Chile & Argentina
 

Planning a 12 day trip over next Christmas/New Years holidays. First things:
1. I've been to Buenos Aires before and do so only plan on staying here 3 days this trip.
2. We love beaches
3. We don't want any long bus rides
4. trying to keep the prices manageble.
Any thoughts on the itinerary? Here is what I am thinking..any help would be appreciated.
Arrive in Santiago, spend 2 days in Santiago, 4 days in Vina del Mar, end the trip with 3 days in Buenos Aires. This still leaves me with 2 days..I have no idea where & how..so please help :)
Thanks,
Sergey

You only have two days, maybe Iguazu... the water falls are a must in Argentina...
Flintstones

Iguazzu is a great option, except I think it may be problematic since I don't think I can get there from Santiago, and would need to fly to BA and than fly again to Iguazzu and than fly back to BA...I was hopping for something in between like Lake District, Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba..?? I dunno :)

You could fly to Puerto Montt from Santiago then do the lake crossing into Bariloche. It's a wonderful experience, but does take all day. That would give you roughly 1 1/2 days in Bariloche, personally, I would like at least 3 nights in Bariloche alone!

whats so nice about barilche? I hear about it all the time...but no one i know has been there.

Hi, Picture lakes of d eep blue, mountains , forests, trails for walking or horse riding, all kind of sports, many good restaurants. Bariloche is the small town in the center of all this beautiful scenery. An active little quaint town by a huge lake. From Bariloche there are all kind of pre organized rides into different lakes and of course different destinations. One takes a full day and takes you to Chile , through several lakes and short bus rides. It is called the Cruce de Lagos. I guess the best if to do a google and see some pictures. Near Bariloche there are estancias, other little towns like Villa Angostura...etc

In winter of course all kind of winter sports.

Bariloche and especially the area around has some of the most striking natural beauty anywhere in the world.

Is it possible to drive from Santiago to Bariloche and than fly from Bariloche to Buenos Aires?

ok nevermind...driving I confused Bariloche with Mendoza...

Is it a nice drive from Santiago to Mendoza? It's really close..only 200km
And is Mendoza worth it?

The scenery is awesome on the highway, but it is not as close as it sounds due the climbing up to 3400 meters to cross the Andes and customs amd immigration. Mendoza is a pleasant small city, a few good restaurants, but nothing spectacular.

i say skip santiago. i love chile, but santiago really isn't much to look at.

It is possible to drive from Mendoza to Santiago but
it is a difficult drive, I would not do it. Buses are a great option.