Errante Ecolodge
Isla Navarino, Chile
A true refuge at the end of the Earth - Errante Ecolodge sits on Isla Navarino, the southernmost outpost in the Americas. The lodge overlooks the Beagle Channel to the north and the final peaks (or starting peaks, from an austral perspective) of the Andes to the south. Antarctica lies just 620 miles away.
Arriving on Isla Navarino is like stepping out of a time machine - back to Patagonia before it landed on the tourist circuit. Expect crowd-free trails, glaciers all to yourself, up-close wildlife encounters, and excursions led by members of the community.
Errante is a fitting base for this frontier exploration. Unpretentious and charming, the lodge operates as a self-sustaining eco-sanctuary, built with native lenga wood and powered by solar energy. It offers a blend of rugged adventure and home-away-from-home comfort, while always prioritizing and protecting the experience of the environment.
Quick Facts
Guest Rooms: 11 rooms total. These range from singles, to doubles, triples, and bunk room with capacity for seven. All with private bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows with water views.
Stay options: Guests can stay on a bed + breakfast basis, or an all-inclusive package that covers meals, transfers on the island, and excursions.
Facilities: Restaurant, bar, hot tubs overlooking the Beagle Channel. Common area with a communal kitchen and cozy seating.
Internet: Available throughout the hotel.
Rates: Start at $240 per room per night night for bed and breakfast, $650 per person per night for all inclusive.
Operating months: October-March.
Minimum stay + our recommendation: No minimum requirement, but we suggest at least three nights to balance travel and enjoyment time.
Key Selling Points
Secret Patagonia: Isla Navarino is not on the industry’s radar. This means no crowds, no traffic, no tour-buses. The dramatic landscape rivals the postcard-famous destinations like Torres del Paine and El Chalten.
Guides from the community: Your guides aren’t seasonal imports. They are people who live on the island, and often whose families have been there for generations.
Next-level wildlife: Whales (including Orcas) are a particular draw. Seals, dolphins, condors, and penguins can also be spotted.
Basecamp for the Dientes de Navarino trek: One of the most remote, dramatic hiking circuits in the world. A great alternative to the increasingly-popular W-Trek in Torres del Paine. Hikers can stay at Errante before and after their trek, and the lodge will handle all logistics.
Food: hearty, healthy, locally sourced. Accommodating to those with allergies and dietary restrictions.
Easy connections to Ushuaia and Torres del Paine.
Industry Resources
Excursions
There is no set excursion schedule at Errante. Days are planned according to the forecast, goings-on on the island, and guest interests.
Hiking - from mellow day hikes to multi-day treks through the Dientes.
Horseback riding with local farmers.
Kayaking in the Beagle Channel with a descendant of the Yagán.
Sailing trips to remote glaciers in the Darwin Range, includes wildlife spotting en route.
Cultural visits to Yagán heritage sites and local community spaces.
Interpretive forest walks, lessons about the flora and fauna that shape the Subantarctic Magellanic Forest.
Mountain biking along quiet coastal roads and winding forest trails.
Getting there
By air: Daily direct flights from Punta Arenas (1 hr 10 min, DAP Airlines). The views from the prop plane alone are worth the trip.
By boat: Daily connections from Ushuaia — a 30-minute crossing, about 4 hours door-to-door including border formalities. There is also a ferry from Punta Arenas that takes up to 31 hours, but passes through scenic fjords and glaciers.
For all-inclusive guests, Errante handles all transfers on the island, and they can also arrange and book the boat crossing to/from Ushuaia.
Sustainability
Errante was built with Patagonia’s reality in mind. There, sustainability is common sense.
100% solar-powered.
Community work is woven into Errante's operations. Lodge resources are used to provide services to the community.
Food sourced from local producers, fishermen, and growers.
Materials gathered on the island whenever possible. The lodge is constructed primarily from lenga wood.
Why Errante?
Errante Ecolodge’s journey is as unique as its location, providing a genuine contrast to the growing number of polished, international hotels in Patagonia.
After moving to Isla Navarino in 2011 to provide dental care for the remote community of Puerto Williams, owner Jorge Caros Lara built himself a home overlooking the Beagle Channel. He registered it on Couchsurfing, and started receiving intrepid visitors from all over the world. With time, he began building guest rooms to house his volunteers, and eventually found himself with a proper lodge.
Today, the lodge and its resources are an important part of Isla Navarino’s community. The van and boat, which are used for guest transfers and touring, are often utilized as public transit for local residents. Excursions are built around partnerships with locals who want to share their unique piece of Patagonia with the world.
Having explored Patagonia from north to south, we champion Errante because it is uniquely true to the region. It is intentionally casual, warm, and practical - not overly polished or curated. This approach is appropriate in Southern Patagonia, where the extreme conditions and remote wilderness call for functionality and a sense of shared purpose.
Guests are provided with all necessary comforts: warm beds, reliable hot showers, gourmet food featuring regional ingredients, and friendly service. However, the core purpose of Errante is to encourage travelers out of the lodge. Guests need a sense of adventure, flexibility, and appreciation for the rawness of this place at the world’s end.
After a day spent adventuring at the end of the world, Errante’s cozy spaces with floor-to-ceiling views of the Beagle Channel and the Andes are the perfect place to relax and prepare for tomorrow’s expedition. Isla Navarino is Patagonia’s last frontier, and Errante is the perfect base for exploring it.
Why Isla Navarino?
Patagonia is famous for its frontier feel — its isolating geographic location, its intense scale, and its “end of the world” vibe. Naturally, it attracts travelers who want to experience the remoteness, the difficulty, and the superlative nature.
Every year, Patagonia gets busier. More luxury hotels, more paved roads, more direct flights. Once-remote hiking trails now host lines of trekkers inching their way to post-card famous view points. To us, this is antithetical to the very draw of the region.
Isla Navarino sits outside that trend and still feels largely untouched. Getting here requires intention: a tiny plane over jagged peaks and hanging glaciers, or a Beagle Channel crossing that feels like an expedition.
Isla Navarino is home to the Dientes de Navarino Circuit, widely recognized as the southernmost trek in the world. This challenging, multi-day hike is a true wilderness experience, requiring serious navigational skill and attracting only the most dedicated adventurers, and Errante Ecolodge provides a warm, comfortable base for either preparing for the Dientes or recovering from them.
For those not tackling the circuit, the island still guarantees experiences that are becoming scarce in Patagonia. You can hike all day without seeing another person, kayak in absolute silence, and spot whales from the side of a small vessel.
In a region where true solitude and intimate wilderness encounters are now a privilege, Isla Navarino guarantees them. It remains the last great base for the modern explorer looking to experience the raw, undiluted spirit of the true Patagonian frontier.
About the owner
Jorge Caros Lara
A dentist by trade, Jorge left his native Santiago for Isla Navarino in 2011 to provide dental services to its remote population. He built his home by hand. He started hosting travelers and came to love it. Over the years, he turned his home into a lodge – constructing each room himself, using local materials.
A medical professional at heart, Jorge has shaped Errante's operations around the needs of the community — not the expectations of luxury tourism. He uses the lodge's resources (the van, the boat) for community services, and still runs a small dental clinic from one of the hotel guest rooms.
