Patagonia Campervan Road Trip: From Chile to Argentina via Route 40 and the Carretera Austral

Before you start dreaming of glaciers and guanacos, ask yourself one simple question: do you actually have the time for this trip? Patagonia doesn't forgive overly optimistic schedules, and this itinerary helps you judge, from the very first kilometres, whether you have the days to spare.

Patagonia by campervan: a trip you have to earn

Between Bariloche and Torres del Paine, via the Carretera Austral, expect to cover roughly 3,000 to 3,500 km depending on the route you choose. That number looks reasonable on a map. It looks a lot less reasonable once you're behind the wheel, on roads where the straight lines stretch on for hours and the next petrol station has to be earned.

At a pace that's actually sustainable in a campervan — 200 to 300 km a day at most in this region, considerably less on the unpaved stretches — this route needs a minimum of 18 to 21 days. Any less, and you're no longer travelling: you're stringing together transfers, with no time to stop in front of a lake, wait out a break in the clouds, or simply recover from a day of bumpy tracks.

Our position here is clear: if you have fewer than 15 days, give up on the full crossing and pick one country instead. Chile and the Carretera Austral on one side, Argentina and Route 40 on the other, each offer enough to fill two weeks without feeling short-changed. Trying to do it all on borrowed time turns a trip into a race, and Patagonia doesn't lend itself to racing.

The sections below cover the route itself, border formalities and fuel questions. But keep this in mind first: this trip is built around the time you have available, not the other way round.

Crossing the border with a rental campervan

This is often where the trip turns, well before the first glacier. A rental campervan doesn't cross a border the way a private car does: it belongs to the rental company, and taking a vehicle that isn't yours out of its country of registration requires written authorisation from them. Without that document, shown in black and white at the border post, you won't get past the queue.

Prepare the full paperwork before hitting the road: the authorisation to leave the country, the vehicle's registration document, and proof of insurance valid in both countries. Some rental companies issue the authorisation automatically when you collect the keys; others only on explicit request a few days before departure — check this when you book, not the night before you cross.

The crossings between Argentina and Chile can mean long waits in high season, particularly on the busiest routes between Bariloche and southern Chile. Build that margin into your day's schedule: a check that takes an hour instead of twenty minutes can be enough to jeopardise the next leg if it's already tight.

On the Chilean side, phytosanitary controls are strict and applied without exception. Fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products: nothing fresh crosses the border in either direction. The rule is simple to follow, provided you think of it in time: empty the fridge and cupboards the night before you cross, and eat or throw away anything that won't make it through the check. Trying to hide a bit of leftover cheese is never worth the risk of a fine or a lengthy search.

Fuel and unpaved tracks: range comes first

On some stretches of Route 40 and the Carretera Austral, petrol stations can be 150 to 250 km apart. Nowhere else on this trip does the discipline of filling up matter as much: do it as soon as the tank drops below half, without waiting for the warning light or trusting a station marked on the map. A station that's closed, out of fuel, or simply no longer there since your GPS was last updated is enough to turn a quiet day into a serious problem.

The track sets its own rules. The moment the asphalt gives way to dirt or "ripio" (washboard-like gravel tracks!), slow down to 40-50 km/h. This isn't excessive caution: stones thrown up by the wheels regularly damage chassis and tyres, and a rental campervan is rarely covered for this kind of incident the way it would be for a simple road collision. Keep your eyes on the road ahead rather than on the scenery — the scenery, at least, isn't going anywhere.

This is exactly the terrain where your choice of vehicle stops being a minor detail. A van, comfortable on sealed roads, quickly shows its limits on narrow tracks, bridges with restricted clearance, and sections where grip runs out. A 4x4 — a pickup with a cab, or a 4x4 fitted with a rooftop tent — handles the stones better, gets through tricky sections more confidently, and leaves more margin when the track deteriorates without warning.

Where to sleep: campsites, pull-offs and regulated wild camping

Finding somewhere to park the campervan is one of those things to plan for, not improvise once you're there. Three types of spots structure this trip, and none of them work the same way.

In the national parks, campsites are organised, often with toilets and sometimes a minimal electricity supply. That's the case at Torres del Paine, where demand far outstrips supply in high season: spots there need booking months ahead, not a few weeks. Turning up without a reservation between December and February means gambling on a free spot in one of the busiest sites in Patagonia — a gamble we wouldn't recommend.

Along Route 40, the comfort level drops. The pull-offs you'll come across are mostly basic: flat ground, occasionally a water point, rarely more. They're perfectly fine for an overnight stop, but don't expect services on a par with the parks.

Wild camping outside these areas is the trickiest question. Inside national parks, it's generally forbidden outside designated spots, and the authorities enforce this. Outside the parks, tolerance varies by area and local authority — a rule that changes from one province to the next, and needs checking case by case before you settle in for the night. Never assume that a remote spot means an authorised one.

Budget: fuel, national parks and the unexpected

A figure to start with, rounded and upfront: budget roughly €400 to €500 for fuel across the whole trip, depending on local prices and your vehicle's consumption. The gap between those two figures isn't trivial — a loaded pickup on gravel drinks noticeably more than a van on asphalt, and fuel prices vary significantly between Argentina and Chile. Don't budget too tightly: aim for the higher end of the range, and you'll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't come to that.

National parks come with a cost that's easy to forget when planning the route, and easy to rediscover at the ticket window. Los Glaciares and Torres del Paine each charge several tens of euros per person in entrance fees. Multiply that by the number of travellers and by both parks, and the total climbs well beyond what you'd expect for a simple visit.

Add a margin for mechanical surprises on top of that. A tyre slashed by a stone, a repair caused by a badly negotiated stretch of ripio: these incidents happen more often in Patagonia than elsewhere, and it would be optimistic to think you'll avoid them on a trip this long. Planning for this in the budget stops a flat tyre becoming a money problem on top of being a delay.

A word on the figures themselves: we give them in euros so you can compare and budget before you leave, but no payment is made in that currency on the ground. You'll pay in Argentine pesos or Chilean pesos depending on which country you're in — two separate currencies, with exchange rates that shift, and that are worth checking right before departure rather than relying on a figure memorised months earlier.

Frequently asked questions before you go

The route, leg by leg