Torres del Paine · Patagonia, Chile
Chile Travel Guide
One of the longest and narrowest countries on earth, running from the driest desert in the world to the glaciers at the bottom of Patagonia.
Chile runs roughly 2,650 miles down the western edge of South America and averages only about 110 miles across, hemmed in by the Andes on one side and the Pacific on the other. That shape is the whole story. The Atacama in the north is the driest desert on earth, the center holds a capital ringed by ski resorts and vineyards, the south breaks apart into volcanoes, fjords, and glaciers, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) sits alone 2,300 miles out in the Pacific.
This Chile travel guide is built entirely on our own travel. Kevin and Melina trekked Torres del Paine across two Patagonian summers, spent a summer and a fall in the Lakes District around Villarrica and Puerto Varas, crossed to Chiloé, based in Santiago with a day out to Valparaíso, toured the Atacama from San Pedro, and reached Rapa Nui. Everything below covers where to go, how long to spend, what to know before you book, and how to move around the country once you are there.
Chile at a glance
Language
Spanish
Capital City
Santiago (Valparaiso holds the legislative branch)
Currency
Chilean Peso
Budget Range
price
Best time to visit
Every region works in every season and what changes is what you can do. In Southern Patagonia, you can trek in the summer months of December to February. The Lakes District is best in the summer and fall. Santiago has access to skiing in the winter. The Atacama has no off-season since it barely rains. More detail in Planning your trip below.
Typical Trip Length
You will need two weeks covering two or three regions. Chile's length means moving between regions costs you a travel day each time, so three regions in two weeks is a realistic maximum.
Most nationalities enter visa-free for tourism. Check your passport's requirements before booking. Some passport holders require a visa in advance so check your country's visa requirements before booking.
Regions of Chile
Santiago
The capital and the country's entry point. European architecture, distinct neighborhoods, and a food and tango culture that runs late into the night.
Entry point for most trips
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
Rapa Nui sits 2,300 miles into the Pacific, one of the most remote inhabited places on earth. The moai are the draw, the Polynesian culture is what stays with you.
~5.5 hr flight from Santiago
Atacama Desert
The driest desert on earth, where salt flats, geyser fields, and altiplano lagoons all sit within a day's drive of a single adobe town. No real off-season, because it barely rains.
~2 hr flight to Calama, then 1 hr 15 by road
Patagonia
The southern third of the country, reachable by plane, ferry or a single long road. Torres del Paine gets almost all of the attention, and the two regions on either side of it get almost none.
Northern Patagonia
Puerto Varas, Chiloé and the volcanoes. Where Chilean Patagonia begins.
Aysén and the Carretera Austral
A thousand kilometers of road, ferries and near-empty valleys.
Chilean Patagonia
Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas. The far south, beyond Aysén and the end of the road.
~2-3.5 hr flight from Santiago
Featured destinations
Torres del Paine
Granite towers, glaciers, and turquoise lakes packed into one national park at the bottom of Chilean Patagonia. Most people come for the multi-day hiking, but the day hikes and boat trips make it worth visiting.
San Pedro de Atacama
A small adobe town that works as a base for some of the strangest landscapes in South America. Geyser fields at sunrise, flamingos on salt flats, moon-like surfaces, starlit skies, and lagoons at 14,000 feet are all day trips from the same main street.
Easter Island
Rapa Nui is a five and a half hour flight from Santiago and unlike anywhere else in Chile. The moai are the reason most people book, but you can also discover to see the quarry, the ceremonial sites, and the beaches that make this place so unique.
Chiloé
Chile's second largest island, reached by ferry from the mainland, with a culture that developed largely on its own. Stilt houses over the water, UNESCO-listed wooden churches built without nails, and a food tradition centered on curanto cooked in the ground.
Itineraries
Every itinerary below comes from our own travel. Kevin and Melina have done each of these routes themselves, from the geyser fields above San Pedro to the last day of the W Trek in Torres del Paine. Chile's length means moving between regions costs you a travel day each time, so two weeks across two or three regions is the realistic shape of a first trip. Use the region sections below to find your destination, or reach out if you want help building the full route.
reach out to us
Santiago
Easter Island
Planning your trip to Chile
When is the best time to visit Chile?
There is no single best time to visit Chile, because the country covers too much latitude for one answer to hold. What changes by season is not whether a region is worth visiting but what you can do once you are there.
Chilean Patagonia
December to February: long daylight, the most reliable trekking, and fully open refugios in Torres del Paine. Book months ahead. We have spent two summers there and would still plan a first trip inside this window.
Lakes District
Summer for lake swimming and volcano hikes. Fall turns the forests and empties the towns, which is our preferred version. Winter brings skiing.
Atacama Desert
Year-round, because it barely rains. We were there in April: warm days, cold pre-dawn starts for the geysers, and very few other people on the tours.
