Planning to go to Chile next year around October or November for about 10-14 days.
I’ll be staying with a friend in Santiago (along with another friend coming from Germany).
We also want to do a bit of travelling. We could possibly rent a car (with the other friend driving, I don’t feel confident) but might be restricted to public transport.
Does anyone have suggestions of places to go, general tips etc? We’re open to internal flights if not too expensive, and potentially to crossing borders.
Would welcome any and all suggestions! Also photos, anecdotes etc!
Also any tips in terms of best places to fly from, getting around, being economical etc. Considering flying to Berlin first and then go with my friend, and fly back to UK, but depends on cost implications.
Never been, sorry. But seems to have stunning scenery, especially the mountains, good at football though underachieving, might be home to a great bunch o’ lads, even if their leader is a far-right bag of horror, which tbf doesn’t really narrow it down to many specific countries in 2026
I think he’s left the boards now, unfortunately, but aboynamedgoo would be great for this, as he used to go there fairly regularly to see family (I think).
Went for a week about a decade ago but stayed in Santiago the whole time. I really liked it as a city! You can do a lovely walk up a hill in a park in the city centre that gives you some great views (provided it’s not too smoggy). I’d recommend taking a day trip to Valparaiso on the bus - beautiful and colourful coastal city with great ceviche options.
One thing to bear in mind if you’re thinking of driving: it might have changed since I went, but because of smog they had days where car drivers would get a text to say whether or not they were allowed to drive the next day. We were out with a couple of people one night and one got a text saying people with a number plate beginning with (whatever it was) weren’t allowed to drive the next day, so she had to work from home.
The long-distance coaches in South America can be properly luxurious, the journeys can be long but if you get the seats listed as cama or cama suite (or even semi-cama tbh) it’s a really comfortable and affordable way to get around if you have the time. Flying is more expensive but not much more than internal Europe flights
Also it might be obvious but the Andes are massive and border queues can be tedious so while it’s possible to get the bus to places like Mendoza in Argentina, trips that look like they should be quick can take a while. We went from Mendoza to Santiago and it was supposed to take 5 hours but took 7 cos of border checks, and the mountain roads were long and winding.
Going up and down Chile on the bus should be fine though, Andesmar is a good company with lovely and comfy buses but there are loads of companies depending on where you want to go
I’ve been to Chile in two separate trips, spending about 3 months total, so I’ve seen a big swathe of the country. Because of the geography it’s hard to get to the far south or far north in a ~2 week trip (without flying), but there is plenty of good stuff in the central part. Not sure how interested you are in the outdoors, for me that’s by far the biggest draw of the country. Aside from Santiago and Valparaiso, the cities are pretty non-descript. A few other thoughts:
Adding Valparaiso is absolutely the correct decision, for me it was my favourite city I visited in South America. Not so many specific attractions (aside from Pablo Neruda’s house), but just a really unique atmosphere. It has a bit of an edge to it, so I’d avoid wandering unknown streets after dark.
Not sure the effort to cross over to Mendoza is worth it given your timeframe. Mendoza is pleasant enough, but the reason to go there is to visit nearby wineries, or access the Andes which are easier from the Chile side. If you get motion sick on a bus, it’s a bad idea as this is the road you need to take:
as an alternative destination 7-ish hours away I’d recommend either A) The Elqui valley: an oasis in the desert to the north. We stayed in Vicuña, which is a town that’s a bit bohemian with lots of artists and a craft market… also the site of several international observatories due to the exceptionally clear skies (you can do a night-time tour to one of these). Or B) The Lake District in the south: Lakes with black volcanic sand beaches, huge volcanoes, hot springs, entire forests of monkey puzzle trees. Pucon is a good base there.
If you want to see the high Andes close to Santiago the best option is the Maipo valley (which is also a wine region). We took a bus to a village called Baños Morales and hiked up an hour or so through El Morado national park and just camped for 3 nights next to a glacier. But the whole area is stunning mountains, and there were a couple of hostals in the village.
if I were going to Chile(/Argentina), I’d really want to go down into Patagonia, see the Torres del Paine. probs would have to plan a whole holiday around Patagonia, though
We never actually made it to TdP, we had been in Patagonia for a while and were sick of being cold and everything costing 2/3x what it did up north.
If I go back to Chile it would be to rent a 4x4 and take my time along the Careterra Austral, just stupendously beautiful and few tourists (because it’s so remote). Had this lake to ourselves for a few hours:
I went to Santiago for a solo long weekend a few years ago and had a great time.
Spent one day in Santiago itself (check out Cerro San Cristobal if you get the chance, hill of the summer, with some sweet teleférico action), one day in Viña del Mar / Valparaiso (pretty cool day-trip, although I mainly wanted to see the Pacific Ocean) and one day up in the Andes, wandering round a snowy reservoir that looked like a Bond villain lair.
Would like to visit the Atacama and/or Patagonia at some point too.
I’d absolutely love to go on that sort of trip. pristine isolation, but somewhat accessible
sounds like a lot of planning is required to not run out of petrol or end up with the 4x4 breaking down, but ofc there’s going to be lots of planning to explore that sort of region
We did it on a bus, which was pretty brutal, especially when we sputtered into the destination town after 11 hours, 3 hours late, at midnight to find our booked hotel had given away our room and were full.
