Torres del Paine: Patagonia Glacier Loop

Departing Puerto Natales brings you north onto the unsealed gravel roads, entering the national park boundary to arrive at the shores of Grey Lake (Lago Grey). Fed directly by the massive Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the lake is a spectacular, deep blue basin surrounded by sheer basalt cliff walls. Walking the flat beach path of dark grey sand is a highly dramatic experience; the wind is intensely cold, and massive, glowing neon-blue icebergs float directly on the water, having broken off the Grey Glacier. Taking a boat cruise onto the lake brings you straight to the face of the glacier, where a colossal, 30-meter-high wall of solid blue ice rises vertically out of the water, highlighting the raw, glacier-carving forces of Patagonia.

Driving east along the park roads brings you to Lake Pehoé, arguably the most visually spectacular mountain lake in South America. Perched on the lake shore, you look across the glowing, turquoise-green water to stand confronted by the absolute emotional climax of the park: the colossal Cuernos del Paine (Horn Peaks). These are monumental, vertical granite towers topped with dark slate, rising dramatically 2,000 meters into the sky. Walking the peninsula paths past native yellow tussock grass is a deeply peaceful experience; the water is incredibly clear, and the reflection of the massive horn-peaks in the lake during a calm morning creates a breathtaking landscape of absolute geological majesty.