Booking Patagonia Travel – An Honest Review & How to Use
An Honest Review of BookingPatagonia.travel & How to Use the Platform
When I completed the O Circuit in Torres del Paine National Park, I initially made all my reservations through Booking Patagonia Travel. This site allows you to reserve everything all in one place, which I thought would make things much easier.
However, my experience ended up being anything but easy. And unfortunately, I met many other hikers on my trek who also had difficulties with their bookings.
To help you avoid the same issues I had, here’s my honest review of BookingPatagonia.travel and how to use the platform to make W Trek and O Circuit reservations in Torres del Paine.
Chasing Chanelle contains affiliate links and is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you make a purchase using one of these links, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products and services we use and trust. Read our disclaimer for more information.
About Booking Patagonia Travel
Booking Patagonia Travel is a new online reservation platform that was launched in 2022. The site enables you to book everything you need for your visit to Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia, all in one place.
And, it’s now one of the most popular platforms to book two of Chile’s most beautiful hikes: the O Circuit and the W Trek. This includes all campsites and refugios (shelters), meals, park entrance fees, buses to and from the park, and extras like tents, sleeping bags, and linen rentals.
Through BookingPatagonia.travel, you can also book accommodation in Puerto Natales for before and after your hike. However, their partner hotels are limited, and you’ll likely find better deals elsewhere, so I wouldn’t recommend doing this.
Advantages of Using BookingPatagonia.travel
The benefit of using BookingPatagonia.travel is that you don’t have to make multiple reservations with different providers. This is logistically easier to organize, as you’ll have just one booking confirmation for everything.
The refugios and campsites are operated by two different companies: Vertice and Las Torres. So you would otherwise need to make separate bookings with each provider for the sites that they own. Plus you would have to make additional bookings for the bus, entrance fees and other add-ons to your trip.
Booking Patagonia Travel also makes planning your hike easier than doing it yourself. You can choose from pre-configured packages or routes, so you don’t have to figure out the itinerary from scratch. However, if you have your own itinerary in mind, you can also book a personalized route through the platform.
Disadvantages of Using BookingPatagonia.travel
In theory, the Booking Patagonia Travel website sounds like the best way to make Torres del Paine reservations. However, it’s not as straightforward as you’d imagine, and there are a few downsides to consider.
Cost
Firstly, as BookingPatagonia.travel is a third-party website, going through them does come at an added cost. The prices advertised on the site are the same as booking directly through the providers. However, when you check out, a 15% service charge will be added to your booking.
Although this isn’t a huge markup, the O Circuit and W Trek are not cheap hikes to book, so this can really add up and impact your budget.
Terms & Conditions
In addition to the standard terms and conditions of each of the providers, Booking Patagonia Travel has additional T&Cs that apply to your booking. And, unfortunately these terms aren’t very flexible. This makes it more confusing and difficult to make changes or cancel your booking.
It’s worth familiarizing yourself with the terms and conditions of each company before making your reservations, so you understand if and when changes are allowed.
The Availability Isn’t Completely Accurate
To avoid double bookings, not all availability is visible on the Booking Patagonia Travel website. As such, there will always be a few additional spots available to reserve directly through Vertice and Las Torres.
I understand why they do this, but it’s frustrating when you’re trying to reserve a multi-day hike and one refugio or campsite isn’t available on your chosen dates. This prevents you from proceeding with your entire booking, forcing you to start again and try different dates.
Therefore, if all the sites aren’t showing up as available on your preferred dates, I suggest checking the Vertice and Las Torres websites. Do this before changing your dates or itinerary to accommodate the availability shown on BookingPatagonia.travel, as you might get lucky!
The Platform Isn’t That User Friendly
Booking Patagonia Travel isn’t the most user-friendly website to try and navigate. That said, the Vertice and Las Torres websites also have their issues. So no matter which way you book, you’ll likely encounter some technical challenges.
The biggest issues with BookingPatagonia.travel are that it’s difficult and time-consuming to use if all your dates aren’t available. When you put together your itinerary, you’ll need to input your start date and then select sites for each day of your hike.
