Refugio Los Cuernos — Attraction in Torres del Paine

Where to start with this absolute joke of a refugio..||||You might think this is a review which is an isolated incident, however every single point on this review is not isolated to just our stay.||||Firstly, having booked several months in advance online where we saw on their website and multiple other locations (they advertise it as a main selling point of the hostel) that if you book a private cabin, you can get access to a hot tub. These cabins will run you multiple hundreds of British pounds, and are at best a shed on the side of a hill with some beds and a fire. When you arrive, after a long day of hiking, they tell you that the hot tub does not exist (they tell you that you can ‘search the entire grounds for a hotub if you want’). They then proceed to tell you there may have been a hot tub somewhere between 5-7 years ago, however seem to have not managed to update their website in that time. ||||They then refuse to let you cancel it and go for a general shared room (which is much cheaper) when they have space for you to do this, and there is also not a single hint of an apology.||||The cabins have a separate showers and toilets to the rest of the refugio. These showers are supposedly hot 24/7, however for the entire duration of our stay, they spewed nothing but freezing cold water. In our entire stay I managed to have one freezing cold shower and after asking if it would be fixed, they said they didn’t know if it would be. The issue was related to the fact that when the wind blows it puts out a fire which is used to heat the showers. However, in Patagonia, where it is notoriously windy at all times, this means it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to get a warm shower.||||The toilet cubicles are also so small that a child would struggle to sit down and after the first few hours the water was turned off, meaning that they wouldn’t flush and the stench from unflushed excrement could be smelt from the $400 a night cabin.||||The toilets and showers in the main building are not much better, as while they provide meagre warmth, they are frankly disgusting. Showering in them would leave you more dirty than simply going unshowered.||||In general the staff were also really rude, after arriving from a long day of hiking, being disappointed about the lack of facilities advertised and in general wanting to crack on and get yourself sorted out, they were extremely unapologetic and looked down apon you like you you were being completely unreasonable by asking for things such as - a hot shower after paying for a $400 a night cabin.||||In particular, one of the waiters was particularly unpleasant. We didn’t have dinner booked previously as they had ‘run out’ on the website, even though we were trying to order 3 months in advance, so we tried to buy some when we arrived. After paying the equivalent of £14 for 3 inch squared slice of lasagne, we asked politely whether we could have any salad which others guests got with the food when paying for the ‘dinner’ which included starters and desert. The man told us that we couldn’t have a small bowl of side salad as our £14 order was for the lasagne and not for ‘dinner’ and was polite enough to sarcastically ask if we ‘understand this’ or whether he needs to explain again.||||We had also brought some pasta with us in case they genuinely didn’t have any food for us. The kitchen there can only be described as close in resemblance to a refugee camp. Dozens of people huddled in a damp, completely dark room trying to see to be able to cook food on their camp fires. It was a truly depressing experience.||||Whilst writing this I have tried to be as fair and reasonable as possible, thinking if there were any saving features. I can only summarise this as the single worst value for money place I have ever spent the night. Sleeping rough would at least have been free. ||||Whilst this seems like the review of a spoilt westerner that doesn’t understand the realities of camping in Patagonia, I would be perfectly happy choosing a cheaper option, having already stayed at Paine Grande, which was very good, but the cost vs poor experience of our stay at Cuernos is frankly outrageous. I would avoid this place entirely and spend the night at the more economical and better situated...

Obviously, this place is a complete rip-off, even beyond the price of the other camps in TDP, but the prices are fairly advertised so there can be no complaint when you book. We stayed in the 'premium tent for two, including sleeping bags'. It was a car roof tent box up on a platform and, in comparison to standard camping, it was very comfortable and convenient. Its such a popular place that they have really tried to squeeze the most guests in that they can, meaning check-in, dinner, and breakfast are all quite crowded in the small dining room/ bar. We found the staff to be excellent; very polite and friendly with good English for us gringos. The food is underwhelming. We had packed light, not wanting to carry much food with us, so we opted for the full board, including packed lunch. The dinner was OK, soup starter, lasagne and a small bit of apple cake to finish. Breakfast was Cereal, toast, ham, cheese and some scrambled eggs. Portions were meager, though (bearing in mind that I would have a pretty big appetite). People obviously complain about this a lot because they have notices up around the place stating that 'they are in the mountains and supplies are difficult to move, please be nice to the staff', but I am skeptical about this as I think their main supply route is across the lake by boat so mightn't be so difficult. I could be wrong on this. The packed lunch was OK: a soft beef and veg bap, protein bar, dried fruit and nut bag, chocolate bar and an orange but nothing really to write home about. If I were to go again, I would carry the extra food to cover our own breakfast and lunch rather than forking out the 50 dollars per person. All in all, it was a great experience, but they certainly wring their guests for all the dollars/euros/pesos they can squeeze out of them. If you're looking for advice, just go to El Chalten, same spectacular scenery, same nice people, 10%...

Cuernos was the second refugio on our W Trek (Chileno, Cuernos, Paine Grande, Grey). It took us 6 hours 15 minutes for 8.5 miles from Chileno.||You walk down to the reception/main lodge/lounge to check-in. Then walk back up to the eight perched cabins. We got No. 7, which was fine, though far from the bathroom. Cabins 4, 5, 6 have the best views while 1-2-3 have no views. ||There are two single beds, a tiny nightstand, some pegs, a wood stove they will stoke for you during dinner, and a little porch, where a hawk landed for a while. It was quiet and relatively comfortable beds and blankets. The stove actually made the small room too hot initially.||The bathrooms, like all the refugios, were segregated, with some toilet stalls, and a few showers, which were hot, while the basins were cold. As in other refugios, there was a kiosk for buying wifi: about $16 for 10 hours. There were two dining/lounge areas and they are strangely strict about placing you in specific seats along the hard benches. ||Our dinner, basically repeated at every refugio: watery soup, mystery meat, messy mashed potatoes, decent dessert. Breakfast was individual scrambled eggs and toast, and very modest cereal buffets: if you awake later, you might miss out!||Dining tip: they'll ask for food preferences (and passports) when you check-in. If you say "no red meat," you'll hopefully get chicken, which was the best thing we ate. Or you may get vegetarian, which I found mostly inedible. Better still, treat yourself to...