I published this question on the Argentina board, and got only reasons to choose our extra vacation nights in Argentina rather than Santiago - but I'm wondering if there are Chile devotees who might have thoughts about why Santiago might still be a good idea. It seems like there are places to visit, within a few hours of Santiago, that would be interesting to see for a few days in addition to Santiago, proper -- but I'm especially wondering if the weather will be a problem.

Will be in SA late July / early August, and had been thinking we'd fly to Santiago after 6 nights in BA and 3 nights in Iguazu -- total of 16 nights for the trip. Having read a lot of positives about the Salta area in Argentina, we started reconsidering, and thinking perhaps we should stay in Argentina the whole time, ending our trip in the northwest.

We'd very much appreciate any thoughts about our options, or other suggestions. We're a married couple traveling without our kids, and night life isn't an issue. We do tend to dislike cold weather (at least half of us). And we're Californians used to wine country here, so wineries might be nice to tour, but we'd never choose a trip simply to see more of them.

Thanks very much.

The trouble with flying into Chile is that you will have to pay a reciprocity fee of US$131 each if you are from the USA. That puts a wobble in anyone's budget. It is only applicable if you fly in, not at land borders. But overland is not a good idea at that time of year.
If it were not for that, there are certainly lots of places around Santiago to visit. Many vineyards, the coast and the ski slopes are all within under 2 hours from the city.
Santiago weather and BA weather are very similar, a bit drier in Santiago.

We recently spent 6 nights in Buenos Aires and 5 in Santiago. We found Santiago very comfortable, easy to get around. Dining was excellent with emphasis on seafood which we prefer to meat. Within an hour or so you can be in Valaparaiso, an historic and funky small city perched on hills, or in various different areasofwine country.We thought it looked a lot like California. The Chilean peopleare incredibly kind. We expected to like Buenos Aires, which we did, but Santiago was a very pleasant surprise.

Valparaiso is very unusual to say the least! The multi-coloured coruugated iron houses situated all over teh hills of the town make it IMHO one of teh most photogenic towns in SA. The graffiti walk is well worth an afternoon of anyones time. It was here that we found some of the best food in SA. The restaurants are very varied and offer some innovative cooking as well as teh standard SA fare. We particularly enjoyed a days horse riding in the dunes, beaches and woods near Vina del Mar.

I think we have chosen to visit Santiago for our extra 6 nights, with the last 2 at Vina, with a car, so we can explore the entire area including Valparaiso. Any other suggestions for day trips (other than skiing) from Santiago for one of our days there? Thanks for your replies.

You could make a tour of wineries either in the Casablanca Valley, between Santiago and Valparaiso or slightly further away in the Colchagua Valley.

v ina del mar was to developed for me. i enjoyed zapallar, located a little further north, much more. it has one of the best seafood restaurants in chile and great walkways along the sea. there are great wineries almost any direction from santiago. the main drawback to santiago is the terrible air pollution. one of my favorite places was matetic vineyards and guest house, expensive but very relaxing and great food, i think its just off rte.78.