The Laguna de Los Tres hike is the crown gem of the day hikes in Patagonia. It’s long and difficult, but the payoffs are incredible. This hike takes you to the stunning turquoise lake at the base of Mount Fitz Roy and if you don’t feel awe at this site – I don’t know that you can feel awe in nature.

Quick Info About the Laguna de Los Tres Hike

TRAIL DISTANCE: Somewhere between 14 and 16 miles // So, it’s hard to get a perfect read on this trail distance. My Garmin watch clocked it at 15.24 miles. But there are several ways to do this hike. Most are out and back, but we did it a bit as a loop with a drop-off at the further trailhead (at the Electric River Gate) and walked back into town, making a bit of a loop to see a few more viewpoints of Fitz Roy.
TRAIL DIFFICULTY: Difficult // This is a long distance for your legs to take on, the trail is rocky and uneven in many places and there’s a path that literally takes you straight up the rocky side of the mountain that killed my asthmatic lungs. But I can also say that it’s absolutely doable and 100000% worth it.
BEWARE OF: Weather changing abruptly. Conditions can change very quickly, so be prepared with your rain gear and fleece layers.
WATER AVAILABILITY: I drank directly from the river without filtering. I did not get sick. But I’m not officially recommending that – we were told it was safe by our guide and it just worked out for me. There aren’t spots to refill that are already filtered. So you’ll have to bring enough for the day from town or filter from the river or lake.
THE FITZ ROY VIEWS ARE COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON THE WEATHER: Unfortunately, the weather is often rainy and cloudy, meaning not everyone gets to have the views that we were fortunate enough to have. If you have the ability to move your itinerary around, this is the hike you want to have the best weather for.

Gear I Would Recommend for the Laguna de Los Tres Hike

FOOTWEAR: With all of the uneven surfaces, and ever-changing surfaces, I highly recommend these Merrell mid-hiking boots to ensure you have the ankle support. If you’re looking for socks, I love these Merrell socks. They’re not wool, which tends to be the most popular, but I found these blend socks prevented me from getting a lot of blisters. I did often bring a spare pair to change out if my feet get super sweaty or wet.
HIKING TECH: I’m a big fan of my Garmin Instinct Watch. I upgraded from an apple watch and I can never go back. If you’re not going with a group with a guide, I would absolutely bring my Garmin InReach Mini with me. I feel extra safe and secure knowing in case of emergency, I have that SOS situation right there. If I was doing this hike without a guide, there’s no way that I would do it without having a downloaded map. I personally use AllTrails.
WATER: I brought 2 liters of water, and used all of it. I’m typically a huge fan of the wide mouth Nalgene bottles because they’re so easy to clean, but I had a super hard time getting it to fit in the side pockets of my Deuter daypack. I ended up using single use bottles, which I hate doing, just so they would fit. However, this is the first time in a long time that I wish I had had a hydration bladder to be able to drink as I hiked.
DAYPACK & WHAT’S IN IT: First off, a daypack in itself is so important. My typical Osprey daypack was just a smidge too small because of the layers I needed to pack. So, for this trip, I brought my Deuter 22 Liter Slim to have the extra space and just didn’t overpack it. Aside from my water bottles, I also am sure to bring snacks. These typically include beef jerky tender bites, peanut m&ms, pre-shelled pistachios, these oatmeal fig bars, and honey roasted cashews. I carried a WAG BAG on this hike too in case of emergency, but there were bathrooms in the campgrounds – they were nasty-smelling, but useable. Also, this pack has a really convenient strap to clip my Garmin InReach Mini onto. It was admittedly too large for this day hike, but it’s the next size up that I own.
SUN PROTECTION: While there are several sections of this hike that are shaded, the sun is super strong in this part of the world. I recommend wearing a sun hoodie, wearing a hat, and bringing sunscreen with you. I love to throw a sunscreen stick into my pack so I can reapply with ease throughout a hike without getting my hands all gunky.
IF YOU TYPICALLY LIKE WALKING STICKS… Bring them on this hike. I don’t typically use trekking poles, but I did for this hike. I loved them for the steep incline and decline sections.
PACK YOUR LAYERS: I would recommend bringing a warmer layer (I used this bamboo fleece hoodie from FreeFly), a fleecy jacket (I brought this Columbia Fleece), and a rain jacket (I wear this REI one). I wish I had a beanie, but I couldn’t find it in my pack – of course.

Our Experience on the Laguna de los Tres Hike

This hike is one of those trails that you see posted all over social media, and if you have a clear and beautiful day, you will have some of the greatest views you’ll ever see in your life, but it is very weather-dependent. If I had an itinerary that had wiggle room, I would pick the very best day of weather for this hike because it’s more than just Laguna de los Tres. It’s viewpoint after viewpoint after viewpoint of Mount Fitz Roy, it’s river crossings, waterfalls and glaciers. It’s a trail that if you have good weather, will stay in your mind for the rest of your life.

