5-6 days in Chile - Road trip maybe??

[casanovawa]

Ok, thinking of stopping in Santiago in Chile for 5-6 days and was pondering hiring a car and doing a bit of a road trip...

I know JohnM has done a bit of a road trip and think he headed North, has anyone else done this or headed south and is that more interesting/nicer environment?

Just looking for some ideas about what is worth doing...

Not a bit wine drinker, more into photography and seeing amazing/interesting sites and natural beauty and some history...

Looking around end of April for weatherwise...

 

[opusman]

5-6 days is not that long, and Chile is big (well, long anyway). If you want to go to the desert or Patagonia in that space of time you'd really need to fly I think.

Personally I would just spend a few days in Santiago itself and then maybe get a car and go to Valpo for a couple of nights, stopping at a nice winery for lunch along the way.

 

[RooFlyer]

Stand by! JohnM and I will be driving south from Santiago the middle of next week ; may be AFF's first trip report in stereo.

Two days drive south of Santiago to Puerto Montt, then a cruise on the fjords as far south as the San Rafael glacier (the very bottom of the map), then back to Puerto Montt and across to Argentina and up the eastern side of the Andes. Couple of weeks all up.



Lots of great scenery south of Santiago and across the southern Andes.

I have previously done a work trip where we flew south of Puerto Montt to Balmaceda - its not on the map but Coyhaiqui is; its the the big town in the area (Patagonia); Andes not as high as further north, but forest covered and a world class trout fishing area. Roads are pretty good, drivers aren't. Probably need to go further south still to get a proper 'Patagonia' experience.

I'll know better in a couple of weeks, but I'd say you could comfortably spend 5 days driving between Santiago and Puerto Montt, and even a bit further south, but if you are in the area, look at doing the cruise on the fjords.

 

[Denali]

Stand by! JohnM and I will be driving south from Santiago the middle of next week....

Hopefully you wont be driving the same car/rego plate as the Top Gear Team last time they headed into Patagonia.

 

[jeng]

There is plenty to see in Santiago if you haven't been before. The free (for tips) city walking tour is a great way to familiarise yourself with the city. There are great museums and galleries and a day trip or overnight to Valparaiso is great

 

[casanovawa]

I do like exploring cities, but of late I have also enjoyed doing some road trips and seeing what is outside the cities...

I've done several int he US, drove around Oman for 5 days in December, 8 days around Europe in August, drove out to Kruger NP in Sth Af a year or two ago...

Need to do a few write ups....

and yes, understand its a tall, thin country.... But if the advice is just do a couple of cities I'm good for that...

I see on some people's flightmemory maps what looks like flights up Chile with lots of hops along the way, are flights relatively cheap there (didn't think there were lots of LCCs in South America) or are there any milk runs that allow you to go on a run and see a bunch of places even if just landing and then taking off again??

 

[casanovawa]

I did look a year or two back at doing a cruise from Buenos Aries to Santiago going down around the bottom of Sth Am, stopping in at Ushaia and going through some of those fjords etc which i think would be pretty cool...

 

[astrosly]

Ok, thinking of stopping in Santiago in Chile for 5-6 days and was pondering hiring a car and doing a bit of a road trip...

I know JohnM has done a bit of a road trip and think he headed North, has anyone else done this or headed south and is that more interesting/nicer environment?

Just looking for some ideas about what is worth doing...

Not a bit wine drinker, more into photography and seeing amazing/interesting sites and natural beauty and some history...

Looking around end of April for weatherwise...

If you're interested in sites, history and natural beauty and have time from Santiago have you considered going to Easter Island for a few days? Rano Kau is a great half day walk around the crater and Orongo village, Rano Raraku for the moai quarry and Tongariki at sunrise is spectacular. Well worth 3 or even 4 days with a couple of days in Santiago before/after. I went for a week in April last year and the weather was perfect - warm and mostly dry. Also did a horse ride up to the highest hill (if that's your thing) and there is a nice beach on the northern part of the island. Swam and feed turtles in the cove near the town, had a very relaxing and contemplative time.

 

[casanovawa]

I would've liked to go to Easter Island, but then i looked at the prices for air fares and no award seats and thought better of it...

 

[astrosly]

I would've liked to go to Easter Island, but then i looked at the prices for air fares and no award seats and thought better of it...

Guess when you are only several weeks out it is quite expensive ... especially on the AU or US site but sales from Chile can be reasonable. I see it is about AU$1500 return pp from https://www.latam.com/en_au/ but go to https://www.latam.com/es_cl/ and though you have to navigate in Spanish I see that you can do a return for about 223000 CLP which is about AU$450.