r/ExploreChile

Hello! My husband and I will be spending a month in Chile in November. We currently have the below planned:

Current Itinerary
Santiago (3 nights)
Atacama (7 nights)
Puerto Varas (7 nights)
Puerto Natales (2 nights)
O trek-(7 nights, already booked)
Puerto Natales (1 Night)
Santiago (2 nights before flight home)

We are trying to decide if we would be better off removing Puerto Varas from our itinerary and just spending more time in Puerto Natales. A few considerations:

-We don’t mind, and actually prefer, having some down time on our trips.
-We will be doing the O trek mostly supported (using pre set up tents/sleeping bags) we WILL need time to grocery shop and rent some gear prior to the trek. For those who have done this, will two nights be enough before the hike or will this just feel chaotic?
-My husband doesn’t love flying, so cutting Puerto Varas would remove one flight which might be nice.

Would love any feedback on any part of our itinerary. We are so looking forward to our time in Chile and thanks in advance for any help!

Hi people, we would like to travel and explore the country as much as possible in dec/jan with our son (will be 9mo). Please share recommendations and DON’T DOs. We are young and used to bagback around but of course now we will go easy on our planning. Any tips for where is best to rent a car vs fly is highly appreciated. Gracias!

I'm travelling to Chile Nov 18 to Dec 8 and have most of the major parts of our trip booked, but we have two gaps that we haven’t figured out yet. I’d love to hear what people who know / live in / travelled Chile would do with them.

Our fixed itinerary is roughly:

• Nov 18: Santiago
• Nov 19–22: Rapa Nui / Easter Island
• Nov 22: Fly back to Santiago, landing around 11:30 pm
• Nov 25: Fly Santiago → Calama around 9 am
• Nov 25–29: San Pedro Atacama
• Nov 29: Fly to Puerto Natales
• Nov 30–Dec 5: Torres del Paine
• Dec 5: Fly Puerto Natales → Santiago, landing around 9 pm
• Dec 8: Fly Santiago → Home late in the evening

So the two periods we’re trying to decide how to use are:

1. Nov 22 late to Nov 25 morning
We’ll have two full days between Rapa Nui and Atacama.

2. Dec 5 late to Dec 8 evening
We’ll have roughly 2.5 days after Patagonia before flying home.

We’re open to renting a car/private transfers and don’t mind travelling onward after our late flights if it means waking up somewhere worth being the next morning.

Budget is flexible. Thanks for any feedback :)

I lost my phone in San Pedro, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it before I had to return to Brazil.
A few days later, a really kind guy found it and contacted me. He’s willing to help, but neither of us has any idea what the best way is to get it from San Pedro to Brazil.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

We got two weeks in Chile in September (first part), what part of the country should we explore?

Any suggestions welcomed.

Hey everyone!

I’m thinking about taking a trip to Chile to ski around the September 7th, probably from September 4th to 7th.

However, I’ve seen some comments about El Niño potentially affecting snow conditions this season, so I’m wondering if it’s still worth going at that time.

For anyone who follows the Chilean ski resorts or has experience skiing there in early September:

• How are the snow conditions looking this season?
• Is early September usually still a good time to ski?
• Which resort would be the safest bet around that time (Valle Nevado, El Colorado, La Parva, Nevados de Chillán, etc.)?
• Is El Niño actually having a significant impact on the season?
• Would you feel comfortable planning a ski trip for early September, or would you recommend choosing a different date/destination?

The main purpose of the trip would be skiing, so I don’t want to spend the money on the trip and end up with poor snow conditions or only a few runs open.

Any advice or input from people familiar with the local conditions would be greatly appreciated

Hello fellow travellers!

Below is an itinerary that I am trying to plan for.

Fly from SCL to PNT

Spend 2-3 days time driving around TDP

Take a transfer to El Calafete and stay there for one night

Fly to Ushuaia from El Calafete, Spend two days at Ushuaia

Then fly to Buenos Aires (1 day rest)

Then fly to Iguazu, (Stay one night)

then back to Buenos Aires and fly back home.

What do you all think? The part I am not sure about is transfer between TDP/Puerto Natales to El Calafete. What safe and convenient options do I have?

We are active but not athletes by any definition . We are going for our honeymoon here to Argentina and Chile. Please help us if you can with recommendations or suggestions 🙂

Day 1 - fly to Ushuaia

Day 2 - arrive in ushuaia in the late evening

Day 3 - rent car and make way to Emerald Lagoon. In the evening, do the Beagle Channel boat tour starting at 3:00 p.m.

