love_travel11

Hello,

We are planning a trip to Chile in early October for 10 days. After reading a number of posts on this forum, i am really confused about the itinerary - there are so many things to see and i am not sure what we should try to fit in.
We like natural beauty, history and culture. We are not much into trekking. Given this, what would be your suggestions for our first trip to Chile?

PS : Couple of things that really interested us were the penguins and glaciers. But then, if these are completely out of the way w.r.t the other destinations in Chile, we will be happy to do them in our next trip (and we hope there will be one!)

Thank you.

schlegal1

I was as overwhelmed as you are when we did our planning. The Chile book from Fodor's has two sample itineraries in it that I found to be helpful guidance as we planned.

The big debate was whether to go North or South from Santiago. We were actually able to fit both (we were there more than 10 days) but if I had to choose one I would go South. We share the same interests you mentioned and were able to see a lot of natural beauty, hiking, outdoor adventure, and, yes, we saw penguins!

Tubulus

Everything in Chile is out of the way - by that I mean it is long and skinnyas I'm sure you know, so assuming you want to leave Santiago/Valpo you will have to fly somewhere. We enjoyed the Lakes district (lots of light hiking/beautiful outdoors area), and you can do a daytrip or a night in Chiloe to see the penguins there. I would like to go back and see the North next time. Patagonia looks beautiful but for me I'm not sure it is worth the time investment/weather uncertainty given we are not big trekkers as well.

tower

Love_Travel:
Go south. Although it was awhile ago,1994, we did the Santiago-Valpo-Vina del Mar, Lake District-Puerto Montt segment, on our own, driving. Very colorful and memorable. (It was part of our larger itinerary, PM-Bariloche on the beauitful Andean lakes,BA,Iguassu, Rio, Amazon river boat trip):

Santiago- three days (Hyatt)
Valpo/Vina del Mar-two days (Oceanic)
Wine country/Hacienda Los Lingues (horse ranch and lodgings)-
two days.
The string of lakes, four days(Pucon at Antumulal resort inn,
Frutillar at Kleine Salzburg B and B, Puerto Varas
and terminus at Puerto Montt-3 days.

Find a South American Handbook latest edition, very helpful with many maps.

Get ready to fully enjoy a friendly, beautiful country.

October is spring and the colors will be vivid.

Stu Tower

Here are a few selected, scanned pics(Pre-digital)..just click on magnifying glass icon for each group of pics, move mouse around accordingly)

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...esOfChile1994#

tower

Love Travel...I can't speak for today, but back then we found the entire trip to be on the sunny side of reasonable...food, lodgings particularly.

yestravel

We had the same difficulty deciding where to go and finally decided to skip the North. We absolutely loved the Valparaiso and the South. Torres del Paine is spectacular, but I don't know what the weather will be then. There is the Grey Glacier there and lots of beautiful hikes. El Calafate, ARG is a couple hours by bus from TdP so that's another possibility for glaciers. The Chilean Lake District is lovely and there is lots of outdoor activities in the area.
We're in the process of writing our TR and u can find it at
http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-chile-arg.cfm

I have to disagree with tower on the prices at least thee days -- relative to other SA countries Chile is one of the more expensive. We had read that, but were still surprised at the prices. Its a beautiful country with much to see and lovely people. Have fun!

tower

yestravel...I think I made it quite clear that I spoke of 17 years ago. Of course prices would be different today..not surprised that they have risen.(You'll notice my pics were 1994). Tourist-wise, we only bumped into three Norte Americanos during our time in Chile. I'm sure that has also increased many fold. Because of the many attrbutes that both you and I speak of, it's hard to keep Chile a secret. I'd love to return. Many happy travels!
stu

yestravel

Bender, nice site. Haven't used them, but will look at it for our next trip.

Tower, We also saw very few Americans where we travelled. Maybe more than 3, but not a whole lot more.

love_travel11

wow! you guys are awesome. So, it looks like we will be doing the Southern region. Will do some work and post the itinerary for your review.

Thank you very much!!

GillsinEurope

love_travel11 - I would love to hear about your trip. We have 9 days and want to see EVERYTHING...though that is obviously impossible. We're thinking Santiago, Vina del Mar, La Serena, and the Lakes. What did you do, how long did you stay in each destination, and what did you think of each?

Canoewench

I was in Chile for ten days. I stayed in Santiago with a weekend trip to the Lake District, which was the highlight of the trip. We did the cruise to Peulla by Catamaran on Lago Todos los Santos which was spectacular, although it does require good weather if you want to see the volcanoes and the details of the Cordillera. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Puerto Varas and also visited Frutillar. The area was settled by Germans in the late 1800's so it is very interesting. I highly recommend a stop by Saltos del Petrohue. Beautiful!

There is a lot to be done out of Santiago. I went to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar one day. I LOVED Valparaiso and would like to spend more time there if I go back. It is an impossible city built of precariously hanging houses on the sides of the steep hills. Very colorful.

Vina del Mar was pretty and had the statue of a moai on the mainland at a museum.

There are many areas with vineyards you can tour and do tastings. I did only one day and a couple of other areas are at the top of my list in the next trip. I want to do a vineyard tour of Valle Casablanca by cart. And the one by charcoal train in the Colchagua Valley.

Santiago itself has a lot to offer. Las Condes equals any major city in modern architecture, gourmet restaurants, etc. Bellavista is Bohemian and fun, and there is a lot of history.

Amy

The place in Chile that I remember with the fondest longing is the Atacama. Gorgeous and unique, and oh, those sunsets! But then, I'm not much of a wine tour person, so it all depends...

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...rip-report.cfm

GillsinEurope

Canoewench - sounds like you did a lot of what my hubs and I want to do! We have 9 days in March and I think I may have too much on our itinerary. What exactly did you do? Do you have a trip report or an itinerary that you could give detail to? I'm struggling with when to fit it all in! Thanks!