Where To Stay in Torres del Paine With No Hiking

Patagonia without hiking: Part 2 – Where to Stay

This is a multi-part series but you can read what is useful to you:
Part 1: What to see and do without long or difficult hikes.
Part 2: Where to stay cheap for the non-hiker. <- you are here
Part 3: Getting around & What to eat.
Part 4: How many days you should, my non-hike itinerary, the costs, and my biggest mistakes.

Where to stay in Torres del Paine for the Non-hiker

Where to stay in Torres del Paine came down to my budget. There are limited spots within Torres del Paine or at the border of the park. A lot of them look gorgeous and opulent. However, my budget is more hobo than aristocrat (#aristohobo) and I really struggled to find somewhere for my stay that would be affordable as a solo traveller.

Puerto Natales, the the gateway town into Torres del Paine is over an hour drive from the park. 

There is a small outpost called Cerro Castillo closer to the park with some private rentals but it is still a 30 minutes drive from the park.

If you look for refugios (hostels or simple lodges) they will be the best option on a budget. It was hard to find some that were not on actual hikes but were accessible by car. I booked a hostel bed at Pampa Lodge that I found on booking.com.  

Pampa Lodge

The lodge was built in 2014 by a family that had been in the area since the 1970s. 

 Wow! Stunning! Gorgeous!
Well, it was a beautiful lodge to look AT from the hostel in it’s parking lot. Jokes aside, I think this was the nicest hostel I have ever stayed at, and it had the same views as the lodge from every room.

It was also the most expensive hostel bed I’ve ever slept in, as well.

Cost:
4 Nights were $710 CAD ($511 USD) in early December 2025. 

Rooms
The hostel felt like it was still run like the lodge. In the traditional hostel rooms it was 4 beds per room, with the windows still showing the amazing mountain views but NO BUNKBEDS. They had other rooms that were for couples or groups with larger beds in them and could be booked privately with a shared bath.

The best part of my hostel experience here is I hit the hostel JACKPOT – I had no roommates for the entire 4 nights I was here.

Communal Space
The hostel had a stunning lounge and deck that faced the mountains and was a lovely place to sit and enjoy the views any time, but was a great spot to chill at the end of the day and watch the sunset. There was always water and tea available to sit and enjoy and although I stayed at the beginning of the busy season, the hostel was always quiet.

The shared bathrooms had private toilet and shower stalls so you had complete privacy with shared sinks outside of these stalls.

Breakfast
The main room also offered a large dining area where breakfast was offered. The breakfast was a comprehensive cold breakfast with lots of options for all palettes and I ate as much as I could to save money for the rest of the day. 

Location:
Pampa Lodge is a little village called Rio Serrano populated primarily, possibly completely, by tourist accommodations. It is in a valley along the shockingly, the Serrano River. (Rio Serrano in Spanish).

You can easily walk around the village and there is a public bus stop there, but there were no stores for food that I could see. Pampa Lodge did have a restaurant that you could eat at in the evening. I had it one evening, but found other food around the park that I was happier with.

You could walk along the river, hang out with the various horses that lived at the lodge, and get some pretty goreous views from anywhere in the valley village.

Would I recommend staying here?
ABSOLUTELY. It was ultimately the cheapest option I could find to book that was near or in the park when I booked 2 months ahead of time. Further out you may find other options, but for the cost compared to other options I was happy.

The hostel was quiet, clean, the buffet breakfast added quite a bit of value due to food in the park being sparse and very expensive and I wasn’t the only person who was filling their water bottles for later in the day and taking an extra snack off the buffet for later. I mean, they had COOKIES on the breakfast buffet, how could you *not* be tempted to grab one for later 🙂.

This is a multi-part series but you can read what is useful to you:
Part 1: What to see and do without long or difficult hikes.
Part 2: Where to stay cheap for the non-hiker. <- you are here
Part 3: Getting around & What to eat.
Part 4: How many days you should, my non-hike itinerary, the costs, and my biggest mistakes.