Fantástico Sur - Oficina — Hotel in Puerto Natales

Great experience overall First off we spend a lot of time in the back country camping hiking etc… We did the O circuit on an 8 day 7 night trip.

Night 1 Seron 3-3.5 stars We arrived around 1:15pm and the sign said check in at 2 pm. At 2 pm the staff arrived they went inside sat down had lunch and said nothing to the 15 or so of us waiting outside. At 2:30 I opened the door walked in and requested to check after clarifying that check in was at 2:00 pm they then shuffled and started to check us all in. We paid for the full package tent sleeping bags sleeping pads and food. During the check in the gal did not mention anything about dining times or the process of getting fed. The truth is I should have asked more questions However at every other camp thereafter they go over all the details with you during check in and you do not need to ask any questions. I went back after everyone checked in and she then gave me all the info. The food was way better then we expected and the tents are basically car top tents very comfortable sleeping pad and equivalent to a three person tent raised off the ground with a short ladder to access (this is the same for all of their camps). At dinner they offer a welcome drink. I do not drink alcohol so I requested a soda or a juice they told me that was not an option pisco sour beer or wine where my choices even though they sold cans of soda, juice and gatorade. All the other camps happily offered me non alcoholic options. I was told hot water for food and hot drinks would be available however at seron not so much. I was glad I brought a jet boil and gas. Bathrooms were functional with flush toilets keep in mind your camping not at a hotel. Seron 3-3.5 because of staffing Frances night 6. Great service with the same accommodations and the bathrooms and showers were new and amazing. Very modern design, clean and unbelievable considering the location. The food was terrific and the staff was amazing. The only negative was the tents are about a half km from kitchen up a steepish hill. This was not a problem for us as we were on a 136 km hike I only mention it because everyone we spoke with mentioned it to us in a dissatisfied way. Hot shower great food and amazing service well worth the hike up and down the hill in my opinion. Frances 5 stars

Night 7 central 4 stars Again same accommodations, great food with super nice and accommodating staff. They had the breakfast buffet set up and the lunch bags set out us at 2 am as we left early to head up to mirador las torres for sunrise. Bath house could use some improvements but they were clean the showers had hot water and the toilets flushed. Overall: We had quite low expectations considering how many folks move through these camps and the quantity of food they are serving, so we were actually impressed with the experience. Again the only real negative was the staffing at Seron. They were not customer service oriented but they got...

Everything that had to deal with the hike and views was wonderful but we do have a few things we were NOT happy about. 1) One is that we were never sent a time to meet at the tour companies (Fantastico Sur) physical site the day before our trek in Puerto Natales, so we showed up at 6pm to be told it was at 645pm. 2) The bus situation in the morning form Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine was an utter mess. We had NO idea which bus was ours so we asked all the bus drivers until we found the right one. We were told to arrive at the station at 630 but then also 645. 3) Our route for the 4 day trek was absurdly bad and not thought out at all. Day two was 8miles and day 4 was 20 when we easily could have stayed at other campsites and would have had roughly equal mileage everyday. (Day two, stay at Frances; Day 3 go to Britanico and to Paine Grande to sleep; Day 4 go to the glacier outlook and back to Paine Grande). It was so bad that we weren't able to make it to the glacier lookout on the last day, which was extremely annoying that a garbage itinerary is what held us back when I could have booked this myself and got to complete it entirely. 4) The sandwiches for the lunches were terrible. We had one the first day and then the days after we would ask for our lunches without the sandwiches 5) It would have been nice to know before we started the hike that we had to carry our trash the entire time of the hike with no real places to throw my lunch trash out. 6) Lastly (and the biggest annoyance of them all) the boat/catamaran situation on the way home was a JOKE. If we arrived to the catamaran when you told us to, 30 minutes before the scheduled time of departure, we would not have made it. People that were on our bus actually missed that 630pm catamaran so we had to wait on the bus in the parking lot for 1.5hours while it made another trip back to pick them up and drop them off. We were told we would get home at 930pm, we didn't get home until 1130pm. This tour was a logistical nightmare which easily could have been mitigated by better, thought out planning. Its not dificult and gives us the vibe that you dont care about the experience people have, just the money you collect. Its infuriating having someone else's incompetencies detract from what should have been a...

We had a great trek booked through Fantastico Sur. We had a good deal of back and forth with the staff via email before we arrived in Patagonia and always received a prompt and friendly reply.

The trek itself was amazing.

Our guide was Rosario, a Santiago native who fell in love with Patagonia and moved here 10 years ago to be a guide. She was knowledgeable about everything from the flora and fauna to the trails, to the best places to rest and eat, to the gossip about the staff! She brought along extra snacks to break the routine of the lunch bags prepared by the refugios and generously shared them with us.

Leila and I were joined by Ariane for our trek. She is a very sweet Swiss woman who loves hiking and the outdoors. Really enjoyed getting to know her over the 5 days of the trek.

We did the w trek and stayed at Central, cuernos and Paine grande. All were well equipped and kept us fed and watered with large portions of passable food and decent beer from Austral. Central and Paine grande were nicer facilities but cuernos had a great atmosphere and unbeatable views. We heard on the trail that we should avoid Frances as it is the worst one on the w.

We saw Andean condors, falcons, a woodpecker, hares and other wildlife.

The views were unbelievable in every direction pretty much without exception for the entire trek. The mountains are all stunning and the grey glaciar and icebergs were incredible to see up close

The hike was challenging but doable, close to 80km. Leila's knee was really bothering her for the last day but she made it through the whole trek.

Strongly recommend the trek. It has to be the best...