When my husband and I started planning our anniversary trip to Patagonia, we knew we wanted to hike the W Trek, but we didn’t want to camp. We researched refugios, but sharing a hostel-style room wasn’t exactly the romantic vibe we were looking for. Hotels that are actually located inside Torres del Paine National Park are extremely limited, but fortunately, I found Rio Serrano Hotel + Spa. While it’s not technically located within the boundary of Torres del Paine National Park, it’s separated from the parklands by just a small river and a few steps, so you feel as if you’re in the park.
The Location
The Rio Serrano is right next to the southern entrance of Torres del Paine National Park, making it easy to access most of the attractions on the W Trek. The prime location features sweeping views of the Cuernos and surrounding grasslands.
The hotel is about a 90-minute drive from Puerto Natales airport, and we were promptly picked up by a friendly driver in a comfortable van for the journey.
Excursions
Rio Serrano has a dedicated excursion room off of the lobby. This is where you can sign up for tours and also where you’ll need to show up to for a briefing the night before every tour. The briefing covers the weather forecast, what you need to bring for the day, and any important safety information. Most excursions include a bag lunch, so you’ll also choose what you want off of a menu (usually vegetarian, chicken, or beef sandwiches).
Not every excursion is offered every day, so it’s best to plan out your whole trip either before you arrive or the day you arrive. We signed up for our excursions ahead of time, and everything ran smoothly in terms of bookings once we arrived. Excursions are included in the all-inclusive program, so it makes sense to plan those at the time of booking.
The hotel actually partners with a company called The Massif, that runs all of the excursions, but the trips are private for Rio Serrano guests, so you won’t be driving around to other hotels and picking up people. You can view all of the excursions offered on The Massif’s website.
We spent three nights at Rio Serrano and did two full-day tours and one half-day tours. For the rest of our trip, we stayed at Hotel Las Torres, which is at the start of the Base Towers hike. Read our review of Hotel Las Torres here.
The excursions we chose were:
- The French Valley. This is one of the main highlights of the W circuit, and was one of the most beautiful hikes we did in Patagonia. I highly recommend booking the French Valley through Rio Serrano, because you have to start and end the hike by taking a ferry. The ferry sells out and doesn’t run very frequently, so it would have been tough trying to arrange for tickets and figure out the boat schedule on our own. This was also one of the hardest hikes we did (I found it more demanding than the towers hike), with a serious amount of elevation gain. Our guide was amazing for this hike. He was very prepared at the end of the hike, letting us know that people line up for the ferry about an hour before departure and that the boat can only hold a certain number of people. Once the boat is full, you’ll have to wait for it to come back on the return trip, so you could wait over two hours if you don’t make it on the first round! He made sure we queued up early and got on the boat. Pro tip: Wait in the bar near the dock, and as soon as the first people start lining up, join in.
- Grey Glacier Boat Tour. We had arranged a Grey Glacier Boat Tour and kayaking excursion separately through Big Foot Patagonia. Unfortunately, it was too windy out on the day we had booked, and we weren’t told until we were already on the boat tour that the kayaking excursion was canceled. Reading the reviews, it seems like this happens really frequently (and judging by how windy it was every day, I’m not surprised). The boat tour was still fun, as you get to go close to the glacier, but I think if I had known we weren’t going go get to kayak, I would have preferred to hike near the glacier.
- Mirador Ferrier. We had some spare time on our last day at Rio Serrano, so the night before, we popped into the expedition center and asked the experts there to choose our last adventure. This spontaneous hike ended up being one of my favorites. The Mirador Ferrier is a half-day hike not too far from Rio Serrano. The steep hike takes about four hours round-trip and rewards you with a panoramic view of Gray Lake, Nordenskjold, Pehoé, Sarmiento, and southern ice fields.
The views from the top were stunning, and this hike seems to be off the beaten tourist path. We only saw one other group during our hike, making it a really unique and peaceful experience.
Group sizes are fairly small for departures from Rio Serrano. On the French Valley excursion, we were joined by two other hotel guests, and for the Mirador Ferrier, only one other guest came along. The Grey Glacier was the largest tour, as you’re on a ferry with a lot of other tourists.
The tours ran very professionally, leaving on time and giving us the supplies we needed (like hiking poles and snacks) before starting. After each full-day excursion, our guides surprised us with cheese, wine, and beer picnics before we started the drive back to the hotel.
The guides on the tours were absolutely amazing—they were really fun, and willing to joke around with the guests and tell funny stories while still being really knowledgeable about the area.
Transportation to and from the hikes was smooth, in a comfortable, large van, and stops for bathrooms were offered along the way.
Wondering if you should tip on your excursion? Read our full guide to tipping in Chile.
For more details on our full itinerary in Chile, read our Ultimate Torres del Paine Travel Guide.
Dining
There are two restaurants at Rio Serrano: Qawasqar, the main dining room; and De Agostini Bar, a casual lounge off of the lobby. We ate at Qawasqar for every breakfast since it opened early (De Agostini doesn’t open until 10:00 or 11:00 am). We had lunch in De Agostini on the day we did a half day tour, and we ate dinner at both Qawasqar and De Agostini. Both restaurants are included on the all-inclusive plan.