Getting to the Trailhead…

I went to Patagonia on a small-group trip, and it was so much fun, plus it had some really cool perks, like getting a shuttle to where we started this hike off of at the Electric River Entrance to the National Park. The drive here was incredibly scenic and while we were driving it was a bit drizzly, clouds were moving in and we were really nervous that we had lost our luck. Our guide, Carlos, told us to have faith and to remember how lucky we were. So, we did. We kept our faith and started the hike.

Hiking the Laguna de los Tres Trail

The hike initially goes through a rocky riverbed and over a bridge which fairly quickly takes you into a forest. It’s a fairly scrubby forest, but is still its own kind of beautiful and the Fitz Roy Range is always looming to your right as you pass through this forest. The first big thing to see is Glaciar Piedras Blancas (White Stones Glacier). It’s a really beautiful glacier coming down the mountain and spilling into its own glacial lake, with the same name as the glacier. My favorite part of hiking through this section was hearing cracks like distant thunder every now and then and realizing that is the glacier calving. I love this sound because it sounds so powerful, but it’s also a heartbreaking sound because it means glacial melt.

After this, you walk through the forest a bit longer and when you pop out of where it’s more densely populated, you seethe forested and rocky peak before you and realize that weird rocky looking twist up the mountain is indeed the trail, and it’s the hard part of the trail. The more densely populated area eventually leads to the riverbank with a bridge to cross the river. Once we were across, many of us filled our water from the river. Then, we started back into the trees and essentially straight up the side of the mountain.

This last section up to Laguna de los Tres is steep, but shaded at the beginning, but soon it’s just exposed, uneven rock. While it was indeed long and exhausting, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done, by far. Just take your time getting to the top and you’ll absolutely be able to make your way up. Just watch your step, keep your spirits high, catch your breath, and take one step at a time.

Once you pop out on top of the mountain, there’s a bit of a false summit before you have to get up and over a bit more. Don’t get too discouraged, but do put your wind layer on because it gets breeeeezy up there. Then, be ready for your breath to be stolen as the bright turquoise waters of Laguna de lost Tres come into view.

Getting to the top, I think I said wow about a million times. It is far more crowded than I had expected, but even so, there are plenty of huge rocks to sit on and soak up the view. We had a completely unobstructed view of Fitz Roy and its surrounding peaks – not to say there aren’t a lot of people up there. This is a famous and iconic view in Patagonia.

Once at the top, there’s another little rock pile off to the left if you’re facing the mountains. Our guide asked us if we wanted to climb to the top of it for the view. To be honest, my first instinct was to say hell no. I was wiped after that climb and kinda thought it was just going to be the same view with a different angle, but there’s actually an additional glacier-fed lake. It’s a slightly darker teal than the lighter turquoise at the base of Fitz Roy. This lake had a glacial waterfall spilling into it as well. It was just one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been more grateful to ignore my instinct. My dad and I shared a little moment thinking of my grandpa at the top as well, and posed with a photo of him. We were happy to have brought him with us on this journey.

We spent about an hour at the lakes. After looking down on them from that hill, we walked back down the hill and felt the cool glacial waters of the first turquoise pool. I even cupped my hands and drank from it. The water was fresh and cold, and I felt rejuvenated from the experience and from the satisfying sips from the lake. It was time to start the journey back down the mountain.

I initially thought this was going to be a simple out-and-back trail, but because we were picked up and shuttled to the spot that we started, we made a bit of a through hike back into town out of it, which was incredible because it meant we got to see more along the trail. We saw Mount Fitz Roy from several other angles and even stopped at another little laguna – Laguna Capri, with a sandy little beach where we sat. Some people put their feet in the water and soaked their feet. For me, I was ready to get up and keep going because I was getting stiff when I sat and while I would’ve loved to put my feet in that water, the thought of taking my boots off and immediately putting them back on made me want to cry.

Eventually, the views of Mount Fitz Roy get lost behind a bend in the trail. And it feels easier to put your head down and finish out the trail. There are beautiful overlooks of the river along the way back into town, and for us, it spat us out at the perfect location just a 100 yards or so from our hotel. We got cleaned up, rested a moment and then had burgers to refuel our bodies.

I have the fondest memories of this hike. It was hard. It was powerful. It was beautiful. It was absolutely worth every difficult breath and aching step. It was just one of those days that leave you feeling so grateful to be alive. Life is precious, don’t ever forget it.

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