Riding Torres del Paine Estancias

Day 1: Ride to Tercera Barranca; Estancia Tercera Barranca

After a hearty breakfast, you'll take a transfer from Puerto Natales to Estancia Lazo where you'll pick up your horse for a full-day ride to Tercera Barranca. You'll slow ride, trot and canter across the diverse Patagonian landscapes, with views of the Towers in the distance and have encounters with guanacos and ñandus.

You'll spend a quiet evening at the beautiful Estancia Tercera Barranca. This is a family-run working estancia just outside of the Torres del Paine National Park. You can enjoy the fantastic views looking out from the huge windows and relax in front of the fireplace.

Length of ride: 7hrs slow riding, trotting and cantering

Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Estancia Tercera Barranca

Day 2: Ride to Salto Las Chinas waterfall; Estancia Tercera Barranca

In the early morning, after a country style breakfast, you'll meet your baqueano who is going to join you for the next days of riding. You choose your horse and start your trip. Your baqueano leads you to the eastern side of the Torres del Paine National Park on a route taken by Lady Florence Dixie whose 1880 account of journeying in Patagonia has taken on iconic status.

Riding across the pampas and plateaus you could see condors soaring in the skies above you. When you reach the Salto Las Chinas waterfall, you'll enjoy a gourmet picnic lunch before riding back on the same trail to the cozy Estancia Tercera Barranca.

In the evening you'll relax in front of the fireplace, with a Pisco sour in hand (Chilean brandy made from Muscatel grapes).

Length of ride: 5hrs, slow, trotting and cantering

Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Estancia Tercera Barranca

Day 3: Ride to Serrano River; Serrano Camp

After breakfast you'll get back in the saddle and head towards Torres del Paine National Park. When you reach Estancia Lazo, a working cattle ranch on the edge of the park, you'll follow Green Lagoon through a dense forest and past small lake. This entire section has fantastic views of the Paine massif.

Your ride for the day will end at the River Serrano where you'll settle in to Serrano Camp and enjoy dinner.

Length of ride: 6-7hrs, slow, trotting and cantering

Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

Accommodation: Serrano Camp

Day 4: Ride to Lake Grey lookout; Transfer to Puerto Natales

In the morning you'll ride across huge pampas and on a suspension bridge over the River Grey for fantastic views from the Lake Grey lookout. You'll see the lake full of icebergs which have broken off from Glacier Grey, part of the southern icefield and the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world.

After a picnic lunch in front of this magnificent view, you'll set off on a short hike through a beech forest to the pier, listening for woodpeckers and Austral parakeets as we walk. You'll then take a 1-hr boat ride to view the glacier up-close, weaving through icebergs of different tones of blue up to Glacier Grey. You'll spend a while here, taking in the complexities of this ice formation and hopefully seeing some icebergs calve.

As you make your way back, look out for impressive ice mushrooms atop Paine Grande. You'll then take a transfer back to Puerto Natales.

Length of ride: 4-5hrs, slow riding

Length of walk: 30mins

Length of boat trip: 3hrs

Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch