EcoCamp Patagonia: All about guides and excursions
Sharing everything you need to know about the excursions included in a stay at EcoCamp Patagonia and the staff on site.
Now that we’ve covered lodging and dining at the EcoCamp Patagonia, now we can talk about excursions and activities, which after all is why we travel to Patagonia, right?
If you jumping in from here, hello! I’m Juli with Celebrate and Explore and I’ve created this blog series about the EcoCamp in Patagonia to help you plan a trip to one of the most amazing places on earth and hopefully inspire you to stay at the EcoCamp.
In this series, I am covering lodging, dining, excursions and through each post, highlighting the features that make the EcoCamp so special and unique—-its attention to detail, service and hospitality.
My family and I went on this trip in December of 2022 and paid for the trip entirely on our own. No part of my series is sponsored or hosted so please know that my opinions are my own.
If you want to start from the beginning, you can read my post about EcoCamp Lodging and what it’s like to really stay in an Geodesic dome and my post on all things food at the EcoCamp, trust me when I say this is not your average camp cafeteria!
Looking for a sample two week. plan to travel to Patagonia? Check out my guide A two-week bucket list adventure through Argentina and Chile.
The view that is worth the effort. The glacier lake at the base of the towers in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.
In addition to your lodging and food, the other feature that is included in your stay at EcoCamp Patagonia are your daily excursions.
There are a variety of options offered by EcoCamp Patagonia. We opted for the Wildlife Safari, which means that you sleep every night in the camp and take a day hike of your choice. They also off multi-day treks, such as the 5 day W Trek, 7 day W Trek and the 9 day Paine Circuit. The tour section of the EcoCamp website shares more information about the various options.
For the sake of this blog post, I will share about our experience choosing the Wildlife Safari package and the day hikes we experienced.
Each day you get to choose between three options. Typically an easy, medium and difficult hike are offered. The options rotate so during your stay you are very likely to be able to do all that you want.
The element that can change plans is, you guessed it, weather. Even though it’s summer, weather in Patagonia is a bit unpredictable. High winds and rain are often a possibility. The day we arrived, winds reached up to 130 mph. The good news is they know how to adapt to weather, hikes are not cancelled because of weather, adjustments are made and you just have to pack layers!
When do you decide which hike to do?
This goes back to the group meeting that happens every day before dinner, where the guides come together to share about the options, explain what the terrain, anticipated weather (since you can’t check your phones!), the day’s schedule and timeframe of the hike will entail. They will share all of this using a map and of course, answer any questions you may have. You’ll have a clear picture of what the day will look like long before you commit.
But you do have to commit, they need a final headcount before the end of dinner so they know how to assign guides.
I do want to mention that I reference the day hikes offered by the EcoCamp. There are multi-day treks also hosted by the camp. For more information, be sure to check out their website.
Views of Cascade Paine in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.
Need Advice for which hike to do first during your stay at EcoCamp Patagonia?
My advice would be to prioritize the hike to the base of the Towers of Torres del Paine. It’s about a 99.99% chance that is why you are there after all.
If you’ve done hiking in other areas of Patagonia, I’d suggest going this long hike first. If you are arriving at the beginning of your trip, I’d recommend doing a moderate rated hike first to warm your legs and be ready for the 12 mile+, 9 hour hike.
Yep. You read that right, the hike to the base of the Towers is over 12 miles and takes about 9 hours. It’s tough but compared to the Laguna de los Tres hike, we felt that this hike was more manageable.
Adding the Laguna de los Tres trail in Argentina to your Patagonia Itinerary? Be sure to read my blog post about how to prepare for this tough hike!
Partially because there were more breaks, a few more flatter spots, sections that you could navigate your hike by, being an out and back helps on the return trip and most of all, the guides made all the difference for us. They were supportive, fun and so well prepared. We enjoyed our time with them and they were great about communicating what was next so we weren’t left feeling in the dark or like an endless path was ahead of us.
This is a tough hike and while we saw some little kids on the hike (they were amazing) I would tend to say this is not a hike for most kids under 10, unless they are used to hiking long distances.
The towers hike has some steep climbs and the toughest is right before you get to the towers themselves. It involves scrambling up bit rocks and navigating narrow paths through rocks big and small.
Once you get to the lake sitting below the towers, you will be able to rest, eat lunch and take lots of pictures. It is windy up there so be sure to pack layers and find a rock to hide behind.
Going down is challenging especially at top because of the crowds, once get you past that part, it gets a little easier and opens up.
The other challenging part is Windy Pass. How challenging depends on the weather of the day. Going in, it wasn’t too bad for us but coming back, it was a little more scary. My advice, go as fast as you can, stay close to wall and don’t look down.
