Patagonia National Park Holidays & Tailor-made Tours

A vast sanctuary for nature, wildlife and birds, donated to the people of Chile by Doug and Kris Tomkins in 2018. Re-wilding on a major scale.

Doug Tomkins founded the global North Face clothes empire and with its profits became one of the world’s most passionate philanthropists supporting nature and wildlife. Vast amounts of his wealth was spent in Chile, supporting re-wilding and nature recovery projects in Patagonia.

Sadly, Doug died in Patagonia in a canoe accident in 2015. However, his wife Kris continued his mission and on 29th January 2018 signed an agreement with the president of Chile gifting the Tomkins land to the people of Chile and thus creating 5 new national parks in Chile, the biggest being the new Patagonia National Park. The park is now owned by the people of Chile, for the benefit of everyone.

The park is vast, over 640,000 acres of wilderness, located between General Carrera Lake and Cochrane Lake, extending to the Argentine border in the Andes mountains. The main area for visitors in the Chacabuco Valley. Much of the land before it became a national park was used for sheep and other farming. This is now much reduced resulting in the recovery of nature and the development of nature tourism.

The park is in a remote region of Chile accessed by air to Balmaceda Airport, from where you drive 300km to the visitor centre and lodges. Most of the roads are unpaved, so a 4 x 4 vehicle is essential. It is worth the effort as you will be rewarded with incredible scenery, well marked hiking trails, an extraordinary array of thriving bird and wildlife and kayaking on the Cochrane River. There is also the chance to see for yourself the positive impact re-wilding on such a massive scale is having on the environment here.

The park is open to visitors from October to April.