But if one site ends up being unavailable, you can’t simply amend your dates and continue booking. Instead, you have to start the process over again from scratch, trying a different start date. You also can’t view a calendar or list of available sites and dates, so finding an itinerary where all the sites are available on your chosen dates can take a lot of time and be very frustrating.
Finally, the website isn’t very intuitive, so it can take a few minutes to figure out how to navigate the booking system. Although, once you get the hang of it, I find it is relatively easy to use.
How To Make Reservations Through Booking Patagonia Travel
There are three different ways to make reservations through BookingPatagonia.travel: selecting a tour package, choosing a preconfigured route, or personalizing your own itinerary. You can choose your preferred option on the home page under ‘What Would You Like To Do.’
There are three different ways to make reservations through BookingPatagonia.Travel. You can select a tour package, a pre-configured route, or personalize your own itinerary. You can choose from these various options on the homepage, or through the ‘circuits’ and ‘programs’ pages.
Tour Packages
The tour packages (called ‘programs’) through BookingPatagonia.travel are mostly day trips in the park to popular lookouts like the Base Torres and French Valley, as well as activities like walking on the Grey Glacier or experiencing a traditional Patagonian BBQ.
These packages are a great option if you’re short on time in the park or are not able to do a longer trek. However, they do have limited availability, and some of them require a minimum number of guests to book.
➡️ BOOK: Tours in Torres del Paine National Park
Pre-Configured Routes
For the W Trek or O Circuit the easiest way to book is by selecting a pre-configured route, which you can then personalize. There are several options to choose from for the W Trek, O Circuit and West Circuit (a shorter hike, only doing a portion of the W Trek on the Vertice side), each with a different starting point or number of days.
Once you select your preferred route, you will get to personalize it by adding transport to and from the park and accommodation before and after your hike, and selecting your accommodation for each night in the park. If available, you will also have the option to add on additional services like meals, linen and camping equipment.
I recommend including the bus in your booking, but skipping the accommodation bookings before and after your hike, as you will find more options and better deals by booking separately.
If there is no availability on one or more of the dates, you will unfortunately have to go back and start the process from scratch, by going back to the first step and changing your start date.
Once you have been able to select your preferred options for each day of your hike, you can click through to the checkout, where you will see the final price including the service fee. The park entrance fee will also be automatically added to your order and included in your booking. If everything looks good, you can confirm the booking by filling in some additional information and processing the payment.
Personalized Routes
If you don’t want a traditional itinerary or can’t find availability on each day of your hike, you’ll be better off building your own customized itinerary from scratch. You can find this option under ‘Customized’ in the ‘Circuits’ drop down menu at the top of the page.
Before booking a personalized itinerary, I highly recommend spending some time researching your preferred route, to ensure you allow yourself enough time in the park and don’t have any excessively long or difficult days.
Contacting Customer Service
If you’re having issues with your booking, there is a handy chat feature where you can speak to a live agent. You will see this in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Alternatively, you can also contact an agent by phone on +56 22 231 9777, or email at tickets@bookingpatagonia.travel.
➡️ READ MORE: How to Book The O Circuit & W Trek in Torres del Paine
My Experience Using Booking Patagonia Travel
When I was planning my trip to Chile in 2022, I used Booking Patagonia Travel to book the O Circuit in Torres del Paine. However, I encountered some issues that ultimately led me to make a second booking directly with Vertice.
We Were Flexible With Our Itinerary
I was initially trying to book the traditional 8-day O Circuit starting from Laguna Amarga. But I was open to doing a slightly shorter or longer hike or starting from Paine Grande if needed.
We were also looking to camp with our own equipment but were open to staying in the refugios or equipped campsites if there was no other availability. So I tried a lot of different possible itineraries to find what was available.
It Was Very Time Consuming Trying to Find Availability
I only booked our hike several weeks in advance, so many of our preferred dates were already sold out. Therefore, I failed to find any suitable availability using the preconfigured routes and instead had to try creating a personalized route.
