we will be at the santiago airport in january, and want to go to vina for 2-3 days. should we rent a car and drive, or is there a bus from the airport? if we drive, do we need to go through santiago (i don't want to drive in a big city)? is the trip an hour, or more?

Getting on the highway to Viña is very easy from the airport, ruta 68. The turn is just beyond the toll outside the airport. There is no bus from the airport but the airport buses will stop at the Pajaritos metro station where you can catch one of the frequent buses to Viña. The drive is 1.5 to 2 hours depending on traffic and is a toll road.

Take a bus, but make sure you go to the bus station in Santiago and take a bus from there to Viña. There are companies at the airport that offer bus rides to Viña but they charge $150 a person. Just find someone who can show you where the bus stop is right outside the airport. The bus will take you to the bus station, and a bus leaves for Viña every 5 minutes. It only will cost about $6 a person. Very easy!

thank you, all. i think we will rent a car at the airport, and return it to the airport. bohemio, your english is very good! mas bueno de mi espanol..........

We just returned from a trip that included Vina. The drive from the airport would be really easy. If that is all the time that you have in the area I would recommend that you spend a bit of it in Santiago which we found more interesting. We stayed at the San Cristobal which attached to the Sheraton and rented a car at the Budget location in the hotel. The hotel is right next to the entrance to the freeway to Vina so we had no trouble with the city driving at all - just straight into a tunnel and out of town. We returned the car to the airport which was also very simple. Enjoy your trip!