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Home / Newsletter / Torres del Paine – The National Park turns 60

Torres del Paine – The National Park turns 60

With its varied landscape, fantastic hiking trails and a unique panorama over mountains and lakes, the Torres del Paine National Park is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the country, attracting not only trekking enthusiasts but also lovers of flora and fauna.

In November 2013, the national park was declared one of the world’s most beautiful natural areas when it was voted the 8th Wonder of the World among more than 300 travel destinations. This nomination had a positive impact on the number of national and international visitors to the park. Last season, the park attracted more than 300,000 visitors.

Back in the 20th century, the German professor Werner Gromch recognised the area’s unique beauty and nature and foresaw it would become an important area of tourism. In 1931, he founded the Touring Club of Magallanes at the foot of the Torres del Paine, with the aim of developing tourism projects in the local province of Última Esperanza.

Actually, it was this pioneering project that led to the founding of the Parque Nacional de Turismo Lago Grey (Grey Lake National Tourism Park) on 13 May 1959, park which two years later would bear its final name of Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. The park covers 242,000 hectares and has an amazing geography that includes mountains, ice floes, glaciers, and three granite mountains that gave the park its name.

Latam is currently the only airline to travel to the region – with three direct flights a week to Puerto Natales in summer. However, most visitors to Torres del Paine arrive by plane to Punta Arenas, travel three hours by bus or car to Puerto Natales and then another hour to the park. To ensure that the direct flights can be maintained throughout the year and that more airlines are added, there will be significant improvements to the Puerto Natales airport in the coming months. Furthermore, with competition between several airlines, travellers are sure to benefit from reduced flight prices to this beautiful part of the country.

If you are interested in a tour of Torres del Paine, please contact your travelArt representative.

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