Mirador Base de las Torres | Tourist Attraction

We started at 7am and were amongst the first. The majority of the (massive amount of people) start between 7:30 and 8:30. It’s a gorgeous hike, took us 8 hours (incl. a ~1 hour break at the top).

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Nice Day Hike which can also be done on your first day if you come by bus from puerto natales and spend your first night in camping central.
We arrived with the 1st bus from puerto natales (leaves at 0640) at about 0800 at the national park entrance. After showing our entry qr code we continued with a small shuttle bus to the camping central where we left our big luggage & headed to the trail at about 0930.
Hike is 3-3,5 hours up if you dont take breaks. You arent much faster downwards.

Mirador itself was great, though it must be said that there are lots of people.

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If you are used to hike this trail isn't difficult. It's a long day hike (20km, 700 meters up), the trail is well marked and not that steep, except for the last km where you go up in the rocks to reach the laguna. The view is impressive! Be prepared for the wind. No need to carry to much water, there's rivers and streams on your way.
At the moment (covid time), the Refugio Chileano is totally closed, even the toilets.

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Top tip:

Start as early as there's enough daylight for walking. You'll have an almost guaranteed beautiful sunrise over your back, an empty trail and once you get to the lookout, the place for yourself. The few ones that hike from mid-camp before sunrise will no longer be there when you arrive. Tons of tourists going up from 8.30am and so on.

24 Feb, left @7.30am
2.30h going up

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Beautiful trek to the Laguna at the base of the Torres, with excellent views of the towers across the water. The trek is clearly marked and reasonably straightforward; the first ascent is not too steep but just keeps going, while the final stretch is rocky and steep- but the queues of people keep the pace slow! We started at 9am but overtook lots of people at the bottom so it wasn't too busy- glad we didn't get up super early! Just over 3 hours up and about the same down was possible without having to rush too much. There's a drinking tap half way up at the camping to refill water bottles for free, and a shop too thoguh it's pricey!

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Definitely leave before 8AM. We started hiking at 8AM and were just in time to avoid the biggest crowd.
About toilets: at the Chileno Refugio (which you’ll reach after 2hours climbing) you can go to a clean toilet with paper for 500 chilean pesos. Afterwards no toilets available. (The ones at the ranger station right before you reach the top were out of service)
There is also free drinking water at the refugio Chileno so don’t bother filling everything at the start, just take enough for the first two hours and then refill 😉.

Nice but strenuous hike. Very touristy. First and last part are really steep.

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If I did it anyone can!
It's about 22 km there and back, the height difference between start and finish around 750 m. However there is a big descent (and a few small one) before camp Chilleno so total elevation gain is probably around 1000 m.
I am slow and out of shape so it took us 12 hours (average is around 8). It's hard but not crazy, and if I made it anyone can. We started at 6 am, saw some birds and rabbits at the beginning of the trail which was nice. There weren't too many people on our way up, however, on the way down there were plenty! People were going both direction which made the way down from the Torres base a bit annoying. Definitely recommend starting early, and definitely recommend doing the hike!

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We are not experienced hikers, and we’re in okay shape, it took us 3 hours to go up, 3 to go down. We started at 8am and had just a few people at the top with us, coming down though, there were so many people going up, made it way slower.

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This hike took us about 8 hours : 4h30 to go up and 3h30 to go back. It is a 25km hike with two difficult parts : one in the beginning and the hardest at the end. I recommend you to use solar protection, a cap and to take several layers of clothes as the climate changes very quickly.
Note that few hours before sunset, you cannot access to the top as they close the trail.

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No guide needed to the Mirador base - maybe in winter with the snow.
The trail is easy to follow. From the welcoming center just follow the path in between the campings and hotels and after you can't be lost it's well indicated.

We decided to start the trek at 6.30am to avoid the mass and it's was a good idea we were like 5 at the to and met literally hundreds of people when we were going back.
No one start at this time from the parking lot, you will probably only meet people from the refugio (situated half way) that are going up early.

It took us 2h40 to arrived at the top and 2h20 to go down. Stay 40min at the top, it was freezing but not cloudy so great views.

First part is flat - then go up - down - up - and last part is the hardest but it's totally doable.

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After reading a couple of comments here I accepted the fact that we could only go to Mirador Base with a guide but one afternoon I asked the staff at Welcome Center if a guide was needed and they said no, I was fine going by myself and even showed me the begining of the trail. In the road from Park entrance to the Welcome Center there was a sign saying that a guide was required to Mirador Base though. There was a lot of between the middle and the end of the trail but we managed to do it without crampons but it would be highly helpful if we had

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In winter, it is not allowed to do the dayhike without a guide. You can hire guides in Puerto Natales. However, if you are member of an Alpine Club (eg. Alpenverein in Austria/ Germany) and are a bit stubborn, you can try to talk to the CONAF administration (in the middle of the park on the way to Glacier Grey when coming from north) to get a special permit to hike alone. We had to talk to two different rangers and be a bit persuasive but in the end we got the permit (for free!) to do all dayhikes in the park alone. The hikes are doable without guide, even in winter. Plus, there are a lot of guided tours running up so you will never be alone.
NOTE: We are pretty experienced hikers and in good shape and it took us 2.5h to go up and 2 to go down. The view on top is great but even in winter it's crowded so I don't wanna imagine it in summer...

