moonininjuly

I will be in Santiago, Chile for 5 days around New Years. I travel with my husband and children, ages 2 and 4. I am looking for itinerary suggestions. I am definitely interested in Buin Zoo and Cajon del Maipo. We would like to also visit a winery.

My questions are:
1) Should we stay the entire time in Santiago and do day trips or spend 1 or 2 nights near Valparaiso or Santa Cruz or in the Andes?
(We are debating lodging the entire time in Santiago or spending 1 or 2 nights at either Cascadas de las Animas or the Eco Lodge Tree House in Valparaiso. We have hotel points for Santiago, so we are debating whether we should just take day trips to the environs or spend the money to stay at a cool outdoorsy type place for the 1 or 2 nights. )

2) Are there any wineries that are more child friendly than others either around Santiago or Valparaiso? Maybe ones with animals or a buggy ride? Definitely with pretty natural surroundings.

3) Any particular suggestions for young children?

4) Any New Years Eve recommendations? Our children likely will not stay awake till midnight for fireworks.

vce123

I would strongly recommend to stay in Valparaiso or Viña del Mar for two days at least. Santiago gets really hot during summer so it would be a good idea to go to the beach.
If you are going to be in Valparaiso/Viña del Mar for New Years Eve try to rent an apartment for the festivities, that way you could have your kids asleep and enjoy the fireworks from the balcony, or stay in a nice hotel.
I do not know any of the accommodations you are suggesting since I am a local resident, so I can't comment on that.
Here you can find a blog about an australian family that lived in Valparaiso for one year
http://harpersinchile.blogspot.com/

If you do come to Valparaiso, don't miss ascensor Polanco my son loved the idea of a hidden elevator after going though a cave uuuuuuu And my son also loved to eat icecreams at GRIDOs thats very near the Muellle de pasajeros (passengers dock) where you can take boats to have a look at the harbor.
There the icecream cones have all sorts of colorful candy balls attached and you know how kids love that
One problem of the city in Valparaiso is that in order to really get the charm of it yo need to visit the hills, Cerro Alegre, Cerro Concepción, Paseo 21 de Mayo, Mirador Baron. It can be a little tricky when kids get tired of walking, but you can always use the elevators.
Driving from Santiago back and forth during the festivities will be horrible, since most of the santiaguinos go to Valparaiso for the fireworks show, so have in mind the traffic jams.
Well and driving inside Valparaiso after midnight in Ne Years Eve will also be impossible, so I would recommend that you get a nice acommodation, or apartment, maybe near a Mirador, and do not plan to commute. At hills and Miradores you can get the feel of the people preparing for new year's.
Local people go to Miradores as early as lunch time, have a barbacue and beers and sit there reserving a seat for the evening.
You can also go to Con-con, or accommodate there. The food is great I recommend Reineta And also, buy wine from the local botillerias or supermarkets, I know nothing about wine, but most of the foreign people who come here complement even the cheapest ones.
I haven't been to wineries so I cannot recommend any of it.

moonininjuly

Thank you for your reply. Do you know the names of any hotels that might offer a view of the fireworks?

What is con con?

Does the city easily accommodate a stroller?

Huentetu

It will be difficult around NYE to finds seats on a bus going to Valparaíso so, if you are considering it, you should buy the tickets as soon as you arrive. What date do you arrive?

You can see fireworks all along the coast from Valparaíso to Concon (a place on the beach). Any hotel with a view in Valparaíso is likely to have been booked long ago. A million people go to the coast for the fireworks. You are really going to need a car if you stay in Concon because public transport is not good. I would suggest you see if there is somewhere in Viña del Mar as it is flatter than Valparaíso and more stroller friendly. There is a commuter train between the two so visiting one from the other is easy. You will find hostals and hotels in Viña and Valparaíso and possible cabins as well in Reñaca and Concon further up the coast.

moonininjuly

We will rent a car although the idea of hitting massive traffic jams is not highly appealing.

Huentetu

As long as you don't try to go down on the 31st you should be OK on the highway. You will have traffic down on the coast though at that time of year. The road to Viña del Mar splits on the highway from the road to Valparaíso, so keep your eyes open for the one you want. There are plenty of restaurants to stop on the way if you need to stretch legs.