Patagonia Road Trip 2026

We just returned from a fantastic, five-week odyssey in Greece that took us to Athens and islands of Corfu, Paxos, and Crete. But before we blog about Greece, let’s talk about a place that could not be more different geographically, culturally, and climatically: South America’s Patagonia region.

Earlier this year, we took an extended Patagonia road trip, visiting spectacular places in both Chile and Argentina. The Patagonia region is immense, spanning about 673,000 square kilometers across southern Argentina and Chile. At the same time, it’s one of South America’s least populated areas, home to less than 2% of those countries’ total populations.

On the drive down, especially on the Argentina side, we experienced just how massive, how isolated, and how deeply remote this place is. And how profoundly beautiful.

We began this adventure by flying from Santiago, Chile to Puerto Montt in northern Patagonia, where we rented a car. We ended up 38 days and four border crossings later in Punta Arenas, Chile after traveling well over 5,000 kilometers.

Here’s an overview of our Patagonia road trip, with some tips along the way.

A tale of two highways

On the Chile side, most travelers will spend time on Route 7, also known as the Carretera Austral. This scenic byway spans about 1,240 kilometers from Puerto Montt down to Villa O’Higgins. It’s the main corridor for Chile’s “Route of Parks,” an area that protects 28 million acres of wild land and connects 17 national parks.

The Carretera Austral is known, rather infamously, as one of the signature projects of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Although the notorious Pinochet regime gets most of the credit for designing and building the highway, it was far complete when he left office. It’s still very much a work in progress.

The Carretera Austral is well-traveled but not always paved, and we got used to construction delays and long stretches of bumpy gravel. But this scenic highway led us to some of our favorite places of the trip, such as Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, the hanging glacier of Queulat, and the marble caves of Puerto Rio Tranquilo.

Driving down the Carretera gave us a chance to hone our drive-by photography skills. There were so many amazing sights!

Driving south out of Chaltén

Cerro Castillo

On the road near Coyhaique

Approaching the town of Villa Cerro Castillo

On this stretch of the Carretera, we had a little company!

The Carretera Austral’s counterpart in Argentina is the famous Route 40, stretching more than 5,000 lonely kilometers all the way to Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost point of South America. Route 40 is the gateway to some of Argentina’s most iconic national parks, but it’s not for the faint of heart. Many long segments are unpaved, and often the paved parts are so pot-holed that driving them is like running an obstacle course.

We spent many days driving, driving, driving down Route 40 through some of the most desolate and empty country we’ve ever seen, where we could go for a couple of hours without seeing another vehicle. But Route 40 took us to some of the most unforgettable, mind-blowingly beautiful places on the entire trip, including El Chaltén, Fitz Roy, and the Perito Moreno glacier.

Our route

Note: This is a quick overview. In our next post, we’ll get into more detail about each of these places!

We started our journey in Puerto Montt, Chile, the large and somewhat nondescript city that is the northern hub for Patagonia travelers. There, we picked up our rental car and headed out to visit two pretty towns in the Lake District: Puerto Varas and Bariloche.

The Chiloé Islands weren’t on our original Patagonia itinerary and were a bit of a detour. But we’d read and heard too much about them to take a pass, and the northernmost town, Ancud, was only a two-hour drive and quick ferry ride from Puerto Montt. Known for their historic and unique wooden churches and unique culture, Chiloé was well worth the visit.

Next, we took a very interesting midnight ferry ride (more about that below) from Quellón on the south end of Chiloé Grande, back across to the mainland town of Chaitén. From there, after spending a couple of days exploring Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, we drove south to the little waterfront town of Puyuhuapi and made a visit to the gorgeous hanging glacier of Quelat National Park.

From Puyuhuapi, we continued down to Puerto Rio Tranquilo on the shores of Lago General Carrera, one of Patagonia’s largest lakes. Our mission: to visit the fantastic Marble Caves, one of Patagonia’s most popular attractions. They were spectacular!

Then, after overnight stops in Coyhaique and Chile Chico, we crossed into Argentina and connected with Route 40. We spent the night at an utterly forgettable town named Gobernador Gregores before arriving at one of Patagonia’s most popular destinations: El Chaltén, home of the spectacular Fitz Roy mountain range. After a few days there (waiting for a gliimpse of Fitz Roy, which we finally got!), we continued down Route 40 with a detour to El Calafate to visit the world-famous Perito Moreno glacier.

Further down Route 40, we crossed the border one more time at Paso Rio Don Guillermo and arrived at Torres del Paine, Chile’s premier national park. After several spectacular days there, we continued south to our final destination of the trip, Punta Arenas, before flying back home.

Weather and timing

No matter which time of year you choose to visit Patagonia, weather is always a consideration. The region is famously known for its “four seasons in a day” climate and extremely unpredictable, fierce winds. Some friends of ours, who had taken a similar trip a few years earlier, told us about wind that made it hard to open their car doors and even blew over a bus not far from them. The austral (southern) summer, from December through February, has the mildest temps and most hours of daylight, but also draws the most tourists and trekkers – making some of the most popular attractions a mob scene (hello, El Chaltén).