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I usually don't go trekking but when I do I pick the hardest trail and curse the whole time

We started the hike at 3:30am and the hike took us about 9 hours. I underestimated this hike, there is one part in the beginning and one right before the end that's quite steep. My legs feel like pudding now but I guess that's normal when you usually don't go trekking at all Was an awesome feeling to have reached the end and the view is amazing

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Left Torres central campsite at 3am, walked slowly (tired legs from cycling!) and I was at the top just before 6 in time to see the sunrise light up the Torres orange. Quite a few people also there but they left pretty quickly because it was so cold and for the next hour I was the only person there. Really beautiful and tranquil place, just the noise of running water, made the battle against the wind getting through the park on my bike all worth it. The reflection on the lagoon is stunning. Ignore all the negativity below just get up early!

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We underestimated this hike. I had read the info about 3hr... 4hrs... and thought that was the total hike. It turned out to be an all day hike for us. We started at 7:20am and returned at 4:45pm (a total of 2 hours spent for the view at the top and then lunch). You can eat at the campground at the halfway point but a sandwich is $12. I'm glad I bought my hiking poles. The hike is prettier than I expected.

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great hike I'm not sure what the negative comments are about. it's definitely crazy busy so I'd suggest leaving the parking lot at 7 or 7:30. mist tours leave at 9 and arrive at the top at 1:30. as alternatively if you leave chileno around 1:00 pm you'll have better light at the top and avoid most if the crowds just be aware that the ranger may send you down around 5:00 pm. you could hide in the boulder field I guess ;)

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The trail from the Welcoming Center, where you have to park your vehicle or you will arrive with one of the buses, is 10 kilometres in distance (one way) with an cumulative elevation gain of around 1.000 metres. Alternatively, it is also possible to stay at the Refugio Chileno (Fantastico Sur), which is located about the half way up the mountain. The hike is usually rated moderate to hard. Moreover, the trail is indeed in a rather poor condition, not least because of the horses, which are used to bring everything to the Refugio. A ranger will usually close the trail about 4 hours before nightfall to ensure that everyone can return safely to their starting point.

Regarding the visit of the park in the high season, or Chile and Argentina in general during this time, simply do not do it. Every place will be overcrowded due to the Chilean and Argentinean summer holiday.

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We did a sunrise hike to starting from the visitor center at 4:00 AM the trail at night can be confusing. The views at the top are great with good weather. However the hike itself is nothing special; for us at least.

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We are not in the best shape(we been sitting on a motorcycle for 9 months) and we hiked this up in 4.5 hours. It was not a pleasant stroll but doable.

Started hike at 11:30am and only had real bad traffic at the last hour because a lot of people were now coming down.

First 1.5h and the last hour of this hike is steepish climbing.

The view atop is awesome but like mentioned before the hike itself is not that scenic.

We ate sandwiches at the top and hung out for 20min then the park rangers told us we had to leave the top to go down(circa 5pm) not very happy to get told to leave after working this hard to come up here. Also did not make sense to us as there were still a bunch of people hiking up when we went down.

In my opinion the Cuernos are the jewel of the park and not the Torres.

Motorcyclists: The little shop that sells overpriced camping gear will hold you riding gear for a fee of 5k.

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I am sorry, but I have to disagree with the recommendation for this hike. Or to put it differently: ONLY do this hike in high season, if
1. you are on the trail at 7am at the latest (better 6:30am) or
2. don't mind walking in one giant line consisting mostly of people who have no business to be on any mountain hike in the first place (the combination of no water, no raingear and gym-shoes without any profile never ceases to amaze me).

Yes, the view on the Torres is great, but the walk itself is not particularly impressive if you did some hiking in any other mountains.

As for time planning: If you are a la experienced hiker with a quick step uphill (and are early), you can do the ascent in about 3 hrs and the decent in 1:45 hrs. The decent gets trickier because of the above mentioned masses of people blocking your way ;-).

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Great hike as below. We're of moderate fitness and found most of it very doable, some parts challenging, and quite a long day hike. 7-9 hours depending on the weather and level of fitness. We left visitors carpark at 8 and shared the trail with just a few others and enjoyed the top and the view virtually alone. However hundreds of people do the hike from 9am on so on the way down you'll be passing lines of other hikers, definitely recommend to start between 7&8am. Weather is better then too and winds not so strong. Be careful as gusts are pretty strong and you may lose your balance on some quiet high and steep bits. If you've a clear day the views are unreal. And the beer was certainly well deserved.

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Yeap awesom hike. We were lucky of sunny day. Easy one day trail.

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WOW. What a great view.
It's a hard trail but it's worth.
It was a highlight.

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what a amazing view. hiking hard level but made by all ages

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If you only do one hike in the park make sure it is this one. The towers are really lovely and well worth the effort. 10km each way, with a Refugio along the way if you need the comforts of home (yay for cold beer!).

It's an easy day hike, but in peak season expect to get stuck behind large tour groups. Calling out a polite 'permisso!' usually gets them to move over :)

Horses use this trail, so beware of the mess. The last 45mins is a steep climb, but you can do it!

So you have an overlanding vehicle? The best part... You can enjoy the park's premium hike and still have your comfy rig to go home to at the end of the day :)

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