Went to Torres del Paine in 2017. It was incredibly beautiful. We were there in April and it was unbelievably windy, so be prepared for that! The area round the W trek was the busiest place we saw so worth visiting some other bits too.
The wildlife was cool – condors circling overhead (I nearly hit one in the car), loads of guanaco, maybe bring binoculars if that’s your thing.
I wouldn’t have wanted to be in TdP in trainers tbh, there wasn’t a paved road for miles and it could be a bit muddy.
We really loved Puerto Natales down the road – had a few days there and it’s kind of like a Betws y Coed at the end of the world. It was rapidly gentrifying but also an amazing place to mooch around.
In Santiago the funicular up the hill is worth it, and our favourite area was Bella Vista which is just at the bottom of it – a fun and colourful area, a bit studenty.
as a native of Wales who doesn’t speak Welsh, it would be a bit embarrassing to meet a Patagonian who could.
On a separate visit in 2005, we met a local who said her grandparents spoke it, but not too many of her generation could speak it. It was quite odd going to a ‘welsh tea room’ and having fruitcake while a stereo in the corner played hymns!