Chile🇨🇱

We started our South America adventure in Chile. We took a direct flight from Sydney, Australia to Santiago and spent just under three weeks here. Looking back at our route we would probably change a few things, as Chile is one of the most expensive countries in South America! If we could, we would recommend two weeks as the perfect amount of time to see all the main places whilst also sticking to a good budget. The weather for a few days was also not on our side, considering December is the beginning of their summer. We had a few rainy days so it was hard for us to properly explore. However, at the time we did enjoy not having to rush everything and having a few days to plan and do some admin.

Ahead of going, we were warned to be careful and safe in terms of scams and possessions. From the airport it is recommended to not take a taxi from people inside the airport, they make you pay via card, which is how they get your card details. Proper taxis in Chile you only pay by cash. Either use a company from inside the airport or order your own! In regards to possessions, we never felt unsafe, however, we made sure to never walk through the streets at dark/night time. Make sure to not flash your belongings as well. We were told to keep our camera in our bag and not have it hung around our necks as it will bring unwanted attention. Overall, Santiago is meant to be one of the safest capitals in South America, so we never felt truly unsafe, we just took precautions!

Practice your Spanish! This is something we really wish we took seriously as hardly anyone there speaks English. We know the basics, but once you start speaking it, the locals all assume you can speak it well and that’s when we struggled. Google translate is your best friend, but if you want to get into your Spanish this is the place to practice. So if you know you’re coming here, start doing some Duolingo.

Route

(* What we would suggest)

If you are starting your South and Central America trip from Chile and going up to end in Mexico, we would suggest going to see the Atacama Desert from Santiago first. However, if you are starting in Mexico and ending in Chile or Argentina, we would suggest doing the 4 day trip from Bolivia instead where you can drive across the border from the Salt Flats.

From Santiago, depending on your time and budget, you would most likely need to fly there to avoid long travel days. We have chosen to see the Atacama Desert from Bolivia to fit it with our schedule. However looking back, it probably makes more sense to have done it first from Chile, so this is what we would recommend. There are different options on this, so do your research and see which works best for you!

Santiago

Spend two days here exploring the capital. There’s not a lot to do, but the town centre (Plaza de Armas), is lovely to walk around with lots of museums and historical buildings to look at. We walked a majority of the time but we did use the subway occasionally. They use Bip Cards, which you can get at the station. You can buy one, but use it for two or more people, which is what we did, you just have to tap for every person.

🏨Ventana Sur Hostel
This hostel was amazing, and the perfect place to start our trip. Ivan, the owner is lovely, he makes you feel completely welcome, gives you loads of recommendations and safety tips, and is an overall great host. He offers free breakfast everyday, which you can see in the photos, is a pretty incredible feast, and something we weren’t expecting. He also hosts a hostel BBQ, I think every Tuesday evening, which is worth going to, so you can meet fellow travellers. It’s not that far from the centre, with public transport close and fairly easy to use. You can do laundry, cook your own meals in the kitchen and there’s also a pool, 10/10 stay!

St Lucia Hill Lookout (free)
Only a 30 minute walk from the hostel, we walked to St Lucia Hill, which is the perfect place to see a view over the capital. You can also see the tallest building in South America, and if it is a clear day you can see the Andes behind it.

Funicular, San Crisobal Hill
Take the Funicular up San Cristobal Hill, you can walk up, however, it is very steep and can take over an hour to do so, so on a hot day it won’t be that enjoyable. We chose to walk down instead as the queues for the funicular at the top were very long and not worth the wait. At the top you can chill, grab some food and drinks and see an even better view of the capital.

Museum of National History of Chile (free)
This museum is free to go to and is in the Plaza de Armas. It has different Chilean historical and cultural exhibits and is in a 19th century royal palace. Sadly there were no English translations, but it is a pretty cool museum, especially with it being free.

Food, Santiago

1. El Hoyo was a restaurant by our hostel and we thought we would treat ourselves with a meal out for our first evening. We got a traditional Chilean dish called Cazuela, which is a pork and vegetable stew with mash. The food was incredible here and the atmosphere was too. The perfect place for a few drinks, and experiencing a proper Chilean vibey restaurant.
2. Seafood Market - it was recommended to go to the market and try the fresh ceviche. We went to one of the stalls and got the mixed seafood dish and shared it between us. It was delicious and tasted so fresh, but something we probably wouldn’t have as a full meal. We were expecting a tapas style dish but the portions were huge so definitely recommend sharing and not getting your own.
3. Empanadas are a well known Chilean food so of course we had to try them. They are pastries with all kinds of different fillings, so most of our meals have been on the go, by grabbing an Empanada!

Valparaíso

Do a day trip to Valparaíso from Santiago to see the famous colourful houses in the hills and the huge sea lions by the pier. We got an early bus and it took less than three hours to get there. Personally the whole area isn’t amazing, they don’t particularly look after the streets here. However, once you walk through the colourful, artistic streets in Cero Alegra, it’s a pretty cool place. You will see all kinds of different paintings, artwork and cute shops. Stop off at La Colombina for a coffee and to see the view over the seaside town. When we went it wasn’t that sunny, which didn’t make the town look as colourful as it can be, but it was still a good day trip. Walk to Caleta Portales beach to see different wildlife there. We saw huge sea lions and different kinds of birds, which Ned loved. Then get an evening bus back to Santiago or stay the night depending on your preference.