As for bathroom breaks, going to towers and back, you’ll be able to stop at the Fantasico Sur Lodge where you check in if you are camping on the trail and of course you can always find a private tree to take care of business. The guides will help you find the best spots. There are bathrooms at the lodge. It’s best to bring a few local dollars in case they are monitoring the bathrooms in the morning. You will only spend 15-20 min here.
On the way back, the group will likely stop at the lodge again and it might be helpful to have a credit card or Chilean Pesos with you to get a snack at the store inside. In the afternoon, the store at the lodge is open and there are most restrooms inside. If you make a purchase inside, the bathrooms are free. Inside you can find snacks, hot chocolate, cold beers and drinks. I purchased a huge Gatorade and a Snickers bar, two things I had not had in years and let me tell you, after hiking all day, they were seriously delicious. On any normal day, you would not hear me say that! Funny what hiking can do to your tastebuds.
I just have to give a huge shout-out to Manu. He was so patient with me on the way down. My knees were done and a lot of the return hike is downhill on unstable ground. After the Laguna de los Tres hike, my knees were tired and weak but he stuck with me and cheered me on the whole way.
I later learned it was Manu’s first week—you would have never known that by his helpful and knowledgeable ways.
River views on the hike to the base of the towers in Torres del Paine National Park.
Other hikes available offered by EcoCamp Patagonia
I focused on the hike to the Base of the Towers because it is the most popular hike but the other hikes are great too. Some of the options include the Fauna Trail, which is an easy to moderate hike with stops to enjoy local flowers and fauna as well as to get up close and personal to hieroglyphics from the native people that once lived on the land. This hike is a hike of about 6 miles of mild hills and relatively smooth terrain.
The trek to Valle Frances or French Valley was a popular one as well. We did not take this hike because we went fly-fishing on our own instead. There are a few others they offer such as ones with a lookout that can only be completed on a calm day because the winds have a direct effect on the safety and stability of the lookout stairs. I know the group that went one day was only able to do a portion of the hike because the winds were too severe to reach the top of the lookout.
Post-Hike Perk:Dinner with your guides
Chance are one of the reasons you love to hike is for the connection created while outdoors. Whether that is with the people you are with, the nature and views that surround you or sometimes just a chance to connect with yourself and get lost in your own thoughts and dreams. Getting outside can truly be a freeing and healing experience. One of the absolute best perks to hiking with the guides at EcoCamp is the connection they make to the guests.
As we sat down for dinner that night, Manu & Guillermo asked to join us and ask everyone in my family, it was our favorite dinner. We talked, laughed, learned and discovered so much about what it’s like to be a guide at EcoCamp. It was so fun dining with them and we even got the privilege of eating again with Manu on another night even though we didn't spend the day with him. Such a treat and a true connection was made that week.
Dining with some of our favorite guides from EcoCamp Patagonia after a long day of hiking.
Ecocamp guides: among the best in the business.
If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that our family travel style involves a lot of adventure. My kids always joke that we don’t go on vacation, we go on adventures! One day they’ll appreciate it. I hope! The point to that is, we’ve spent time with a lot of guides in our travels. Most of them have been fantastic, filled with local experience, knowledge and committed to giving us a welcoming, eye-opening dive into the country they love but a few have been a bit lackluster as well.
The guides at EcoCamp Patagonia are among the best in the business—they are passionate about Patagonia. They are so well-trained for excursions, know endless volumes of information about the terrain, weather, wildlife, fauna and more. Above all else, they are absolutely committed to providing excellent service at every turn.
On any given day you’ll have about 10-15 guides on staff, all split up among the excursion groups and one that stays back to make sure everything at home base is running smoothly. They are available for questions, assistance and guidance in any way. For example, we almost missed the shuttle to the airport on our departure day. We were told 10am the night before but it changed to 9:30am and someone forgot to tell us. We were lounging in the room and Carla ran to find us and helped us quickly get onboard. Thankfully we were packed and ready to go. The key to that not being a stressful situation was Carla, since we were so familiar with her, we knew we were in good hands and wouldn’t have been left behind.
The guides rotate among the groups so you get to know many of them and they work 11 days on, 4 days off, so chances are you will see most of them for your entire stay which is a great way to really get to know each other.
The guides at EcoCamp are often the “faces” of the camp but the support staff is equally as phenomenal. From the front desk staff to the servers in the community huts, you will always be greeted with a smile and friendly hello wherever you are on the camp. There are no strangers at EcoCamp Patagonia which might explain why it’s so hard to leave.
It is truly the epitome of my favorite travel style: Adventure by day, Luxury by Night!
If you have any questions about staying at EcoCamp Pataogonia, drop them below, I’m happy to answer them.
Celebrate Adventure, Explore with EcoCamp!
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