Patagonia National Park is less than a decade old, but it is one of the most interesting conservation stories in South America. Now the park’s lodge and surroundings are in good hands as they have joined the conservation-focused Explora company in Chile. We’ve just posted an updated review on our site of where the project is now and where it is headed with Explora Patagonia National Park.

Explora Patagonia National Park review

We’re big fans of Explora here at Luxury Latin America. They’re one of the best examples in the Americas of catering to moneyed travelers while still keeping it real, providing a fantastic food and beverage experience but putting sustainability first in how they are set up and run. We’ve reviewed all of their properties, including the recent Explora El Chalten opening, and the Sacred Valley adventure lodge before that. We’ve also taken one of their Travesia journeys through Bolivia and Chile.

Now they’ve expanded their footprint with a place where you’re meant to leave only footprints and let the animals thrive.

Patagonia National Park, created in 2015, is a vast protected area primarily in Chile that spans more than 444,680 acres, an area that is twice the size of New York City. The history of the park is closely tied to conservation efforts by the late Doug Tompkins, founder of North Face, and his surviving wife Kristine Tompkins, former CEO of clothing company Patagonia.

Working with the Tompkins Foundation and various other organizations, the group bought up land with the intention to “rewild” the area, preserving the unique flora and fauna of a region where the original inhabitants were losing out to farming and fences.

Patagonia National Park History

The history of Patagonia National Park dates back to the time when indigenous peoples inhabited the region, but they were always vastly outnumbered by the native animals of the region. Even after the Europeans conquered South America, this remained a lightly populated region, though Patagonia in general became a land of farmers staking out territory thanks to incentives, especially for sheep farming.

With the arrival of European settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Patagonian landscape began to change. As settlements expanded, the unique landscape of Patagonia attracted the interest of early conservationists who recognized the importance of protecting the region’s natural resources and wildlife. This growing awareness led to the foundation of organizations and collaboration among individuals committed to preserving the Chacabuco Valley region’s unique plants and animals.

The Conservation Land Trust (CLT) began its work in the area in the early 2000s. The first step was purchasing one of the largest sheep farms in Chile, Estancia Valle Chacabuco, and rolling back the clock on the overgrazed lands. The efforts of CLT and other conservation organizations resulted in the creation of various protected areas in the region, eventually leading to the designation of Patagonia National Park in 2015.

patagonia national park hiking

The Patagonia National Park was founded with the intention of preserving the unique flora and fauna of the region by implementing rewilding, a holistic approach to ecosystem restoration. Thankfully the approach worked well and others have started to emulate the process. In 2021, the United Nations prioritized this approach as a way to mitigate climate change.

Thanks to further purchases and donations in the region, the park actually extends into Argentina as well. When land coverage in the two countries is added together, the whole combined park is more than 1,000 square miles. So you’ll have plenty of area to explore when staying at the one lodge on the property.

Explora’s Lodge and Infrastructure

Long before Explora took over management, there was a lodge on the property, built out from original staff housing for managers and volunteers creating infrastructure and working on rewilding. Early workers constructed trails, built visitor centers, and put in camping facilities to accommodate park visitors.

If you stay here, there’s more of a focus on wildlife and plants than on hard-core hiking trails and adventures. The park provides excellent opportunities for hiking, wildlife viewing, birdwatching, and photography. You can get out on several prepared trails with varying difficulty levels. Here’s what our correspondent said about the excursion choices:

Current options include hiking, kayaking, vehicle tours, e-bike excursions, and a handful of high mountain explorations. Mountain explorations and full-day hikes are available for those who want to push themselves (I did a number of challenging hikes through gorgeous parts of the park including a 14-mile day hike). Many of this lodge’s excursions fall into the moderate or easy category, however—appropriate for families with children and anyone looking for gentler ways to see the park and this part of southern Chile.

For guests and non-guests, the park encourages educational programs and guided tours to promote environmental awareness and appreciation for the unique natural setting. These efforts ensure a memorable and immersive experience for visitors while maintaining the park’s focus on conservation and ecological restoration.

Some of the park’s residents include the guanaco (which you’ll probably see as you approach the lodge), the endangered Andean deer or huemul, and the Andean condor. Pumas are starting to come back and the number of bird species is continually increasing.

Staying at Explora Patagonia National Park

Explora Chacabuco Lodge - Patagonia National Park hotel

If you’ve stayed at other Explora properties, you’ll find this one to be a bit different since it was a takeover of Chacabuco Lodge and not a new build. The company has tweaked the decor to match its style, but the footprint is a collection of separate buildings rather than one where everyone is together. So you will probably stay in a separate building, but unite with other guests at the restaurant and bar.

Room sizes are larger than the norm though, with multiple suites, plus four more are on the way that will open next season. Most of Patagonia shuts down to tourists in the winter except for ski areas , with the season here being roughly late October through mid-April.

See more photos and our detailed review of Explora Patagonia National Park.