G Adventures provides detailed packing lists for all of their tours, including a Patagonia packing list, which makes this part of the trip planning super easy.
Aside from hiking clothes, there's little reason the typical traveler would need to go shopping in advance of the End of the Earth tour to Patagonia.
For about $8/day, you'll be able to rent a sleeping bag for the two nights of camping in Torres del Paine National Park, and any specialized gear required for (optional) activities is provided at that time.
Below is a breakdown of my preferred Patagonia packing list, similar to the list provided by G Adventures, but based on my belongings as if I were only making this trip as a stand-alone vacation.
Patagonia Packing List
Backpacks
- Large Gregory Chaos backpack
- Regular size daypack
Clothing
- GoLite rain jacket
- GoLite hoody
- North Face fleece
- Mountain Hardwear short sleeve base layer
- ExOfficio short sleeve t-shirt
- 3 cotton t-shirts
- REI long sleeve base layer
- 1 pair of REI convertible pants/shorts
- 1 pair of jeans (for nights out in cities)
- Volcom board shorts
- 3 pairs of ExOfficio boxers
- 2 pairs of SmartWool socks, 2 pairs of cotton socks, 2 pairs of dress socks
- Merrell hiking sneakers
- Beanie hat
- Baseball cap (sun protection)
- Bandanna
Electronics
- iPhone 4S
- Canon S100 camera w/soft case and battery charger
- MacBook Air w/AC cord
- 500 GB external hard drive (photo storage)
- 16 GB SanDisk SD card
- 2 GB SD card (back up)
- Creative Style 8 GB mp3 player w/earphones
- Casio solar trekking watch
- Petzl Zipka LED headlamp w/2 AAA batteries
- USB cords
- AC wall converter (Argentina has a 3-slit wall unit, and requires a unique converter)
Miscellaneous
- Oakley sunglasses
- 2 Sea to Summit dry sacks
- MSR Packtowl
- Trial size toiletries in a 1-liter Ziploc bag
- Sunblock
- Binoculars
Documents & Money
Note: American citizens must pay $160 to enter Argentina, and $131 to enter Chile, or $291 total. It's easier to pay this by debit or credit, given concerns over damaged and counterfeit bills.
- Money belt
- Passport and any required entry visas for Argentina and Chile
- Immunization yellow book
- G Adventures voucher (to be provided to tour leader)
- Proof of travel/health insurance (to be delivered to tour leader)
- Airline tickets
- Cash - several hundred US Dollars, and several hundred Argentine Pesos
- Debit card
- Credit card (back-up)
The critical thing to remember when packing for most trips is that you can almost always buy necessary clothing or other stuff along the way.
This Patagonia trip, for example, starts in Buenos Aires, where you can pick up just about anything last minute (save for something like an iPhone or laptop which may have limited availability or significantly higher cost).
After writing this, in fact, I'm about to go find myself a 3-pronged AC adapter for the funky wall outlets they have in this country.
End of the Earth Tour: Discover South America's most beautiful scenery, including majestic mountains and massive glaciers. Click here for the full itinerary.
___________
Disclosure: This Patagonia tour is in partnership with G Adventures. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
