Puerto Natales is a town of 19,000 people (2012) in Chile, the gateway to trekking in Torres del Paine or Bernardo O'Higgins National Parks. It offers good infrastructure, especially a few trekking shops and not-so-cheap supermarkets (although you'd do better to get your gear in Punta Arenas).
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
Puerto Natales features a couple of characteristics that visitors should be aware of. One is that the population is largely descended from immigrants from Chiloé, and the "chilote" tendencies (cooking, building style) are evident. Another characteristic is that there are very strong communist/leftist affiliations in this town, so take this into account by being careful with your conversations involving related politics. Aside from the Chilotes, you will find many surnames of British and Croatian descent. Although Puerto Natales is not very interesting, it is an ideal basis for a trek in Torres del Paine National Park.
This is a small, waterside town that is easily accessible on foot. Most services are found between a sort of triangle formed by Manuel Bulnes street to the west, Pedro Montt street (costanera) to the north and Bernardo Philipi to the southeast. In the junction of Philipi and Bulnes streets, there's Baquedano Street, where you can find fruitshops, internet cafés, pharmacies and call centers.
1 Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument, monumento.cuevadelmilodon@conaf.cl. 08:30-20:30. This is a good place to visit if you are an archaeology lover. The 200-m-deep cave is astonishing, besides there are two more caves which are worth seeing, that have been dug by a team of archaeologist of the Instituto de la Patagonia, having found rests of paleofauna and human remains. The most notable animal was the mylodon, an extinct 12 ft (3.7 m) tall giant sloth which lived some 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice age. The big cave was its home. Of course, not all the mylodons were 12 feet tall. Some of the younger ones weren't even 11 feet tall.
See the harbour, do a trek in Torres del Paine, Perito Moreno, Milodón Cave, catch a boat on one of the lakes. There are guided rentals of motorcycles (Kawasaki KLR650) for adventure tours of southern Patagonia, including Tierra del Fuego. The owner has been riding Patagonia since 1978 and takes clients to points that many tourists would miss including scenic spots; also good breaks in places with good cappuccino). Inquire via patagonia2004@hotmail.com You must be an experienced off-pavement rider in good physical and mental condition and have a motorcycle cert on your licence. You must plan ahead and bring your own riding gear. Walk to the boatyard.
Afrigonia, Eberhard 323, ☏ +56 61 412877. Food is not typical of the local region, because the owners are a Zambian and Chilean couple who have something different to offer apart from the other typical food of the region. Small but nice and cosy! Andres, Ladrilleros 381, ☏ +56 61 2412380. Great meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. 1970s diner decor and very good prices. Andres himself is very kind and sometimes tend to "spoil" customers with free pisco sours as starters and a complimentary ice cream for dessert. A few blocks from the plaza but worth the walk. Baguales Brewery, Bories 430 (Near the Plaza de Armas), ☏ +56 61 2411920, cervezabaguales@gmail.com. Dec-Feb: M-Sa 13:00-02:00.
The water quality in Natales is not particularly good, though it is considered safe and healthy by the government. It has a high concentration of dissolved mineral content. The Natales municipal water is pumped from wells and the raw water is rather silty, with high tannin and other organic content. The water does not come "from the glaciers" which in any event are more than 40 km away and dump their icemelt into the brackish waters of the fjord.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Aug, Puerto Natales typically sees ~6°C daytime highs and 9 rainy days.
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