W Trek: How to book your accommodation at refugios or campsites (2025)
- Nicoletta Dasara
- May 25
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 2
The W Trek is one of the most iconic hikes in South America, and genuinely one of the best experiences of my life. It is a a 4-5 day hiking route that goes through some of the wildest and most beautiful parts of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
If you have decided that you are going on the W Trek, you likely have already realized that booking accommodation can be... complicated.
First, you need to figure out your itinerary, which way to go? East to West or West to East? And which refugios to book? Go camping or choose the comfort of the refugios? How to actually book these???
I know, I know! I've been there, and it wasn't easy. This is why I put this article together—hoping it can make things a little easier for anyone who finds themselves in the same spot I was back in September 2024, figuring out how to book accommodation for the trek on their own!
In this article, I'll guide you through the process for booking your accommodation for the W Trek.
Not sure which itinerary to choose on the W Trek? Check out my guide here.
And in this article learn everything you need to know to be prepared for the hike: when to go, what to pack, and more pro tips!
Accommodation options on the W Trek
First of all, what are the options on the W Trek?
There are 6 refugios / campsites in total. They are managed by 2 companies:
Las Torres and Vertice.
Las Torres manages 4 campsites and refugios on the W Trek:
Central:
Refugio: dorms with 6-8 beds, shared bathrooms with hot showers; a big restaurant with beautiful windows and a bar.
Camping: elevated tents (1.6mt above the ground), shared bathrooms with hot showers; outdoor tables where you can cook, a canteen, a bar, a minimarket.
Chileno:
Only camping available: elevated tents (1.6mt above the ground), shared bathrooms with hot showers; a canteen, a minimarket. Cooking with your own stove is not allowed here.
Cuernos:
Refugio: dorms with 6 beds, shared bathrooms with hot showers, a restaurant, a bar.
Camping: elevated tents (1.6mt above the ground), shared bathrooms with hot showers; small cooking area
Mountain cabins: for 2-3 people, equipped beds, shared bathrooms and no kitchenette.
Frances
Refugio: huts with 8 beds, shared bathrooms with hot showers; a canteen
Camping: elevated tents (1.6mt above the ground), shared bathrooms with hot showers; small cooking area, minimarket.
Vertice manages 2 campsites / refugios on the W Trek:
Paine Grande:
Refugio: Beds in shared dorm rooms with or without bedding, shared bathrooms with hot water, a large canteen, a bar.
Camping: Tents on ground, a large mess hall where you can cook, shared bathrooms with hot shower
Grey:
Refugio: Beds in shared dorm rooms with or without bedding, shared bathrooms with hot water, a small canteen.
Camping: Tents on ground, a small room where you can cook, shared bathrooms with hot shower, minimarket.
How to book accommodation
You can book these on your own or let either Las Torres or Vertice book for you.
If you book on your own, it will be trickier to line up all the accommodation options based on the dates and itinerary you've chosen, but it will be generally cheaper. I recommend this option if you are flexible or are booking well in advance. This is also the best option if you are bringing your own camping gear.
If you book through Las Torres or Vertice, chances are they'll be able to book you up for the dates and itinerary you've chosen, but it will also be more expensive. However, Las Torres will be nice enough to reward you with some little perks: a refill bottle, a hat, and a welcome drink to each site when you check-in!
How to book on your own
First, you need to decide which itinerary you're going to take. I've covered this topic in this article - here you'll find everything you need to know about distances between refugios.
Let's say for example that you've decided to go for the classic 5D East to West:
Central → Cuernos or Frances → Paine Grande → Grey.
First, you'll want to check if there is availability at each of these spots for the dates you picked.
IMPORTANT: Don’t book anything until you’ve checked availability at both Las Torres and Vertice!
Your preferred dates might be open at Las Torres but not at Vertice or viceversa. Which could mean having to adjust your plans, either by shifting your dates or changing the direction of your trek. If you don’t see availability right away, it might take some time playing around on the websites to figure it out.
There are some tools out there that claim to show availability, and while I’ve tried them, I found they weren’t accurate as they didn’t match what I was seeing on the Las Torres and Vertice sites. So I don’t recommend using them.
Instead, I suggest creating an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything. Comment below if you want me to share a template with you!
Booking on Las Torres
Let's start with booking at Las Torres.
Go to their website: https://lastorres.com/en/
In the lower tab, select "Per night" and choose "Camping" (even if you want to stay at a refugio, it doesn't matter).
Continue by clicking on "Book now".
In the next page, scroll down to the below calendar view and select the dates when you want to go and the number of people.
In this example, I put Jan 1 through Jan 5 2026.
After you click "Book", a new tab will open, where you'll be asked if you are from Chile or not. Select "Otro" and continue (unless you are Chilean of course, lol).
