Bigfoot Patagonia — Attraction in Torres del Paine

An Unprofessional Disaster—Avoid at All Costs!

I cannot express how utterly disappointed and infuriated I am with this company’s abysmal service. If you’re considering booking a tour with them, think again—unless you enjoy having your time wasted and being treated with complete indifference.

While in Grey, I booked a glacier tour for the following morning—or so I thought. Their convoluted booking process redirects you to a WhatsApp number, where a representative confirmed our reservation and instructed us to arrive at their office at 8:15 AM.

The three of us showed up as told, only to find the place deserted. At 8:30 AM, a receptionist casually strolled in, clueless about our booking. He outright refused to look at the confirmation messages on my phone, wouldn’t call his colleague to sort it out, and denied us access to Wi-Fi. His excuse? “I’m just starting my shift and I have stuff to do.” Apparently, "stuff" is more important than honoring commitments to paying customers.

Forced to return to the Refugio, we had to purchase Wi-Fi access again just to reach their so-called support. This time, a different representative dismissed our prior confirmation entirely, bluntly stating the tour wasn’t happening. No apology, no effort to make amends—just sheer incompetence.

This is hands down the worst customer service I’ve ever encountered. Their tours aren’t cheap, and there were three of us ready and willing to pay, yet the staff couldn’t care less. It’s even more infuriating considering we had a fantastic kayaking experience with the same company the day before. Apparently, a new shift started that morning, but that’s no excuse for such blatant disregard for customers.

Save yourself the frustration and steer clear of this company. They don’t deserve...

Almost under the shadow of the mighty Glacier Grey, Bigfoot Patagonia offers you both hiking on the Glacier or kayaking towards it. I did the kayaking. Unfortunately, only twin kayaks are available, which are slower and harder to navigate, but they are good quality fiberglass units, rather than the customary boring wide plastic bottomed ones. The experience of negotiating the ice floes, with the view of the glacier and the massive iceberg that claved off if a few months ago is something that I will ever keep in my heart and mind. The guides -friendly and remarkably skilled- take you to a small peninsula only reachable by water, from which we could get a dramatic close up of the glacier. Just one negative point -and one that could cost lives-: hard pressed as they seem to be to keep the business going, they tend to nudge you into kayaking even if the conditions are not ideal -i.e., no wind or just a light breeze-. As soon as the wind catches up, the lake surface gets wavy and rather tricky. On our first visit to Bigfoot, they insisted on taking us kayaking, when the conditions were clearly not good. We declined and tried again the next morning, when it was fine. But less aware people took our places, only to have a difficult experience, and after about 40 minutes of paddling their way into the windy lake, the expedition was aborted. The manager should have known better as the conditions were clearly wrong, as anyone with some experience would know. So, highly recommended but judge by yourself whether to go in or not, and do it only if you have some prior experience...

AVOID, NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY. SHOULD BE ADVERTISED AS A PHOTO TAKING EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

The kayak tour was a total scam. Of the 2h of experience advertised, we spent only 45min on the water and barely covered 200m. Basically we paddled from the beach to the icebergs nearby (10min max), and then sat there for half an hour so people could take pictures, and then turned back to where we came. So in total we paddled for about 15min. Completely useless, apart from giving another view of the mountain it wasn't a kayak tour at all.

I can understand the impredactibility of the weather and the icebergs, but there are plenty of ways to adapt and still provide an experience. For instance, even if not going past the icebergs and toward the glacier, we could still kayak to the other side of the lake, and circle some of the lonely icebergs. But there was no good will from the guide to make any effort in this occasion, we were told to take Instagram pictures and that it was all they could do. We have done kayak in plenty of places and countries, including with beginners, and never have felt scammed...