Since Booking Patagonia Travel doesn’t let you edit your dates once you’ve started making your booking, I had to keep starting the process from scratch, trying different start dates and locations. Then I could select an accommodation stop for each day of my proposed itinerary, until eventually I’d get to a stop where there was no availability, which is when I’d have to give up and start over.
As you have to click into each stop individually and select from the available accommodation options, I’d sometimes get almost to the end before finding out that one of the sites wasn’t available. This process took a few minutes each time, and overall, the whole booking process took me several painful hours over a couple of days.
I Spoke to the Booking Agent Through the Live Chat Function
I was starting to lose hope because every itinerary I tried had at least one stop that was unavailable. So, I contacted an agent through the live chat function on the website to see if they could help.
My first question for them was whether there was any other availability not advertised on their website, or the one stop which was unavailable to book, or if there were any other options to get around this. The booking agent confirmed that all the availability was shown on the site and there were no ways to book the unavailable sites. (Although this turned out to be false – more on this below).
My first question for them was whether there was any other availability not advertised on their website, or if there were any other options to get around this. The booking agent confirmed that all availability was shown on the site and there was no way to book the unavailable sites. (Although this turned out to be incorrect—more on this below.)
The only option the booking agent gave me was for us to spend two nights at one of the campsites and skip another campsite. This itinerary would have resulted in us having a couple of very long days of hiking, which wasn’t ideal. But since we really wanted to complete the hike, this is what I booked.
I Later Discovered That the Booking Agent Had Given Me Incorrect Information
A few days after making my reservation on BookingPatagonia.travel, I wasn’t happy with my less-than-ideal itinerary, so I decided to browse the Vertice and Las Torres websites—something I now realize I should have done first. To my surprise, some of our preferred dates and accommodation options (which were unavailable on BookingPatagonia.travel) showed up as available on both Vertice and Las Torres.
I Contacted Booking Patagonia Travel for Assistance
As soon as I realized all the stops and dates for my preferred itinerary were in fact available, I contacted Booking Patagonia Travel to change my booking. However they said it was too late to change the booking, as it was too close to the start of my hike.
I Got Stung by the T&Cs
As it turned out, Vertice’s T&Cs only allowed for changes to be made up to 45 days before your reservation, and (at the time) Las Torres up to 30 days. As I had only booked a few weeks in advance, I was actually right at the 30 day deadline for Las Torres, but was outside the 45 deadline for Vertice.
Note: Las Torres has since updated their cancellation and modification policy to 45 days as well.
I Asked the Booking Agent to Try to Make the Changes Anyway
The booking agent initially wasn’t very helpful. They advised that they can try requesting the changes but if one company approves them and the other doesn’t, I will be stuck with reservations for two completely different dates/itineraries. I asked whether they could wait for both companies to confirm if the changes were possible before locking them in, and they said no—change requests were final.
In the end, I decided to take the risk and had them request the changes. They advised this can take several days, but I pushed for them to try and prioritize the request since I was on the cusp of falling outside the window for Las Torres, and I had already missed the Vertice deadline.
I Had to Re-Book My Vertice Stops
Luckily, the Las Torres changes were approved, but there was no word from Vertice. So I decided to just re-book these stops directly on the Vertice website, so I wouldn’t risk missing out on them.
I Managed to Get My Preferred Itinerary, but It Was Expensive and Messy
While in the end I did manage to book the traditional 8 day O Circuit, my reservation ended up being half through Booking Patagonia Travel and half through Vertice.
Plus some of the changes made through BookingPatagonia.travel were confirmed by email, rather than showing up on the booking confirmation. So I ended up with a lot of different paperwork for my reservations. And, as some were confirmed just by email, I was worried there might not be a proper record of them in the system.
Plus, having to re-book the Vertice stops led to me spending an extra $200 USD. I did ask Booking Patagonia Travel if they could absorb this cost and refund me the original Vertice bookings. But they never ended up getting back to me on this, so I just accepted the extra cost and focused on enjoying my hike.
Would I Recommend It?
So, after my overly complicated, expensive and messy experience going through BookingPatagonia.travel, would I recommend using them?
Although I don’t believe this is the best way to book Torres del Paine, surprisingly, I would still recommend Booking Patagonia Travel. But, this is only if your preferred dates are available, as it’s really convenient having all your bookings in one place.