Day 4 - fly to El Calafate , have a nice meal in the evening

Day 5 - take tour perito Moreno glacier , get car rental at night for early start the following day

Day 6 - Early morning drive to El Chalten - Do 20 km mount fitz Roy hike - return car rental

Day 7 - take bus to Puerto natales ' relax and have a nice meal

Day 8 - Do a light guided tour of Torres del plain National park possibly Lago boat tour

Day 9- mirador Las Torres base hike possible guided tour

Day 10- another guided tour of torres del plaine National park

Day 11 - take a bus to Punta arenas - in the evening. Have a nice meal and just walk the city

Day 12 - Isla Magdalena penguin tour

Day 13 - take two flights to get to the Atacama desert

Day 14- Valley of the Moon sunset tour

Day 15 - piedras Rojas , altiplanics lagoons and salar full day tour

Day 16- fly to Santiago and spend the evening there.

Day 17 - leave chile to come back home

I have two days I can add in between for rest days or to do more exploration or to give ourselfs leeway for bad weather days. Please tell me where I can add them... Or Feel free to say anything about my plan.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning a solo trip to Chile in mid-November (around 15 days) and would love some honest feedback on this itinerary. I won’t be renting a car.

Itinerary:

- Day 1–3: Santiago + day trip to Valparaíso

- Day 4–7: Easter Island (4 nights)

- Day 8–11: San Pedro de Atacama (4 nights)

- Day 12: Back to Santiago

- Day 13–14: Puerto Varas / Lake District

- Day 15: Back to Santiago, evening departure

Must-do activities:

- Diving on Easter Island

- Stargazing in the Atacama

- Photography (landscapes, moai, desert, volcanoes and lakes)

Questions for those who have been / locals:

- Does this itinerary feel too rushed, or is it realistic at a reasonable pace?

- Is mid-November a good time for these regions (weather, wind, rain, crowds)?

- Any issues with diving on Easter Island in November (sea conditions, visibility, operators)?

- Are flights between Santiago and Puerto Montt reliable and frequent? Is getting to Puerto Varas easy without a car?

- Are 4 nights in Atacama enough or too many? (planning Valle de la Luna, Altiplanic Lagoons, Tatio Geysers + stargazing)

- Any particularly scenic spots I’m missing that would be worth adjusting the itinerary for?

- Any general logistics tips or things people usually underestimate?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

A friend and I are going on a jam-packed Argentina/Chile trip and plan on going to Atacama but, only for a day. We would most likely arrive at CJC airport at around 8-9 am and catch a flight the following day at around 9-10 am.

What would be some recommended itineraries for the ~24 hours we will be there? I think visiting 2 of the main attractions is enough for us and would want to explore San Pedro de Atacama for a couple hours as well. We will rent a car, if that makes sense.

Thank you in advance.

I currently study in the UK but I plan to go to Chile for my year abroad, to PUC de Chile, from july 2027 to july 2028. By the time I'll go I should have B2 proficiency level in Spanish. I have an interest to go there for the nature and it being a unique country but I heard negative stuff other people said about Spanish there being hard to understand, so I'm scared that I'll struggle to connect with the locals there, eventhough I'd love to. My otger options are Monterrey in Mexico and Buenos Aires. Any suggestions or experiences will be extremely helpful.

Por pega me tengo que ir, soy completamente santiaguina, nunca he vivido en región. Es una oportunidad laboral buenisima, de lo contrario no me iría nicagando. Siempre ha sido mi sueño vivir en la playa, pero jamás me imaginé que esa playa terminaría siendo Arica.

Hey everyone, we are planning a trip to Chile in later part of January. We are family of 4 with 2 kids (2 and 5). We are there for 9 nights and 10 days.

We are thinking to plan our itinerary as below

3 nights in Santiago

2 nights Valparaíso/concon/ vela del mar

4 nights in Atacama - San Pedro

First thing first is end of January a good time for Atacama or totally avoidable?

Except for internal flight, we are planning to self drive even to the geysers and other attractions in Atacama desert (health permitted)

Kids are used to 7000-8000ft altitude, and I have personally driven and explored areas at 11000-13000ft in different parts of the world.

What do you guys suggest? Are the number of days enough? Do we change our iteniary, no of days here and there ?

Thanks in advance.

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