Now you are in the main booking page where you can make your selections: sector, camping vs refugio, meal options etc.
In this example, we said that we want to book Central for the first night, and Cuernos or Frances for the second night.
Let's start with Central. I selected check in 1/01 and check out 2/01 and clicked on the search icon. Then it loaded availability for those dates:
I'm writing this article in May 2025 and as you can see, there are still a lot of options available at Central.
Camping:
If you are not bringing any camping gear and want to rent everything at the campsite, you'll want to select the "Fully Equipped Camping" option, which will include a pitched tent, sleeping bags, pillows and mats.
If you are bringing your own sleeping bag, but want to rent a tent, select the "Semi Equipped Camping" option, which will include a pitched tent and mats.
If you are bringing your own camping gear, including your own tent, then select the "Campsite Ground" option. This will reserve you a wooden platform for you to pitch your own tent.
Important: If you're booking a tent for 2 people, you only need to select 1!
Refugio:
Select the number of beds you want to book based on the number of people you're making the reservation for.
Scrolling further down you'll see your food options:
Select you preferred options, and continue with the next accommodation: Cuernos or Frances.
Generally speaking, I believe Cuernos is nicer than Frances (just bigger and nicer restaurant area), so I recommend Cuernos if there is availability. If Cuernos is not available, Frances is a neat option too! It will make day 2 a little longer but day 3 a little shorter, and facilities are pretty similar as they are both Las Torres.
So start by checking availability at Cuernos, the same way you did for Central: select your check-in and check-out dates, and click on the search icon.
Now, in my case, when I did this in May 2025, on the night between 2/01 and 3/01 there were no more fully equipped camping options or beds in the refugio at Cuernos! These were my preferred options when I booked the W Trek, so seeing that these were not available would have meant only one thing: check Frances instead.
After checking availability at Frances, I saw that there is still availability for fully equipped camping, so if I were booking at this moment, I would have selected that option.
Either way, even if at the moment you're booking your preferred options are not available, my recommendation is: keep looking even after you booked! Sometimes they release more spots or people cancel their accommodation and it will become available again. This actually happened to me as I had booked Central without full board, but when I checked again a couple weeks later full board was now available.
What to do then? Simply message Las Torres on Whatsapp, give them your reservation details and ask them to add / change your reservation. They will guide you through the process of changing your reservation, it was super easy and staff are very helpful (and nice!).
Now you've got your first 2 nights picked, let's go over the Vertice.
Booking on Vertice
Go to their website: https://www.vertice.travel/en/
In the lower tab, select "Paine Grande Refugio & Camping".
It will lead you to another page about the refugio, just click on "Book now".
A new tab will open, where you can provide more information about your plans.
Select the number of people who are coming with you, and tick "no" on the question if you are Chile resident (unless you are, then click yes!)
In the next page, it will ask you which route you will do. Select W Circuit.
Now, Vertice is a little smarter than Las Torres, and it will already ask you here which order you are doing the W Trek. In our example, we are coming from East, so for Step 1, select Paine Grande. Then for step 2 select Grey. Confirm by clicking on "I want to choose my dates"
In the next page, you can choose your dates. I put 3-4 Jan for Paine Grande, and the system automatically selected 4-5 Jan for Grey.
Now you can see see what is available:
Camping site
Simple bed
Bed with bedding
In "Additional service", you can reserve your meal options.
Important! If you are booking a camping site, here is where you need to specify everything you need to rent! Differently from Las Torres, here you are only booking your camping space, and if you do not select any additional service, that's what you'll get... just an empty space. So, if you are not bringing your own camping gear, make sure to select a tent, sleeping bags, mats, and pillows.
Now that you have your dates and accommodations for each night lined up, you can continue with booking. Congrats, you did it! You're going to do the W Trek!
Booking via Las Torres or Vertice
The other alternative, easier and simpler but more costly, is to let the agency figure out the dates and the accommodation for you.
Via Las Torres:
Go to the page https://lastorres.com/en/hikking-circuits/w-circuit/
Select the itinereray you prefer, then fill out your dates, how many people, and whether you want self-guided or not. You will be directed to a page for requesting a quote. Easy peasy!
Via Vertice:
and in the "Programs" section, select the itinerary that you prefer.
You can select self-guided or there is even a guided option. Fill out your details in the contact form section and Vertice staff will get back to you with their quote and details.
Booking via a Tour Operator
There are many tour operators who also sell pre-packaged tours for the W Trek. Let them figure out all the details and logistics!
Here are some I'd recommend. Check out their websites and shoot them a message!
Got questions or need help with planning the W Trek? Drop a comment or send me a message - I’m happy to help!
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