After lots of research, we chose early autumn – March – for our Patagonia road trip. It turned out to be a beautiful time to visit, with the leaves beginning to turn and much smaller crowds. Although we had our share of rain, low clouds that sometimes obscured landmarks, and even snow, overall we had great weather and very little wind. It’s worth noting that many parks, lodgings, and restaurants close for the winter on April 1.

Best-laid plans: road-tripping on the fly

From the beginning, this trip was meant to be a camper van adventure with just a few hotel stays thrown in here and there. Ever the meticulous travel planner, John had the entire itinerary mapped out months in advance with all necessary campground reservations. But when we arrived in Puerto Varas to pick up the van, the vehicle we had rented turned out to be completely unacceptable for a variety of reasons. To the camper van company’s credit, they did eventually refund our deposit. But we suddenly found ourselves in Puerto Varas having to completely retool the entire trip and pivot to a car/lodging road trip.

Perhaps because we were at the tail end of the season, we were able to find a great rental car right away – an almost-new Kia Sportage 4×4 from LYS Rent-a-Car. Andres Gabor, owner of LYS, deserves a huge shout-out for being sympathetic to our situation and bending over backward to get us the right car. Plus, his prices are very competitive. We can’t recommend LYS highly enough.

Since we were booking on the fly, our lodgings turned out to be somewhat of a mixed bag. Overall, we stayed in 18 different accommodations ranging from hotels, hostels, and AirBnb-style apartments to small, rustic inns. (Some were REALLY rustic!) But two places really stood out and deserve recognition.

The first was Hotel Boutique Arrebol in Castro, the capital of the Islas Chiloé. This gorgeous and fairly new inn, complete with a great restaurant, sits right over the water above the famous Castro stilt houses. The Arrebol was a bit out of our budget, but we had just had a pretty surreal and terrible night’s stay at the previous place and were ready for a few creature comforts. And later, when our lodging in the town of Quellón fell through (it was absolutely AWFUL and scary!), we were able to drive back up to the Arrebol and spend another night. The staff was so helpful and accommodating.

The lodging that will always live in our memories and symbolize Patagonian hospitality to us was the Hotel Boutique Tres Pasos, on Route 9 between Torres del Paine National Park and Puerto Natales. A roadside inn dating to 1904 and part of a working cattle finca, Tres Pasos is filled with atmosphere and memorabilia from Patagonia’s bygone gaucho culture. It also has a claim to fame: It once hosted and inspired the poet Gabriela Mistral, Chile’s famed Nobel laureate. Over our four-day stay, we got to know every member of the staff well and were treated more like family than guests. Writing this, I’d love to teleport back there right now!

The hotel is a roadside gem.

We had a panoramic view of the ranch and nearby mountains from our top-floor room.

The other view from our room

A fiery sunset

Other tips

Keep your gas tank full. Back in our sailing days, we lived by this rule: When you first think about reefing (reducing your sail before the wind overpowers you), do it. For a Patagonia road trip, there’s a similar tenet: When you think about fueling up, do it – even if you have plenty of gas. Petrol stations can be few and far between, especially if you’re traveling down Route 40 in Argentina. We tried never to let our tank go below half full.

A 4×4 vehicle is a REALLY good idea. Seriously. Even on parts of the Carretera Austral and Route 40, we were really glad to have the extra power. And in Torres del Paine, where many of the roads are unpaved, muddy, steep, and pot-holed, a 4×4 is a necessity.

Visiting the Islas Chiloé by car? You’ll probably have to take this crazy ferry. Since Patagonia is a watery place, ferries are an important link in the transportation system. Most of the car ferries cover short distances and don’t need an advance reservation. But if you visit the Chiloé Islands from Puerto Montt and want to cross back over to the mainland without backtracking, you’ll need to take the overnight ferry to from Quellón to Chaitén.

Operated by Naviera Austral, this ferry only sails twice a week during high season and only once a week during the austral winter (June through November). It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it to keep us from having to retrace our tracks all the way back to Puerto Montt. You can (and should) buy tickets in advance on the Naviera Austral website. And don’t plan on getting much sleep!

Riding this ferry was a true Twilight Zone experience – vastly different from the highly efficient and passenger-friendly ferries we took in Canada last fall. Our ship was supposed to leave at 10:00 p.m., but it didn’t show up until about 11:30 – after we had waited many hours in the scruffy and unappealing town of Quellón. It took a lot of guesswork and asking around to find the dock (there’s zero signage), and there was no organized queue of cars to get on and no one giving direction. When we saw other cars lining up on all the approaching roads, we eased our way in.

Once onboard and parked, we made ourselves as comfortable as we could on the hard chairs upstairs. There were no announcements and no safety briefing. After finally shoving off around midnight, we did our best to get some sleep – surrounded by some of the most spectacular snoring we’ve ever heard (another tip: bring earplugs!). A little over three hours later, as we approached Chaitén, there was no announcement. Instead, they just turned on the blindingly bright cabin lights to wake everyone up. We were never so glad to get off that ferry and get to our cozy, warm hostel room!

Next: Our favorite Patagonia sights!