One must place travel to the Patagonia region (especially Torres Del Paine) on the top of their bucket list in my opinion. I have reviewed Torres Del Paine (link), Atacama desert (link) and Marble Caves (link) in my earlier posts. All you need is one week of vacation and 100K points in one of the Star Alliance Partners like ANA, Aeroplan or LifeMiles to travel in a round-trip business class.
One of my friends asked me to help plan a trip to Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile in April 2025 with a budget of around $3000 USD along with 100k expiring ANA Mileage Club points.
Best months to visit Torres Del Paine National Park
If you are a casual explorer (not planning multi-day treks), I recommend going in late September to enjoy the lowest accommodation prices, least wind and lowest number of visitors. If you are planning to do multi-day treks, the W-trek is open from October 1st to April 27th and O-circuit trek is open from November 1st to March 31st. Peak summer months (December-March) have the highest number of visitors and hotels charge premium prices.
Award Flights from MCO to SCL
My friend is based near Orlando and I tried booking COPA airlines (via Panama) using the ANA mileage club (see images below).
One can also use the ANA Mileage Club Multi-City or Open-Jaw option to explore other South American countries (e.g., Peru or Argentina) for the same amount of points.
In the example below, the first leg of the journey is from Orlando to Lima via Panama with an Open-jaw (on your own) from LIM to SCL (e.g., use Alaska miles to book Latam) and the last leg is from Santiago to Orlando.
My friend was happy with the amount of taxes for a business class round-trip flight (20,550 JPY = $140). Short-haul (MCO to PTY) business class flight seats are more like domestic first class and the long-haul business class seats (PTY to SCL) are 737 MAX 9 with fully flat beds on some flights (see image below).
Flight from Santiago to Puerto Natales
Puerto Natales has a new airport (PNT) and flying there saves a 2-hour drive time from the more popular Punta Arenas (PUQ) airport (Google Flights). However, flight and rental car prices are cheaper when you fly to PUQ airport.
PNT Airport Rental Car
I recommend using momondo (link) to find rental cars at PNT airport, since you are not going to find any results from traditional search engines like Kayak or Booking.com.
Torres Del Paine Accommodations
I recommended my friend to stay at Rio Serrano Hotel (link) for 4 nights, which is located inside the Torres Del Paine National Park. You will find the lowest prices when traveling during the shoulder months (September or April).
Hotel Lago Grey (link) is another beautiful accommodation inside the national park, which is priced lowest in September ($270 per night), but prices increase sharply ($560-650) during other months. Grey glacier navigation starts from this hotel, which is very convenient.
I stayed at both these hotels in late September 10 years ago and enjoyed the hikes (link) and grey glacier navigation (link) (link).
Torres Del Paine National Park Pass
Torres Del Paine National Park Pass must be purchased online (link) and can be displayed from your mobile device with your ID at the entrance.
Puerto Natales Accommodations
Puerto Natales has several well-rated accommodations (link) and dining options to choose from and I told my friend to stay there one to two nights before coming to Santiago.
Santiago SCL Airport Accommodation
Holiday Inn (link) is located close to the terminal at SCL airport and is a wonderful place to spend a night before catching a flight to the US.
Conclusion
Award booking flights with the ANA mileage club or Aeroplan will help save money on flights to South America and the savings can be used to enjoy nice hotels inside the national parks.