And keep in mind, this convenience does come at a premium, as there is a 15% service fee. So you will have to decide if this added expense is worth it for you.
Booking Directly
In my experience, the best way to book Torres del Paine is by booking directly with the service providers, rather than using third party websites like BookingPatagonia.travel.
If your preferred itinerary isn’t immediately available, it will be quicker to find a suitable itinerary using the Vertice and Las Torres websites. And it will be cheaper, as you will save yourself the extra service fee and avoid costly mistakes.
Here’s where to book directly –
Refugios, Campsites, Meals, and Equipment Rentals:
- Vertice (for the Dickson, Los Perros, Grey and Paine Grande campsites and refugios) – Vertice Reservations
- Las Torres (for the Las Torres (Central), Serón, Francés, Los Cuernos and Chileno campsites and refugios) – Las Torres Reservations
Bus to and From Torres del Paine: Bus Sur, through torresdelpaine.com
Park Entrance Fee: CONAF
FAQs
Is BookingPatagonia.travel a Legit Website?
Yes, BookingPatagonia.travel is a legitimate third party booking platform for Torres del Paine. It has only been around since 2022, which is why you may not have come across it in the past.
What Is the Best Way to Book the O Circuit or W Trek?
Booking directly with the various providers (Las Torres, Vertice and CONAF) is usually the best way to book the O Circuit and W Trek. You can find out more about how to do this here.
Is BookingPatagonia.travel a Trustworthy Website?
Yes, BookingPatagonia.travel is a trustworthy website, even though there are some disadvantages to using it.
How Much Does It Cost to Book Through BookingPatagonia.travel?
Booking Patagonia Travel adds a 15% service fee to all bookings. Although their prices for accommodation, transport and other services are the same as going directly through the service providers.
What Is the Cancellation Process Like Through BookingPatagonia.travel?
To cancel reservations made through BookingPatagonia.travel, you must contact them to request the cancellation. They will then liaise with the providers to manage the cancellation process, if you’re eligible to cancel.
Both Vertice and Las Torres allow for cancellations and modifications up to 45 days before check-in. Although Las Torres will only give partial refunds up to 90 days before check-in.
Can You Visit Torres del Paine Without a Tour?
Yes, most people visit the park without a tour. Although, if you prefer, you can book a day tour or multi-day trek as a tour package.
How Long Does It Take to Hike Torres del Paine?
This depends on which hike you’re planning to do. The traditional W Trek takes 5 days, and the O Circuit takes 8 days. If you’re planning to visit the park just for a day or two, you can instead do a number of day hikes.
One of the most popular day hikes is from Hotel Las Torres to the Mirador Las Torres (the Torres del Paine lookout). This is a 19 km hike which can usually be completed in around 6 to 7 hours.
How Do I Reserve Campsites in Torres del Paine?
You can make campsite reservations on BookingPatagonia.travel, Vertice.Travel and/or LasTorres.com websites. To find out more about how to reserve campsites in Torres del Paine, check out my guide to reserving the W Trek and O Circuit.
How Much Does It Cost to Enter Torres del Paine National Park?
The park entrance fee for Torres del Paine National Park is $39 USD per day. Or, you can pay a flat fee of $55 USD for 3 or more days in the park. You can purchase park tickets here.
Final Thoughts
In theory the Booking Patagonia Travel website should make Torres del Paine reservations easier. However, the reality is that it’s not very user friendly and ends up being more expensive thank booking directly.
Therefore, in most circumstances I would recommend booking directly with the different service providers. It might initially take you a little bit more time to figure out what exactly you need to book. But finding availability will usually be quicker this way, and overall it will save you money.
READ MORE
Christmas in Patagonia: 11 Best Things To Do & How To Celebrate
13 Best Santiago Chile Day Tours: The Complete Guide
7 Best Places to Visit in Argentina: The Ultimate Guide
Is Santiago Chile Worth Visiting? 13 Reasons To Visit
11 Best Santiago Chile Wine Tours & Everything You Need To Know
