Where to Stay in Patagonia Without Camping: El Calafate, El Chaltén and Puerto Natales
We booked Patagonia so late that where we slept ended up deciding the whole trip. As I said on our first day in El Calafate: "because we booked this so last minute, we were limited on accommodation and how long we could stay in certain places." We had one day for the glacier, one morning for Fitz Roy and one day for Torres del Paine, and the beds we could still get decided all of it.
So this is the guide I wish I'd read before we booked! Across six nights in January 2026 we slept in two Airbnbs in El Calafate, a little cabin in El Chaltén and a private room in a hostel in Puerto Natales, and not one night in a tent! Below I'll go town by town: which part of town to stay in, what we slept in and what it cost each of us, and the places I'd book now. If you're still working out the route, start with my Patagonia planning guide.
Where to Stay in Patagonia, My Quick Answer
Short answer is that you don't need a tent, a refugio or a lodge in the national park. Base yourself in three towns: El Calafate for Perito Moreno, El Chaltén for Fitz Roy, and Puerto Natales for Torres del Paine. Stay at the trailhead end of El Chaltén, near the bus terminal in El Calafate on your last night, and book all of it early.
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| Town | What it's for | Where we slept | Where I'd look first now |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Calafate | Perito Moreno, flights, buses to everywhere | Two Airbnbs, A$40.78 and A$57.26 each a night | Santa Monica Aparts (centre) or Folk Hostel (by the terminal) |
| El Chaltén | The Fitz Roy sunrise hike | KUNTUR 2 Cabañas, A$81 each a night | Lo de Trivi or Aparts Merkaba, both at the trailhead end |
| Puerto Natales | Torres del Paine | El Patagónico Hostel, A$52.50 each a night | Asói Hostal |
Every score in this guide was checked on Booking on 10 October 2026 (Asói Hostal on 9 October), and I only recommend places rated above 9.0 with more than 50 reviews.
Why We Didn't Camp in Patagonia
Camping was never really on the table for us. By the time we looked, the campsites were restricted and expensive, and on the W Trek "the only options that were left were the super luxurious camps, which as much as I would love to, they cost a fortune." On top of that, we don't hike often at all, and we were travelling with two big suitcases (the photo of Daniel dragging them to our first Airbnb says it all).
What surprised me is that we didn't miss out at all! We stood at Laguna de los Tres for sunrise after leaving our cabin at 1:45am, walked the Perito Moreno walkways with a private driver, and saw Torres del Paine on a day tour from Puerto Natales, all from a proper bed. As I said in my cost breakdown: "So if you don't want to camp or do multi-day hikes, or you left it too late like us to book the W Trek, then this is your sign to plan Patagonia yourself. It's 100% doable staying at Airbnbs and doing day trips with a little bit more of a relaxed pace."
Where to Stay in El Calafate
El Calafate is the gateway: the airport, the buses to El Chaltén and Chile, and your base for Perito Moreno. It gave me a real Queenstown feel, and it's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be! The thing that matters for choosing a bed is that the bus terminal sits outside the centre, about a 15-minute walk from town. Buses coming into El Calafate drop you there, so with suitcases you'll want a taxi, which cost us A$6 each.
Our first night was an Airbnb with a full little kitchen that slept three, A$81.56 for the two of us, so A$40.78 each. It even had body wash ("unheard of") and a tip box, which I'd never seen in an Airbnb before! We cooked dinner there with a A$27 grocery shop that fed us both for the day. The catch with an Airbnb on an early flight is check-in: ours wasn't until 2pm, so we sat in Calafate Coffee Roasters and did some work while we waited. A hotel or hostel will often hold your bags; an Airbnb usually won't.
Our second night, on the way back from El Chaltén, was an Airbnb near the bus terminal, chosen for one reason: we'd only come back to catch the bus to Chile the next morning. It had a mini kitchen, a double bed and a little reading nook, and it looked "a bit like a hotel vibe." It was A$114.52 for the two of us, A$57.26 each, and it was still only a 15-minute walk into town for ice cream and a Patagonia pint!
That split is what I'd tell anyone to copy: the centre for your first nights, so you can walk to restaurants and tour offices, and the terminal end for the night before a bus. If we went back as a couple, these are the places I'd book.
Santa Monica Aparts
Rated 9.4 from 203 reviews, about 240 m from the centre, with your own kitchen. We cooked most of our meals in Patagonia, and this is the closest thing to our first Airbnb.
