sjk

I've only got 11 days and I'm torn about the best way to go about these two destinations.
Here's what I've come up with - your comments would be appreciated!
12/22-arrive santiago
12/23-easter island
12/24-EI
12/25-EI
12/26- back in santiago - flight to Cusco??
12/27-Cusco
12/28-Maachu Pichu
12/29- MP
12/30-MP
12/31-?
1/1-Lima
1/2-Fly home (NYC)
What to do on 12/31? Is there a beach destination on the way to Lima? I'd planned to fly Cusco to Lima but it doesn't have to be that way... Thanks in advance for your comments!

Jeff_Costa_Rica

A couple of things: There are not flights to Easter Island every day of the week, so you don't have unlimited choice of dates. LAN Airlines is the only airline that flies there. I just looked at its website, and there are no Santiago-Easter Island flights on Fridays, and 12/22 is a Friday.

Check the website:

www.lan.com

and see what you can put together.

Then on the way back from Easter Island, the flights arrive in Santiago in the evening. I don't know if that's time to catch a connecting LAN flight to Lima. (No direct Santiago-Cusco flights.) Even if you could get to Lima that night, you'd have missed all the flights from Lima to Cusco. Those mostly depart in the morning or early afternoon for weather reasons.

Easter Island is two hours earlier than the mainland, so coming back to Santiago, you lose two hours. Chile goes on daylight saving time that time of year, but Peru doesn't, so Peru will be two hours behind Chile. You gain two hours when you make that part of the trip.

This is also holiday time and a lot of people will be traveling, both vacationers and locals. Especially given the limited flights to and from Easter Island, I'd try to book something soon.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Maybe I read the schedule incorrectly on the website. When you plug in your dates, it does give a Dec. 22 option, but immediately below, it says, "LAN has no direct flights from Santiago to Easter Island on Friday." So perhaps all it is is a stop en route. (I didn't think there were any stops.) Maybe you can do it after all.

The Dec. 22 flight leaves at 8:50 a.m. Much would depend on when your flight arrives in Santiago.

Jed

The LAN site is difficult to impossible to plan adequately.

However, on Expedia, flight 841 on 12/22 from SCL to IPC is a non-stop flight.

lifelist

What are your intentions with regards to Machu Picchu? Are you hiking the trail? Or, were going to spend 3 nights in MP itself? If you're taking the train, then I would suggest that 3 nights in MP is too many. One night is usually enough. I'd spend the rest of the time in Cusco or the Sacred Valley.

CollegeMom

There are nice beaches in Vina Del Mar within driving distance from Santiago, but Holiday time they are very popular so it may be difficult to find housing without going back to Santiago. If you have a flight out of Santiago, you may prefer to go back after an afternoon at the beach.