Today we recommend self-driving 2-hours across the dry scrubland of the Magellanic Steppe to Torres del Paine National Park - a 242,000 hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its soaring mountains, electric-blue lakes and many glaciers (pay entrance fee locally - or take an optional full day tour).
Drive past Figueroa Lake and several large cattle estancias, which are home to the Chilean 'baqueanos' (also called 'huasos' or cowboys), who drink a distinctive caffeine-rich herbal tea known as 'mate', served in a round cup, and love to compete in local rodeos. Along the way stop at the village of Cerro Castillo where you can see the Monument of the Horse sculpture, enjoy a coffee and buy typical handcrafts from the region. A variety of rare wildlife can be seen in these pampas (lowlands) including the elegant guanaco, a type of humpless camel related to the llama, and the lesser rhea which is related to the ostrich and emu. You may see giant condors soaring in the thermals, as well as eagles. Grey and red fox also live here, but are rarely seen.
After seeing your first postcard views of the Paine Massif across the waters of Lake Sarmiento, enter Torres del Paine National Park. Here the landscape changes dramatically to spectacular glacier lakes frequented by marine birds, lofty waterfalls and magnificent granite mountain peaks covered by ice. The enormous Campo de Hielo Sur icecap gives the park four main glaciers - Grey, Dickson, Zapata and Tyndall. Two other glaciers descend from the west side of the central massif.
Weather permitting, from the viewpoint at Lake Amarga ('Bitter Lake') you will have one of the best views of the three granite Torres del Paine ('Towers of Blue') from which the park takes its name. Guanaco are plentiful on the open plains of the eastern sector of the park, as are their main predator - the puma (also called mountain lion, or cougar), but as they are nocturnal and have excellent camouflage they are rarely seen. Your next stop is at the Lake Nordenskjold lookout, with its view over the different peaks of the Paine Massif, including the famous 'horns' (Cuernos del Paine) and Paine Grande, the highest mountain in the park at over 10,000 ft (3,050 m). You can then take a 15-minute walk to the powder blue Salto Grande Waterfall that flows into Lake Pehoé.
In the afternoon continue driving along this beautiful chain of glacial lakes to Grey Lake, where you can walk across a hanging bridge over the Pingo River to the shores of the lake. From here walk 30-minutes each way to get up close to spectacular blue icebergs that have fallen from the Grey Glacier, which can be seen in the distance.
Then leave Torres del Paine, stopping on the return journey at the Milodón Cave on Benitez Hill. The remains of several extinct animals have been found here - including the sabre-toothed tiger, the American horse and a gigantic herbivorous mammal known as the Milodon. The main cave is 200 meters deep, 80 meters wide and 30 meters high and has a life-size replica of the Milodon. Return to Puerto Natales in the late afternoon.