Chile

Ballard

After considering it for a few weeks I've booked flights to Santiago in mid-December. I'll be in Chile for three weeks and haven't done too much in the way of investigation yet but I've got plenty of time for that.

At least one, and probably two, friends will join me and there's an outside chance of a third for two out of the three weeks.

Easter Island would be nice but the flights aren't cheap so that's not under consideration but any other suggestions would be appreciated.

richardw

Is the flight refundable?

Ballard

richardw wrote: »

Is the flight refundable?

Why do you ask or is this humour?

Peccary

Stunning hiking and wildlife watching in Patagonia, other worldly scenery of geysers and volcanoes in Atacama. What do you like?

richardw

No.
For three weeks, I'd fly to Santiago de Chile and return home from either Lima or São Paulo.

Duckyduck

richardw wrote: »

No.
For three weeks, I'd fly to Santiago de Chile and return home from either Lima or São Paulo.

Really?! If it were 3 months then sure, but you'd be racing round getting to either of those in 3 weeks.

If I had 3 weeks in Chile I'd head south to Patagonia which looks incredible, not very MSE at all but you could go all the way down to Ushaia and take a side trip to Antartica. Get back to the mainland and head north to Buneos Aires, then a bus across the Andres, sample the wine in Mendoza before going back to Santiago.

Alernatively head north to the Atacama desert, then through the salt flats and la Paz in Bolivia and up to Machu Picchu, but that's a lot to cover in 3 weeks.

Ballard

Peccary wrote: »

Stunning hiking and wildlife watching in Patagonia, other worldly scenery of geysers and volcanoes in Atacama. What do you like?

I think that Patagonia is a very good bet and had looked at Atacama as that also looks very interesting. We will need to do a fair bit of research to make the best use of our time there.

I'm not massively into beach holidays but a couple of days relaxing towards the end of the trip would go down a treat.

Ballard

richardw wrote: »

No.
For three weeks, I'd fly to Santiago de Chile and return home from either Lima or São Paulo.

I don't think that three weeks is enough time to see much of Chile so I'll stick to the one country. I had originally thought about taking six weeks rather than three and travelling more but it wasn't really practical.

Peccary

Ballard wrote: »

I think that Patagonia is a very good bet and had looked at Atacama as that also looks very interesting. We will need to do a fair bit of research to make the best use of our time there.

I'm not massively into beach holidays but a couple of days relaxing towards the end of the trip would go down a treat.

Hi, December is the best time to visit Patagonia as the days are long and the weather as good as it will be. We were on a big trip around South America so zig-zagged between Chile and Argentina going south to north. Buses are relatively luxurious in Chile and overnight ones will help you maximise your time.

We started in Punta Arenas where we visited penguin colonies, then we went to Puerto Natales from where we did the W trek in Torres del Paine national park (4-5 day walk)

We then went to El Calafate in Arg to walk on the glacier, Bariloche and Mendoza. There was loads more we could have done in Patagonia/The Lakes (fjord cruises, volcano hikes) but budget restraints forced us to move on

Then to Santiago and a bus to San Pedro de Atacama. While in SP we did a tour of the geysers and hot springs. We travelled to Bolivia from there via the salt flats but they might have out and back tours. We did this in SP which was brilliant http://www.spaceobs.com/en/Services/Star-Tours

Didn't do any beaches sorry!

Chile is very easy to travel in and felt more European than any other country we visited in the region. After the other big cities we visited in the region, Santiago felt very safe and orderly (some would say boring) Chileans speak very accented Spanish which i struggled with despite being a competent speaker but English was widely spoken.

Sorry it's a long post but i hope it helps with some ideas!

ibizafan_2

We did a tour of Patagonia a couple of years ago, and we flew to Santiago at the beginning. The scenery is amongst the best on Earth, and I would thoroughly recommend it. Santiago itself is a nice city with plenty to see, and we also went to the wine valley and Valparaiso before flying south to Punta Arenas and then Ushuaia. The only thing I found hard in Chile is the sheer number of stray dogs on the streets, although there are charities in Santiago looking after those there.

Ballard

ibizafan wrote: »

The only thing I found hard in Chile is the sheer number of stray dogs on the streets, although there are charities in Santiago looking after those there.

Having recently returned from India I'm well used to stray dogs.