anjun

I wanted to write about our recent trip to Chile for my son's spring break. There wasn't a lot of information available when I was planing the trip, so I thought I can write how our experience was so it may help in other's future planing. This was a one week tour.
We flew Delta direct in and out of Santiago. Arrived early in the morning, went to pick up our car. This was the one bad experience of our trip. We had rented with Rentalcars.com, 3 months before, and paid in full at that time. When we arrived at Econorent they said they did not have our vehicle and they could only give us a 9 person manual van, instead of an automatic minivan as we had reserved. We said we could not drive manual, they were not able to do anything for us, said we had to contact Rentalcars.com for a refund. When I contacted them they said that Econorent said we never showed up to pick up the car! The issue is still not resolved. We went from vendor to vendor till we found what we needed. So off to a rough start. Driving in Santiago was not difficult if you have a GPS. It is similar to the US. We had lunch at Bocanariz, a wine bar, my son picked out. We were able to do a free walking tour with Tour4Tips at 3pm. Booked ahead, but I don't think it's really necessary. It was educational. Dinner was at Peumayen in Bellavista. This was an amazing experience. The decor beautiful and the whole dining experience was an education in Chilean culture.

Next we drove to Valapariso next day. Again no problems with GPS. Stayed at the Verso Hotel. Mostly because it had free parking. The roads are narrow in many places and the one ways make it confusing. Thats true for everywhere in Chile, too many one ways. We walked to Pablo Naruda's house from the hotel, it was only a couple of blocks away. We also did the walking tour again with Tour4Tips. This guide was more entertaining and not as serious as the Santiago guide. There is a large underground parking lot on the water side of Sotomayor Plaze where we meet for the tour.

Next day we drove to the wine country. I decided on Colchagua as there was some information about the vineyards there. We went straight to Los Apalta Winery, this was a very nice contemporary winery. Then went to Viu Manent for lunch at Rayuela Wine and Grill. Great outdoor seating. Food was good too. We stayed at Posada Colchagua Hotel. This was a very pretty spot. The hostess was truly a wonderful person. She went out of her way to be helpful, she was a delight. That night we ate at Puralma which I had booked the cooking show ahead of time. This was the highlight of our trip.

monpetit

Thank for the beginning of tripreport.
Where do you sleep in Santiago ?
I think it's necessary to be very attentive with rental car in Chile, even with the major companies.
It is our 4th trip in Chile and if we have had never problems with internal flights( LAN or Sky), restaurants (only few dishes were not at our taste but it was our taste) or with hotel(always fine) there are always some détails with cars :
- or the category you want is not avalaible( this year in Santiago by Hertz and so a big van in place of a medium 4x4 : no supplemnt but you use more gas..)
- or they add some supplement on your CC(this year the highway card system even if it was paid before)
- or there are not in time to come back to take the car at hotel(this year at Santiago but I refuse to pay the parking lot more than the schedule : I have to argue for this...).
And it was at each time with great company(Hertz,...).
It has been our only problem there in our 4 sejours...
The only advantage to reserve with a great company is that they are reactive on the complaints but it would be easier to do all in the rental conditions...

I am surprised by the small time people stay in Santiago.
We always find this town "captivant" and a nice place to relax or at arrival or before flying back in France.
Did you stay more at the end of the sejour ??
Erik

eliu

In the last year I travel with my boyfriend to Pucón,located in the south. We rented an campervan and it was a great experience, very comfortable and easy roads. We rented the campervan from Santiago with andescampers.
if you want you can check the website here www.andescampers.com

I hope more people visit chile, is an amazing country, many things to see. Maybe next year I come back, but the next time I would love to go to the desert