Chile

Chile, in a few days

From Santiago and the hills of Valparaiso to the Atacama desert and the towers of Torres del Paine: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Santiago

Days 1-2

The capital, with the Andes standing at the end of the streets. Green, busy, and an hour from the vineyards.

🎟️ Worth booking

• City tour and Cerro San CristobalHalf day · from €30
  The old centre on foot, then the funicular up the hill for the view over the city and the mountains behind it.
• A day in the valley vineyardsFull day · from €60
  The Maipo and Casablanca estates, an hour out of town, where Carmenere was rediscovered growing among the Merlot in 1994.

✦ Free to visit

• Plaza de Armas
• The Bellavista district
• The central market
• Parque Forestal

📲 Book things to do in Santiago on GetYourGuide

2

Valparaíso

Day 3 · 🚗 Car 1h30

A port of painted hills, UNESCO-listed since 2003. Victorian funiculars still carry people up, and the walls are covered in murals.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Street art and funiculars, guidedHalf day · from €25
  Up one hill and down another, with someone who knows which murals are new and who painted them.

✦ Free to visit

• The painted hills
• Pablo Neruda's house, from outside
• The port
• The sunsets

📲 Book things to do in Valparaíso on GetYourGuide

3

The Atacama Desert

Days 4-6 · ✈️ Domestic flight 2h

The driest desert on earth, with weather stations that have never recorded rain. Geysers, salt flats, altiplano lagoons, and some of the clearest night skies anywhere.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Moon Valley at sunsetHalf day · from €40
  Salt ridges and dunes that turn red as the light goes, half an hour from San Pedro.
• El Tatio geysers at dawnFull day · from €55
  At 4,300 metres, the field only steams properly in the cold just after sunrise. Leaving at four in the morning is the price.

✦ Free to visit

• The altiplano lagoons
• The night sky
• Salar de Atacama
• The Andean villages

📲 Book things to do in The Atacama Desert on GetYourGuide

4

Torres del Paine

Days 7-10 · ✈️ Domestic flight 3h30

Three granite towers over turquoise lakes, with guanacos on the road in and a wind that decides what kind of day you get.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The W trek, guided, several daysSeveral days · from €350
  Four or five days across the park, refuge to refuge, taking in the towers, the French valley and Grey glacier.
• Sailing to Grey glacierFull day · from €90
  Across the lake among the icebergs, up to a wall of ice that comes off the Southern Patagonian ice field.

✦ Free to visit

• The granite towers
• The turquoise lakes
• Wildlife: guanacos and condors
• The hiking trails

📲 Book things to do in Torres del Paine on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

Internal flights · Atacama sits at the top of the country and Patagonia at the bottom, four thousand kilometres apart. Flying is the only sane way to hold both in one trip.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Empanadas de pino: beef, egg and a single olive, baked.
• Pastel de choclo: sweetcorn baked over minced beef, served in a clay dish.
• Ceviche and shellfish straight out of the Pacific.
• Completo: the Chilean hot dog, buried under avocado and mayonnaise.
• Central valley wine, and pisco from the north.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Pickpockets work Santiago and Valparaiso: bag in front, phone away.
• The distances are enormous. Fly between the north and the south.
• Book Torres del Paine months ahead in high season. The refuges fill first.
• The north sits high. Climb to Atacama slowly and drink more water than you want.

Words that help

English ↔ Spanish

✈️ Flight delayed by 3 hours or more, or cancelled? You may be owed up to €600. Check your flight on AirHelp.

The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/chile

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.