Hardcore powder hounds know that as soon as the days start getting longer in the northern hemisphere, it’s time to head to the Chilean Andes, and now more travelers are starting to take notice. These excellent resorts are about an hour from Santiago, close enough to make a day trip.

Valle Nevado is the best known, with 44 ski runs and many options for hotels, restaurants, and bars. Ski or snowboard directly over to La Parva, famous for its longest run at 2.5 miles (4km). Buy the America’s Pass for multiple days of skiing at both, or a single-day pass for each. Children under 13 and adults over 75 ski free at both resorts.

Nearby, El Colorado has more beginner-friendly slopes and also lets children under 13 ski free. The resort has several hotels with ski-in/ski-out access and swimming pools, plus several restaurants, including Chile’s highest restaurant. At 10,500 feet above sea level, you can enjoy lunch with an unequaled view at the resort’s Olimpo Restaurant.

These resorts are within a half hour’s drive from each other, so it’s worth your time to pick a hotel at one and stay for a few days to have time to experience all three.

Farther south, about two hours driving from the city of Concepción or five hours from Santiago, is the spectacular and exciting volcano resort Nevados de Chillán. Test your stamina on South America’s longest run: 8 miles (13km). The three volcanoes surrounding the resort are all over 10,000 feet above sea level and frequently active, though rarely enough to cause evacuations or cancel skiing. You can check their activity level on Chile’s National Geologic Service website.

Of Valle Nevado’s three hotels, Tres Puntas is best for groups or families, with room options including sets of bunk beds perfect for devoted ski bums. Prices include lift tickets, breakfast, dinner, and equipment lockers. Hilton fans will love the new Tru by Hilton Chillán Ferrat, opened in 2025 and just an hour and a half from Nevados de Chillán.

The Ica Valley shimmers in year-round sunshine, four hours south of Lima and just an hour inland from the coastal Paracas National Reserve. During the austral summer, November to March, the valley’s 300 or so vineyards brighten the desert with stripes of green. The city center’s main attraction is the historic Plaza de Armas, but most people come to Ica for wine and pisco tastings at the wineries and distilleries that surround the city.

Professional sommeliers at wineries like Tambo de Tacama direct wine tastings, paired with cheese boards. Follow with a meal of creamy chicken ají de gallina or beef stir fry lomo saltado at Tacama’s excellent restaurant, or wander the vineyards where South America’s first grape vines were planted in the 1540s. There are about a hundred wineries in Ica and almost as many pisco distilleries, a spirit made from grape juice distilled after fermentation.

Spend one of your evenings at Huacachina, South America’s only natural oasis, just 20 minutes from Ica, surrounded by miles of Sahara-worthy dunes, where everybody heads out to the dunes for sandboarding and sunset. Budget tours put you on 12-passenger vehicles, while local companies like Go Adventure Ica hire professional drivers to zip over the dunes in 3-passenger Polaris dune buggies.

Two hours south of Ica are the famous Nazca Lines, mysterious and massive geoglyphs best viewed from the air. Half-hour tours depart several times a day from the Nazca airstrip.

Ica’s best hotels are at vineyards, with Hotel Viñas Queirolo and Hacienda la Caravedo standing out for beautiful rooms and vineyard views. There are about a dozen hostels around the Huacachina oasis for those who want to stay after sunset. If you love sleeping to the sound of the ocean, stay in nearby Paracas, which has a variety of budget and mid-range hotels, plus beach properties like Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort, and Aranwa Paracas Resort & Spa.