Category: Torres del Paine

I’ve always loved horses. Ever since I was little, I’ve felt a deep connection to them. Growing up in a city didn’t provide much opportunity to ride or even be around them. My grandmother’s brothers kept horses, but women weren’t allowed to ride them, let alone little girls. There was still a part of me […]

Anticipation is an underrated aspect of travel. There’s so much pleasure that goes into planning a trip and looking forward to what you’ll do when you get there, from studying your  itinerary to putting together a packing list. For me, that’s only heightened when you’re going on a trek, where the journey is as much […]

If you visit one region on your trip to Patagonia, it will almost certainly be Torres del Paine National Park. Located in southern Chile, Torres del Paine is the crown jewel and hiking hub of Patagonia. Its iconic landscape is a quintessential postcard view, the image you conjure when your mind hears the word ‘Patagonia’: […]

Torres del Paine National Park is full of truly extraordinary landscapes, from its immense granite towers to the hulking mass of the Paine Massif itself. But in six seasons of working in the park as a guide and hiking the W Trek more times than I care to remember, there was one place that I […]

Note: This article was updated on 14 November 2024 In July 2024, Chilean authorities announced that the Las Guardas Bridge, a key crossing point along the O Circuit trail in Torres del Paine National Park, had been seriously damaged by winter avalanches. We are pleased to announce that thanks to the support of Swoop customers, […]

Torres del Paine captured my heart on my first visit there nearly ten years ago. I was so won over by its wild beauty that made me want to become a mountain guide. It was where I did my guide training and where I then worked for five seasons, guiding guests from all over the […]

Torres del Paine is the most popular hiking destination in Patagonia by quite some way. In the height of the trekking season in the long summer days of January and February, hundreds of hikers hit its trails every day to enjoy some of the most spectacular landscapes in South America. The popularity of routes like […]

Torres del Paine National Park in Chile is one of Patagonia’s great banner destinations, and its breathtaking granite towers offer up one of the region’s most iconic views. There are many ways to experience the park, its mountains and glaciers, but the classic way is to hike the multi-day W Trek,  At Swoop Patagonia, many […]