Circumstances mean that we will arrive in Santiago early one Saturday morning, and have to be in Punta Arenas before dinner the following Friday. (the "circumstances" being that Friday night was when we were able to get Business Class flight from Miami for a relatively small number of miles )

We would like to visit (we think) Santiago, Valparaiso and Mendoza. We were thinking of the following, but need your advice - more or less time in each place, skip one of the locations altogether, etc.

Saturday -arrive Santiago around 7 a.m. - Santiago (sleep Santiago)
Sunday - spend the day in Santiago. Drive to Valparaiso later in the day. (sleep Valparaiso, or would it be better to do Valparaiso as a day trip from Santiago on Monday?).
Monday - spend the day in Valparaiso (sleep SCL)
Tuesday - Fly to Mendoza early (sleep Mendoza)
Wednesday - Mendoza (sleep Mendoza)
Thursday - Mendoza; fly back to SCL as late as possible (sleep SCL).
Friday - fly to Punta Arenas Friday morning.

Needless to say, we are not "slow travelers". Also, we will be on a 14-day trek, followed by a 4-day cruise, after Punta Arenas (after the cruise, we will be in Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls).

Thoughts?

I would stay in Valparaiso rather than doing it as a day trip.

One night?

I really enjoyed our time in Valapariso, a fascinating town with an interesting history, some great restaurants. We spent 5-6 days there with a side trip to a place outside of Vina Del Mar to do some horse riding around the beaches and dunes. Definitely worth staying two nights which would give you one full day and possibly a prat day depending on bus times.

Not a great fan of Mendoza but I suppose it largely depends on ones interests. I much preferred the area around Salta in NW Argentina.

crellston, was the day you spent in Vina del Mar worth it? I spoke with a friend yesterday who owns a vineyard in Napa and did travel by car over the Andes to Mendoza. They loved it, but she thinks that if we don't have time to drive to Mendoza, it's not worth it - in the end, she said, its a long way to go for "just some wine country".

If we decide NOT to go to Mendoza, we would have all of Saturday (arrive 7 a.m.) through late Thursday in the Santiago/Valparaiso area. Maybe we'll take a day tour into the Andes. What else would you suggest doing with our "extra" time?

Our day was not so much IN Vina Del Mar. We spent and hour or so in the town which was pleasant enough, but we had the best time doing some horse riding in the dunes valleys and along the beaches outside of the town. Some spectacular scenery, some easy riding - even for me - I think I only had one or two mishaps. Halfway through we stopped for and excellent gaucho bbq.

Hopefully one or two of these photos will appear

Apparently not!

https://www.fodors.com/g/album/9840707

I give up!

They came through! Did you do that activity with a group tour, or on your own?

Seems they came through twice and some not at all!

Anyway, we arranged that day with Rene the owner of our B&B in Valaparaiso. Just had a quick google and it seems they are still going La Nona Bed & Breakfast

I liked Valparaiso better than Santiago but you could likely still do a full day in Santiago.

Vina del Mar is a typical high rise beach town with not much character to it. But definitely where the weathier classes would likely take their dinners and shopping, high rise condos and hotels.

Valparaiso has more "character" with the brightly painted metal siding, ascensors, graffiti art tours, etc. If you are still relatively mobile I would look for a lodging up in Cerro Concepcion or Cerro Alegre.

I did the tips based walking tours with these guys
https://tours4tips.com/tour/valparaiso-highlights/