Mabra Suites
Rated 9.3 from 507 reviews and about 270 m from the centre, so you can walk everywhere.
Patagonia Queen Hotel Boutique
Rated 9.5 from 470 reviews, about 800 m from the centre. The treat option.
Folk Hostel
Rated 9.1 from 1,298 reviews, the biggest review count of anything I checked in town, and about 400 m from the terminal. Perfect for the night before the Chile bus.
Montano Boutique Suites
Rated 9.3 from 979 reviews and about 480 m from the terminal, for when you want a short walk to the bus and a bit more comfort than a hostel.
Kau Yatún Hotel Boutique
Rated 9.2 from 325 reviews, at Estancia 25 de Mayo on the edge of town. The ranch feel without leaving El Calafate.
I looked for a lake-view pick too, but Mirador del Lago scored exactly 9.0 when I checked, so it misses my rule. The full El Calafate comparison is in where to stay in El Calafate, and the glacier day itself is in my Perito Moreno Glacier guide.
Where to Stay in El Chaltén
El Chaltén is tiny, but for the Fitz Roy hike, which end you sleep at decides your alarm. The bus terminal is at the southern end, where you arrive, and the trail to Laguna de los Tres starts at the northern end. When we got to our cabin I said it straight away: "We are pretty much right where you hike from, which is really handy when we wake up in the morning." At 1:45am, and again twelve hours later on very tired legs, it was so handy!
We stayed two nights at KUNTUR 2 Cabañas, a small wooden cabin with a sofa, a TV, a really modern bathroom and a proper kitchen, with toast crackers, jam and dulce de leche waiting for us! The kitchen is where I boiled the eggs for the hike the night before. Across the road was Paso del Torre, an Argentinian restaurant where we had dinner the night we arrived and a steak sandwich after the hike (Google was listing it as temporarily closed when I checked). The cabin was A$324 for the two nights, so A$81 each per night, the most we paid anywhere in Patagonia, and for our own cabin at the right end of town I thought that was really fair.
The night after the hike I said: "I wish we had an extra few nights in this little town." If KUNTUR 2 is full, these are the places I'd book, ordered by how close they are to the trail.
KUNTUR 2 Cabañas
Our two-night cabin at the trailhead end, with a full kitchen and a restaurant across the road. A$81 each per night in January 2026. It only had 24 reviews when I checked, so it's here as our stay rather than a recommendation.
Lo de Trivi
Rated 9.4 from 231 reviews. Private rooms and dorms on the main street with a big shared kitchen, so it's the cheapest good bed at the right end of town.
Aparts Merkaba
Rated 9.5 from 169 reviews. Your own apartment with a kitchen, which is the nearest thing on this list to our cabin.
Hostería El Puma
Rated 9.2 from 255 reviews. A proper small hotel with a lounge and a fireplace, still at the trailhead end.
Kaulem Hotel Boutique
Rated 9.5 from 186 reviews, about 700 m from the terminal and a bit over a kilometre from the trail. Better for an early bus than a 1am start.
Apart Guillaumet is worth a look too, at 9.4 from 410 reviews, a little further from the trail. Everything about the town, the trailhead end and the kitchen question is in where to stay in El Chaltén, and the hike is in my Fitz Roy sunrise hike guide.
Where to Stay in Puerto Natales
I'll be honest, this is the town I can tell you least about. "We clearly did all of our research on the Argentinian side of Patagonia and not really the Chile side," and we didn't even realise Torres del Paine was a two-hour drive from Puerto Natales until we were on the tour. Our bus from El Calafate also arrived at 7:27pm, two hours late, so our first evening was dinner and bed.
We stayed two nights in a private room at El Patagónico Hostel, A$210 for the two of us, so A$52.50 each per night. "The bed is super super comfy," the shared kitchen has a little labelled food system with everyone's names on it ("It's such a good kitchen, honestly"), and there's free hot chocolate, coffee and tea, so we made ourselves a hot chocolate nightcap after seven hours on the bus! The hostel sent us to Baguales Brewpub for pork tacos and a quesadilla on a busy Saturday night, and our Torres del Paine tour picked us up from the hostel the next morning, which is all I really needed from where we stayed.
Bring something warm, too! As we pulled into town I said: "It is significantly colder here than Argentina, guys. I'm almost as cold as I was going up the hike."
El Patagónico Hostel
Two nights in a private room with a comfy bed, free hot chocolate and a brilliant shared kitchen. A$52.50 each per night in January 2026.
