Torres del Paine, Chile

The three granite towers that give the park its name rise almost vertically out of the Patagonian steppe, visible from several of the park's day-hike viewpoints without needing to commit to the multi-day W Trek that more experienced hikers use to see the range from multiple angles.

This is one of the more remote destinations on this list: a nonstop flight to Santiago is followed by a domestic flight south to Punta Arenas, then a four-to-five-hour drive or transfer into the park itself. We build at least one buffer day into the itinerary given how many legs are involved.

November through March, the Southern Hemisphere summer, is the only realistic visiting window — Patagonian winters are genuinely harsh, and many park services close. Even in summer, the wind here is notoriously strong and worth packing for specifically.

Torres del Paine's granite towers and turquoise glacial lakes anchor one of South America's most complete hiking destinations, with the multi-day W Trek (named for the shape it traces on a map) as the most popular route for travelers without time for the full Circuit. Patagonia's weather changes quickly regardless of season, so layering and flexible expectations matter more here than a specific 'best' month.

Five to eight nights for a proper multi-day trek, or fewer for a scenic drive-and-day-hike visit. It suits serious hikers most directly, and Patagonia's notoriously unpredictable weather means packing layers regardless of the season booked.

Getting there: About 9-10h nonstop to Santiago, then a domestic flight to Punta Arenas and a 4-5h drive or transfer into the park. We check the realistic routing options for a trip like this and help time it around November to March (Southern Hemisphere summer) rather than leaving it to chance.

Torres del Paine's three granite towers, the park's namesake, are the eroded remnants of a laccolith — magma that intruded and cooled beneath older sedimentary rock roughly 12 million years ago, later exposed as glaciers and wind stripped away the softer surrounding stone, leaving the near-vertical granite spires visible today. The park sits within Chilean Patagonia, a region whose notoriously volatile weather — genuine four-seasons-in-a-day conditions, driven by the Southern Hemisphere's roaring winds sweeping unimpeded off the Pacific and the Andes — shapes nearly every practical aspect of visiting, from layered clothing requirements to how trekking itineraries are planned with built-in weather buffer days. The park's grey glacier and the broader Southern Patagonian Ice Field feeding it represent the third-largest freshwater ice reserve on the planet after Antarctica and Greenland, and boat trips to the glacier face let visitors watch active calving, chunks of ice breaking off into the lake, a directly visible sign of a genuinely dynamic, moving glacial system rather than a static ice field. The W Trek and full O Circuit, the park's signature multi-day routes, pass through guanaco (a wild camelid relative of the llama) grazing grounds and puma territory — Patagonian puma sightings, increasingly common on guided tracking excursions in recent years, have become a genuine wildlife draw in their own right alongside the trekking.