bags, and then prepared to head up to see Mirador Francés and Mirador Británico.

The hike up to Mirador Francés was a bit more technical than Mirador Lago Grey. When we got there, we debated if we should add on an extra two to three hours by going to Mirador Británico since we still needed hike to our campsite. After talking with some Chilean park workers, we realized we may never be here again, and decided to suck it up and continue.

It was the best decision we could’ve made. We had the Mirador practically to ourselves, stunning 365 views, and perfect weather with zero rain and minimal wind. Going down was another story, and we were both feeling it when we got back to Camping Italiano. (I fell directly on my face, Kim was startled by an overzealous trail runner, but we made it down alive).

We grabbed our larger backpacks and walked the remaining 2 km to our campsite at Camping Francés.

W Trek: Day 3

• Camping Francés to Camping Chileno
• Steps logged: 37,129
• Roughly 17.5 miles, 28 km

I barely took any photos this day because I was becoming too tired to function. Day 3 was sunny and hot, which after all the wind, was a welcome change, although we did get sunburnt.

We passed by Lake Nordenskjöld, and I dipped my toes in the freezing glacial water. On a lookout near the lake, we met a pair of Israeli friends with the same name who were vibing to Tame Impala.

We parted ways at a crossroads, and I got separated from Kim (who is a much faster hiker than me). I ended up hiking alone on an old horse trail for the next hour, fell twice, got covered in mud, dodged a horse carrying supplies up the mountain, started questioning my life choices again, and finally made it to Camping Chileno.

Kim was arriving too (she’d accidentally added an hour and half to her hike by taking the wrong trail), and we checked in, made some wraps, and then went to bed immediately.

We were ready for our last day which would begin with a sunrise hike to see the highlight of the park: Los Torres del Paine.

W Trek: Day 4

• Chileno to Mirador Los Torres to Camping Central
• Steps logged: 35,405
• Roughly 16.5 miles, 26.5 km

I’d been looking forward to this hike for six years, when I first started researching Patagonia. We were lucky to grab a spot at Camping Chileno, which guaranteed us the chance to catch the towers at sunrise. We got up at 3:40 am, strapped on our headlamps and headed up for the final stretch. This route is incredibly steep and it seemed like we would never stop going up.

It’s also rocky and sandy in a lot of places, making it tricky to navigate in the dark. I followed the dim headlamps of the hikers in front of us and the red lighted markers along the trail. In some places, there were no markers, and the path became more of a rock scramble.

I kept checking my watch to see if we would make it before sunrise. I’d given myself two hours (30 minutes more than recommended) but with my fatigue from yesterday and the darkness of the trail, I was cutting it close. Just when I’d given up hope of ever making it up the mountain, I saw the outline of the towers in the distance. I made my way around the final curve and heard Kim calling my name.

We made it just in time to see the first rays of sunlight hitting the stone above a glacial blue lake. Kim and I watched the sunrise, elated that we had finally fulfilled the dream we’d held for so long. We took photos and walked near the lake then began our descent.

On the way down, we ran into Steve, a Dutch-American we had met in Puerto Natales, who was bike-packing his way across the Americas. We made plans to meet up later at Camping Central and headed back to camp.

After breakfast at Camping Chileno and saying hi to Stine who was headed up to Los Torres, we made our way to the last part of the route: Chileno to Central. The end of the W Trek (West to East) was blessedly downhill.

Although I was still practically crawling at the end, we made it to the Welcome Center to wait for our bus which wouldn’t come for another five hours. Steve joined us at the cafe, and we chatted about our lives and had a victory beer and Patagonia coffee. Later, Stine met up with us, and we ate a dinner of empanadas.

Afterward, Kim, Stine, and I grabbed the shuttle bus and then a larger bus back to Puerto Natales. We had completed the W Trek, sore and exhausted, but thrilled to have accomplished our dream.