Qawasqar
The main restaurant is upstairs, and has large picture windows overlooking the beautiful grounds. Meals (except for breakfast, which is a buffet) are ordered off of a menu, with plenty of options for appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The menu was large and pretty diverse, and had a lot of items marked vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free. Get the Provelata, a melted cheese dish that’s famous in neighboring Argentina—it’s so decadent and delicious. There’s a big wine menu and plenty of mixed drinks to try here as well.
The servers here were really friendly, and happy to adapt dishes to suit our tastes. Overall, the food here was the best I found in Patagonia.
Just make sure to make a reservation for dinner in the main dining room the night before, as they are pretty strict about requiring reservations even for hotel guest.
De Agostini
The casual bar was great for grabbing a quick celebratory drink after an excursion or a fast bite to eat. Make sure you try the local cocktails made with the calafate berries!
Food here was very casual (think: hamburgers and french fries) but very good. No reservations are required for De Agostini, so it’s a good place for an impromptu bite.
Rooms
We opted for a Superior room because these rooms have incredible views of the mountains. Standard rooms are similar, but overlook the small village instead of nature.
Our room featured massive picture windows, next to which horses and dogs roamed freely, creating a picturesque scene against the backdrop of the Paine massif. The room felt designed to blend into the scenery, with nteutral colors such as brown and tan dominating. Aside from the view, the hotel room felt very much like a luxury hotel room you’d find in any major city, with a comfortable king bed, blackout curtains, a cozy chair next to the window, and a large bathroom.
Price and What’s Included on the All-Inclusive Plan
We paid around $2,100 for a three-night, all-inclusive package at Rio Serrano. Other packages are also available including full-board (which includes all food and drinks but not excursions) for around $900 per night for two people, and bed and breakfast (room and breakfast only) for around $500 per night for two people.
The all-inclusive package includes:
- Unlimited excursions: Base Towers, French Valley, Grey Trail, Paine Lookouts, Aonikenk, Toro Lake, Sarmiento Lake navigation, Grey III navigation, Serrano navigation, Condor viewpoint, Ferrier lookout, Cuernos viewpoint, Nutria horseback
- Torres del Paine National Park entrance ticket
- Scheduled airport transfers to Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales
- Accommodation
- In-room mini-bar stocked with water, soft drinks, juices, and snacks
The only things not included in the all-inclusive package are:
- Laundry
- Premium spirits, wines and beers
- Massages or spa treatments
- Tips
- Transfers to Argentina
The all-inclusive plan can only be booked directly through Rio Serrano. If you only want to do the bed and breakfast plan, I’ve seen the lowest rates on Booking.com.
Is the All-Inclusive Plan Worth it?
We were apprehensive about renting a car and driving through the park, so we chose the all-inclusive plan as it included excursions. However, you could definitely save money by renting a car and doing all of the hikes and tours yourself. I would note that it would be difficult to arrange some of the excursions such as the French Valley which requires taking a ferry. The ferry times were hard to find online and you couldn’t purchase tickets in advance. Also, for one of my favorite hikes, an under-the-radar trail called the Ferrier Lookout, the park requires you do have a guide, so you’d miss out on that one. Otherwise, the hikes were well-marked and would be easy to do on your own.
If you’re not self-driving, the all-inclusive plan is absolutely worth it for the excursions. It made things so much easier to have the day planned out for us and to be able to leave right from the hotel.
However, if you wanted to save money and self-drive to all of the hikes, I’d recommend doing the bed and breakfast package only because it’s a much better value than the full-board package, which is all-inclusive except for excursions. The full-board package is priced very high, so even if you eat every meal in the hotel, it would be hard to spend an extra $400 per night on food and drink. (Just know that you will be eating pretty much every meal in the hotel, as there are no other restaurants around except for a few other hotels.)
Spa and Pool
The spa and pool at Rio Serrano were one of the main highlights of the pool. The pool is absolutely stunning, housed in an airy room with a wall of picture windows overlooking the mountains. The water is perfectly heated, and there are water massage chairs and waterfall massagers to help you relax even further.
The small sauna was also nice for warming up after chilly hikes.
We didn’t get any spa treatments because our days were already so busy with excursions, but I bet a massage in the spa here would be heavenly! There’s also a small gym here, but I think if you’re using the gym in this area that’s known for epic hiking, you’re doing it wrong.
Pros
- Stunning setting in the mountains
- Fun, friendly, and knowledgeable excursion leaders
- Great food
- Reasonable prices
- Excursions ran smoothly and were well-organized
- Comfortable bedrooms
- The best pool and spa in Patagonia
- Beautiful outdoor patio
- Hot tea delivered to your room after excursions
Cons
- Even on the all-inclusive plan, you are prompted to select “yes” or “no” to leave a tip on every meal and drink. It was unclear if this tip actually went to the staff.
- Our guide told us that if you pre-pay the tip on the excursion, they don’t get it—so you should bring cash for tips.
- Must make reservations for dinner, even as a hotel guest.
- Food menu didn’t change much each day, and could get repetitive if you’re staying for more than a few days.
- Must drive around 30-45 minutes to the start of all the major hiking trails.
Travel Insurance for Torres del Paine National Park
Whenever I’m going to a remote location, such as Patagonia, I always get travel insurance ahead of time. Torres del Paine is a long drive from any hospital, and if you were to get injured on a hike, you might have to get helicoptered out, which could be expensive. I got travel insurance from World Nomads before my trip and recommend it.
Read about the time we had to use our World Nomads travel insurance in Tanzania here.
