Chile itinerary, day by day

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.

🗓️ 7, 10 or 14 days📍 4 stops☀️ Best time: October to March (southern summer)

Patagonie · Photo Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Route map (numbers = order of the stops).

Chile in 7 days

2 stops · 12 things to do · flights

1Santiago

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Rio Amazonas (€22 a night) · Mid-range: The Singular Santiago (€170 a night) · Luxury: The Ritz-Carlton Santiago (€350 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Viva La Vida ↗ ★ 4.8 · 4497 reviews · €€
Le Bistrot de Gaetan ↗ ★ 4.7 · 5616 reviews · €€
La Cabrera Chile Isidora ↗ ★ 4.7 · 2962 reviews · €€€
Piegari Chile ↗ ★ 4.7 · 2934 reviews · €€€
Ocean Pacific's Buque Insignia ↗ ★ 4.6 · 12723 reviews · €€

Photo Alexis Jeria / Pexels

✈️ Domestic flight · 2h · to Calama

2The Atacama Desert

Days 3-7

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Sonchek (€30 a night) · Mid-range: Cumbres San Pedro (€220 a night) · Luxury: Noi Casa Atacama (€280 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Restaurant Bon Appetit SPA. ↗ ★ 4.8 · 270 reviews
Almas by Our Habitas ↗ ★ 4.7 · 233 reviews
Restaurante Ephedra ↗ ★ 4.7 · 132 reviews
La Picada Del Indio ↗ ★ 4.6 · 4214 reviews · €
Karaván ↗ ★ 4.6 · 948 reviews

Photo Marek Piwnicki / Pexels

Chile in 10 days

4 stops · 23 things to do · flights

1Santiago

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Rio Amazonas (€22 a night) · Mid-range: The Singular Santiago (€170 a night) · Luxury: The Ritz-Carlton Santiago (€350 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Alexis Jeria / Pexels

🚗 Car · 1h30 · 120 km

2Valparaíso

Day 3

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Caracol (€20 a night) · Mid-range: Casa Higueras (€150 a night) · Luxury: Palacio Astoreca (€280 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Baquedano 660 ↗ ★ 4.9 · 136 reviews
Poesía de sabor ↗ ★ 4.8 · 357 reviews
Nazca Restaurante Peruano ↗ ★ 4.7 · 2349 reviews · €€
Cholos Criollo Valparaiso ↗ ★ 4.7 · 1023 reviews · €€
La Casa Verde ↗ ★ 4.7 · 799 reviews

Photo Lais Queiroz / Pexels

✈️ Domestic flight · 2h · to Calama

3The Atacama Desert

Days 4-6

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Sonchek (€30 a night) · Mid-range: Cumbres San Pedro (€220 a night) · Luxury: Noi Casa Atacama (€280 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Marek Piwnicki / Pexels

✈️ Domestic flight · 3h30 · via Santiago

4Torres del Paine

Days 7-10

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Mid-range: Hotel Lago Grey (€230 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Cafe Kaiken ↗ ★ 4.8 · 783 reviews · €€
La Disqueria Restaurant ↗ ★ 4.7 · 937 reviews
Restaurante Los Coigues "Jechef" ↗ ★ 4.6 · 953 reviews
La Tapera Puerto Natales ↗ ★ 4.5 · 294 reviews
Restaurant Pehoe Barbecue ↗ ★ 4.3 · 281 reviews

Photo Marek Piwnicki / Pexels

Chile in 14 days

4 stops · 23 things to do · flights

1Santiago

Days 1-3

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Rio Amazonas (€22 a night) · Mid-range: The Singular Santiago (€170 a night) · Luxury: The Ritz-Carlton Santiago (€350 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Alexis Jeria / Pexels

🚗 Car · 1h30 · 120 km

2Valparaíso

Days 4-5

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Caracol (€20 a night) · Mid-range: Casa Higueras (€150 a night) · Luxury: Palacio Astoreca (€280 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Lais Queiroz / Pexels

✈️ Domestic flight · 2h · to Calama

3The Atacama Desert

Days 6-9

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Budget: Hostal Sonchek (€30 a night) · Mid-range: Cumbres San Pedro (€220 a night) · Luxury: Noi Casa Atacama (€280 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Marek Piwnicki / Pexels

✈️ Domestic flight · 3h30 · via Santiago

4Torres del Paine

Days 10-14

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.
Book on GetYourGuide →
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.
Book on GetYourGuide →

✦ Free, not to be missed

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

🛏️ Where to sleep · Mid-range: Hotel Lago Grey (€230 a night)

🍴 Where to eat · top rated

Photo Marek Piwnicki / Pexels

Hotel prices are per room per night, activity prices per person, checked when written. Some links are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide): we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

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Good to know before you go

🍽️ What to eat

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.

⚠️ What to avoid

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.

Plan this trip

📒 The free printable Chile guide→ 🗓️ Best time to visit Chile, month by month→ 🎟️ What to book before you go→

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