Hotel Weskar, Puerto Natales

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

Introduction

This is a small, cosy lodge located just over 1km from Puerto Natales. Built on a hill side the rooms on the fiord side offer nice views of the Fiord of Last Hope and the mountains the other side.

About

The Hotel Weskar is a family-run, small lodge located on a hill side up from the waterā€™s edge of the Fiord of Last Hope and about 1km from Puerto Natales.

Made entirely from native Lenga wood the ambience is one of a warm home. Rooms are cosy with each one being a little different to the other in terms of space and design. Some are in the attic sector; others are on the second floor and others on the ground floor. Some face the fiord and others face the back of the hill.

The latest and newest rooms are the superior ones located in a separate building to the main hotel.

The small restaurant serves breakfast and simple meals. The lounge offers a relaxing area to read a book or unwind.

If you like cosiness and a relaxed atmosphere, then this is the hotel for you.

The Singular Hotel, Puerto Natales

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

Introduction

The Singular hotel is one of the most amazing thought-up hotel concepts ever conceived. It has successfully pulled of a mix of history, modernity, luxury, and wonder. This is truly one of those places where you come to stay and get a bonus to your holiday experience.

About

The Singular Hotel at Puerto Natales, Patagonia is, on the outside, ā€œnothing specialā€. When pulling up to the reception all there is to see is a rather old looking, wooden Patagonian barn. However, upon entry into ā€œthis barnā€ the clues to what is to come begin to unravel.

We are not going to describe it all here, because you need to be able to experience the check-in yourself otherwise the ā€œwowā€ factor may be spoilt.

The main building that houses the hotel used to be the refrigeration plant for sheep that were exported around the World from this small port. It was the British who came to Patagonia over 100 years ago who started sheep farming. They built Estancias, prefabricated in sections back in England, as well as large machine parts that were then shipped to Patagonia and then reassembled here.

The hotel owners have very intelligently maintained the building that houses the refrigeration plant machinery whereupon one can still smell the grease and see massive mechanical wheels and pistons with the badge ā€œBuilt in Sheffieldā€ on the side.

In another part of the ā€œbarnā€ is the restaurant and bar. Again, we do not wish to spoil the effect, but we can say that the food is exceptional and the style and ambience is more like something you would expect to find in New York rather than Patagonia.

The accommodation sector is incredibly modern. Upon arriving to the hallway that connect the rooms the look is more like that of being on a futuristic film set that at a hotel. The rooms are incredibly spacious with luxury, modern, en-suite bathrooms with baths and separate showers. Each room has a floor to ceiling horizontal window enable a fine, direct and unobstructed view out to the beautiful Patagonian landscape.

The Spa is on a lower floor. It is modern and fully equipped to the levels expected of a luxury hotel Spa. Again, the floor to ceiling windows also allow for perfect views to the outside world whilst relaxing in the pool or sun loungers.

Hotel Remota Lodge, Puerto Natales

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

Introduction

The Hotel Remota is the artistic result of the architect German del Sol, who is one of the most recognised architects in Chile. His idea has been to create a building that is ā€œpart of the earthā€ and, at the same time, reflects the vast expanse of open space in Patagonia.

About

The Remota Patagonia Hotel is unique. Firstly, from the outside it looks ā€œweirdā€. Sprawled on a hill side the building forms a badly shaped square with one end open, and the exterior dark colouring does not ā€œlook prettyā€.

However, as soon as you enter this building you are met with a massive space of modernity. Incredibly high ceilings, wide seating sectors, large tables, interior fire pits and floor to ceiling windows enabling a great view to the beauty of Patagonia outside.

It is not cosy, so if you are looking for that feeling then this is not the hotel for you. But it is interesting, new, and creative and after a couple of nights you will probably love the place.
In our view this is one of the best hotels in Patagonia.

The ethos of the hotel is one of ā€œbeing naturalā€, being part of the natural environment. For this reason, the roofs are covered by grass, the exterior is cladded in thick old railway-sleeper wood, and the interior has incredibly high ceilings to create the sense of vast, open space as well as generate natural ventilation.

The earthen covering on the roof and insulation in the walls, together with ample day light filtering in via floor-to-ceiling windows enables the building to be energy efficient and use little by way of heating fuel for a building of this size. The hotel uses stainless steel water refill bottles to cut down the use of plastics and for laundry and pool maintenance the chemicals used are free of contaminant. Paper, cardboard, aluminium, and glass are recycled.

There are 72 bedrooms, located in two separate arms, or wings, of the hotel and the two wings are connected by a long, narrow tunnel-like hallway.

In addition to the rooms there is a separate building that houses the indoor, eternity swimming pool, sauna and massage rooms. Although one needs to walk via the outdoors to the pool, once in it is rather unique to be able to relax and swim whilst view the natural beauty of Patagonia immediately the other side of the window. Again, in the swimming pool building the windows are floor to ceiling.

The restaurant in the main building offers high-end food using local ingredients and fresh vegetables, accompanied with top wines from Chile.

Hotel IF, Puerto Natales

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

Introduction

The Hotel IF, called so because the initials I and F represent the first letters of the owners Isabel and Fernando, is a well-thought out, small, modern 15-bedroomed, boutique hotel in the centre of Puerto Natales.

About

The Hotel IF is located in the heart of Puerto Natales, one block from the central plaza. The outside look of being a rather plain, squarish building belies its fresh, welcoming, and interesting interior.

With almost an entire side of the hotel being glass, natural light cascades into each floor. Connecting each floor is an interior, central staircase which is also bathed in the day light. There is no lift here.

Although the hotel is small, there is a sauna and outdoor hot tub for guestsā€™ use as well as an independent restaurant next to the hotel which is also a property of the hotel owners. The restaurant, occupying five transport containers, not only achieves the incredible feat of dramatic surprise when entering, it also offers some of the best food anywhere to be eaten.

On the top floor of the hotel is an outdoor deck from where there are fabulous views of the Senoret Canal and Fiord of Last Hope, but also the snow-covered Mountains at the end of the fiord and the Balmaceda Glacier. You can also see on a clear day the Paine Mountain in Torres del Paine.

Hotel Altiplanico Sur, Puerto Natales

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

Introduction

The Altiplanico Sur Lodge is a small 22-room hotel built into the natural hill side so as to be almost camouflaged out of site. The blended use of cement and wood work well to create a minimalist interior design that is both clean, cosy and refreshingly different.

About

The Hotel Altiplanico Sur is part of a family of Altiplanico hotels dotted around key touristic destinations throughout Chile. The French owners have a flair for creating a unique, refreshing ambience through their creative use of materials, design, colours and architecture.

The Altiplanico Sur comprises 22 rooms, each spacious, with views to the fiord and under floor-heated, en-suite bathrooms.

From the moment you enter the hotel higher up the hill the immediate impact is the sight of seeing the grass outside just above the low point of the hall windows. The main hall then descending through the ground as though it were headed into another dimension.
The hotel is built very cleverly into the hillside it occupies in such a way that it is hardly noticeable when looking from the outside.

The two levels of horizontal placed rooms have their roofs covered over with grass and that, combined with an exterior veneer of earthen bricks hides the hotel from sight and enables it to blend in perfectly with the natural landscape. If only all buildings could be constructed in the same way!

At one end of the room corridors is an exterior hot tub for those who wish to soak in hot water amid the freshness of the Patagonia wind.