*Pucon

Would recommend stopping off in Pucon before Puerto Varas for a couple days if you can, we sadly missed this stop and it made no sense for us to go back. Pucon has another volcano that you can do day trips to and hike up, so if that’s not your vibe, you can miss it.

Puerto Varas

Get the bus to Puerto Varas from Santiago. We got the overnight bus, which took twelve hours and worked out really well as the journey flew by, was very comfortable and allowed us not to miss any days travelling. We spent a little more on 180 degree seats so that we could properly lie down for the whole journey. This 100% made the trip better and more comfy, especially for Ned.

🏨Casa Apel Hostel
This hostel was amazing and the reason why we ended up staying here for five nights! It is short walk to the centre, which is a ski resort town, so well equipped with grocery stores, cute cafes, shops and day trips. The hostel itself has huge, comfy beds, a communal place to lounge and the host Ely is lovely.

For a bit of backstory, we had five days that we were planning to use to travel down to Patagonia for the W-Trek instead of flying, however once we looked into it, it made no sense for us to do it via land as it would be very hard, long and we might not even make it in time for our hike. So we booked a cheap flight and had a few extra days to work with. This is where we could have saved a few days in Chile, but we enjoyed chilling and planning our trip to Argentina!

Museo Pablo Fierro (free)
This quirky museum by Pablo Fierro focuses on a collection of all kinds of antique objects and their journey through history. The museum itself is a huge piece of art, the colourful exterior and detailed construction of the museum draws you in. Once inside you will be surrounded by furniture, equipment, photographs and everyday objects that belonged to the first people of Puerto Varas. Every part of the museum tells a story, there are hidden rooms through wardrobes, games rooms and all its random objects makes the museum so interesting to explore and learn about. It’s free to enter but you can donate money at the end to keep up with its maintenance.

Day trip Volcan Osorno
The main sight of Puerto Varas is to see Volcan Osorno over Lago Llanquihue. We opted for a day tour, which allowed us to explore different waterfalls, lakes and to hike up the volcano.

The tour took the whole day and we stopped off at:

1. Laguna La Poza
2. Volcan Osorno
3. Saltos de Petrohué
4. Lagos de Todos los Santos
5. Verde Lagoon

The volcano hike was the main attraction. When we first arrived it was really cloudy and you couldn’t see the volcano or the surrounding views. As we hiked higher and got above the clouds we were lucky enough to have some blue skies and see Volcan Osorno, which was pretty incredible. On a clear sky you would normally be able to see the surrounding mountains and Volcán Puntiagudo too.

Explore Frutillar
Frutillar is a cute German town only 30 minutes away from Puerto Varas by car. We hired a car for the day and drove there for the afternoon. We walked round the town, stopping at the waterfront beach, the theatre and the cute shops and cafes. Perfect place to spend the afternoon on the beach if the weather is good.

Day trip to Cochamo
There is a lot to do in Cochamo from hiking to hotsprings. We hired a car and drove two hours to Cochamo. We spent the morning relaxing in the Termas De Sol Hotsprings before exploring the cute town. The main hike to do, is to Cochamo Valley, but it can take between 6-8 hours to complete, so it would be very hard to do this hike in a day trip from Puerto Varas. If you like hiking and have the time, you can alway add a night or two in Cochamo!

Castro and Ancud, Chiloé Island

We spent a few days in Castro and Ancud on Chiloé Island. However, we would recommend doing a combined trip to both from Puerto Varas, and staying one night in Ancud.

The bus to Castro from Puerto Varas takes three hours and from Castro to Ancud takes nearly an hour and a half, so it would be a very long day if you didn’t stay at least one night. You can stay as long as you want, but there isn’t a lot to do here, so to save time and money we would recommend only one full day.

🏨El Baltico Hostel, Castro
🏨13 Lunas Hostel, Ancud

The main thing to do in Castro is to see the colourful houses on stilts along the river and to explore the cute town, stalls and markets. The hostel in Castro is a thirty minute walk from the stilts houses but you can also walk to a lookout to view them from afar. If you do a day trip, you should visit Castro first then make your way up to Ancud for the night, as it will make the bus journey back to Puerto Varas quicker.

In Ancud the main attraction is to do a tour to see two different species of wild penguins. The hostel we stayed at offers tours for 25,000 CLP throughout the day. You get driven to the beach where you get on a small boat and taken out to a little island, which the penguins have inhabited. Here you will see Humboldt and Magellanic penguins nesting together, which is quite rare.

W-Trek Patagonia, Chile

This trek is one of the main activities to do in Chile, and something we highly recommend doing! It can take between 3-5 days to complete the trek across Patagonia (depending on your preference) and the views you see are just incredible. A blog solely focused on this trek is here and goes into detail what you need to book and plan, things to bring and what to expect from this hike.