asap216

My wife and i are going to visit chile end of next month for 7 days, short i know but i don't have much vacation time, we land in santiago then we are going to book a flight immediately to somewhere in the patagonia just not sure where. Lake district, Torres del Paine and Bariloche have all been catching our eye, very different places but with limited time we figure we fly into one of these areas and explore from there. We can't decide due to all the pictures we look at are very beautiful. She really wants to see the glaciers so if we decide to go that route what is the best airport to fly into? Extremely vague questions but I'm just writing down my thoughts and will elaborate further as responses come in and if i add more detail. We fly in end of august if that makes a difference.

mjs

You do realize it’s winter in Chile in August

asap216

yes we do realize that

thursdaysd

I saw some impressive glaciers in El Calafate, but that's in Argentina.

https://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/...Perito-Moreno/
https://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/...More-Glaciers/

crellston

It is mid winter in Torres de Paine and many /most of the hotels and camp grounds will close down at that time. At that time of year , further north may be better. We spent some time around Pucon in Chile . The area around Villarrica volcano and lake is stunning and a pretty major ski resort - you could be in Switzerland. From there we crossed to San Martin de los Andes in Argentina, also very pretty and situated on a lake - famed for its chocolate and BBQ lamb - Bothe delicilous. From there we rented a car and drove down through the Seven Lakes via Villa de Angostura to Bariloche - also an alpine like ski resort. I think you would have enough time for that - just.

Glaciers I cant help with as we didn't make it that far south as we got distracted and headed east to see the whales in Peninsula Valdez.

Before making any choices, I would check out the flight schedules. Flying is always problematic in South America and IME , the simpler the itinerary, the better.

mjs

Bariloche would be a nice winter holiday with direct flights from Santiago but it is in Argentina if that matters to you. The Chilean Lake District would offer much of the same attractions, No glaciers though. El Calafate in Argentina has glaciers but flying there would take somewhere around 10 hours each way. Torres del Paine is open all year and you can get direct flights from
Ssntiago. It takes a few hours drive from
Puerto Natalie on paved and dirt roads. Many hotels in TDP are closed in the winter but there are some that stay open. The Explora hotel would be a brilliant location for a honeymoon albeit somewhat expensive. Beware that flying in South America is not always reliable and you do
nit have much time, especially if you also want to visit Santiago. TDP probably needs 4-5 nights just by itself, especially with limited daylight hours.