Asói Hostal
Rated 9.5 from 338 reviews when I checked on 9 October 2026. If El Patagónico is full, this is where we'd stay.
More on the town is in my Puerto Natales guide, and our cloudy day in the park is in Torres del Paine without the W Trek.
How Many Nights to Spend in Each Town
We had six nights: one in El Calafate, two in El Chaltén, one back in El Calafate, and two in Puerto Natales. I've had a proper think about it since, and honestly, I'd book nine!
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| Town | We had | I'd book | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Calafate | 2 (split) | 3 | So the glacier isn't squeezed in before a 4:30pm bus |
| El Chaltén | 2 | 3 to 4 | A buffer day for weather and a rest day after the hike |
| Puerto Natales | 2 | 2 to 3 | A spare day in case Torres del Paine is clouded in, like ours was |
The one night you can't skip is El Calafate between El Chaltén and Chile. The bus to Puerto Natales leaves El Calafate in the morning (ours was 11:50am), so you need to be sleeping there the night before, which is exactly why we picked an Airbnb near the terminal. You can check El Calafate to El Chaltén buses and El Calafate to Puerto Natales buses and pick your own dates, and the full legs are in El Calafate to El Chaltén by bus and El Calafate to Puerto Natales by bus.
What Accommodation in Patagonia Cost Us
These are our real bills for January 2026, split per person.
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| Stay | Nights | For two of us | Per person, per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Calafate, first Airbnb | 1 | A$81.56 | A$40.78 |
| KUNTUR 2 Cabañas, El Chaltén | 2 | A$324.00 | A$81.00 |
| El Calafate, second Airbnb | 1 | A$114.52 | A$57.26 |
| El Patagónico Hostel, Puerto Natales | 2 | A$210.00 | A$52.50 |
| Six nights | 6 | A$730.08 | A$60.84 on average |
That's A$365.04 each for six nights, the biggest single part of our A$1,255 each. The whole breakdown, buses and tours included, is in is Patagonia expensive. Having a kitchen in every stay (shared, at the hostel) saved us a lot, because eating out in Patagonia isn't cheap.
Part one starts at our first Airbnb (the second is at 16:32), and part two starts at the cabin, with the Puerto Natales hostel at 17:40.
Tips for Booking Accommodation in Patagonia
- Book early, earlier than you think. It was the one tip I gave on day one: "book everything cuz then you'll be able to get everything that you want." We didn't, and it cost us nights!
- Get a kitchen where you can. Our groceries, cooking and hike snacks for the whole trip came to A$73.50 each.
- Watch the check-in time on an early flight. Ours was 2pm in El Calafate. A hotel or hostel will usually hold your bags; an Airbnb usually won't.
- Match the bed to the next morning. The trailhead end of El Chaltén before the hike, the terminal end of El Calafate before a bus.
Every place we slept is also on our Argentina stays page and Chile stays page.
Still planning? Here is our complete Patagonia planning guide and what six nights cost us.
FAQs About Where to Stay in Patagonia
Can you visit Patagonia without camping?
Yes. We spent six nights in two Airbnbs, a cabin and a hostel, and did everything as day trips from town.
What are the best towns to stay in for Patagonia?
El Calafate for Perito Moreno, El Chaltén for Fitz Roy, and Puerto Natales for Torres del Paine.
Where should I stay in El Chaltén for the Fitz Roy hike?
At the north end of town, near the start of the Laguna de los Tres trail. We stayed at KUNTUR 2 Cabañas, and Lo de Trivi and Aparts Merkaba are the places I'd book there now.
Where should I stay in El Calafate?
In the centre for your first nights, and near the bus terminal, about a 15-minute walk out, for the night before a bus.
How much does accommodation in Patagonia cost?
Ours averaged A$60.84 per person per night in January 2026, from A$40.78 in El Calafate to A$81 in El Chaltén.
Where do you stay for Torres del Paine without camping?
In Puerto Natales, about two hours' drive from the park. Our day tour picked us up from El Patagónico Hostel.
How far ahead should you book accommodation in Patagonia?
As early as you can for December to February. We booked late, and it limited where we could stay.
Final Thoughts: Where Should You Stay in Patagonia Without Camping?
Three towns, a kitchen wherever you can get one, the trailhead end of El Chaltén and the terminal end of El Calafate on your way out. That's honestly the whole secret! We did it in six nights without a tent and I'd do it the same way again, just with three more nights and a lot more notice. If you only book one place from this guide, make it a bed near the trail in El Chaltén, because that sunrise was the best morning of our whole trip.