Santiago
Year-round. The ski resorts about an hour away run roughly June to September. Spring and fall are best for the city and the vineyards.
Easter Island
Mild all year. Summer is warmer and busier, winter is wetter and quieter.
Traveling to Patagonia in summer: everything you need to know
How many days do you need in Argentina?
Two weeks is the minimum to do Argentina justice across two or three regions.
2 weeks
Santiago (three days), Chilean Patagonia (five), and the Atacama (four), with travel days built in
Best for a first trip
+5 to 6 days
Easter Island on its own. It is a five and a half hour flight each way, so treat it as its own trip
Best for Rapa Nui
Good to Know
Three regions in two weeks is the ceiling, not the target. Every region change costs most of a day in transit, so a fourth region means more time in airports than in places.
Is Chile expensive?
Outside of major tours and camping, a comfortable trip runs $150 to $250 USD per person per day, covering mid-range accommodation, meals out, and a paid activity most days.
Chilean Patagonia and Easter Island sit at the top of that range or above, because almost everything has to be shipped or flown in. Budget travelers do well in the Lakes District and Santiago, where hostels, buses, and cheap markets are plentiful. There are also ways to keep costs lower in Patagonia, including camping, cooking your own meals, and taking buses to travel through the region.
How to get to Chile
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) in Santiago is the entry point for essentially every international traveler, with direct routes from Miami, Dallas, Houston, New York, Toronto, Madrid, London, and other hubs. From Santiago, each region has its own domestic connection:
Atacama Desert
Fly to Calama (CJC), about 2 hours, then 1 hour 15 minutes by road to San Pedro. Shuttles meet the flights.
Lakes District
Fly to Puerto Montt (PMC), about 2 hours. It is also the ferry gateway to Chiloé.
Chilean Patagonia
Punta Arenas (PUQ) runs year-round with the most options. Puerto Natales (PNT) is closer to Torres del Paine but seasonal.
Easter Island
LATAM only, about 5.5 hours, a few flights a week. This leg sets your dates.
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Heads Up
LATAM, JetSMART, and Sky all fly domestically. Book Patagonia routes early for the December to February window, when they sell out and prices climb sharply.
Getting Around Chile
Domestic flights move you between regions; within each region the answer changes. These are the five ways to get around, and who each one suits.
Option 1
Domestic flights
Best for moving between regions
The country is too long to drive end to end, and no road inside Chile connects the Lakes District to Chilean Patagonia.
Option 2
Buses
Best for Chilean Patagonia and the Lakes District
Frequent, comfortable services link Puerto Natales, Punta Arenas, and Torres del Paine, and the lake towns to Puerto Montt. You do not need a car for Torres del Paine.
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Option 3
Rental car
Best for the Carretera Austral
Driving the highway through Aysén is the point of doing it. Expect gravel, ferry segments, and long gaps between fuel stops.
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Option 4
Metro and Uber
Best for Santiago
A clean, extensive metro reaches most of what visitors want. Valparaíso is an easy day trip by bus or car.
Option 5
Tours
Best for San Pedro de Atacama and Rapa Nui
Almost every Atacama attraction sits at altitude or hours out of town. On Rapa Nui, guided access is required at several major sites.
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Good to know
Fjords and glaciers break the country apart. To travel overland between the Lakes District and Chilean Patagonia, you cross into Argentina, drive south, and re-enter Chile further down, a legitimate route if you want both sides of Patagonia in one trip.
Chile Travel Tips: What to Know Before You Go
Cash, cards, and tipping in Chile
Cards work almost everywhere in Chile, including small restaurants, buses, and shops. Carry some Chilean pesos anyway for street food, market stalls, and souvenirs, where cash is still the norm and sometimes the only option.
Tipping in Chile
Restaurants and bars
10 percent in cash with table service. The bill often shows it as a suggested addition, and you can decline it.
Free walking tours
About $20 USD in Chilean pesos, paid to the guide.
Good to Know
Where Argentina rewards travelers who arrive with cash and a strategy, Chile just works: no parallel exchange market, and prices are what they say they are.
Spanish phrases to know in Argentina
Spanish in Argentina has a distinctive accent. Argentines say "vos" instead of "tú," greetings are warm and unhurried, and "buen provecho" said to someone eating is always appreciated.
hola
OH-la
hello
gracias
GRAH-see-ahs
thank you
no entiendo
NOH ehn-tyEN-doh
I don't understand
por favor
POHR FAH-vohr
please
¿hablas inglés?
hah-BLAHS een-GLEHS
do you speak English?
¡chau!
CHOW
bye
¿dónde está el baño?
DOH-ndeh ehs-TAH EHL BAH-nyoh
where is the bathroom?
buen provecho
bwehn proh-BEH-choh
enjoy your meal
¿cuánto cuesta?
KWAHN-toh KWES-tah
how much does it cost?
buenos días
BWAY-nohs DEE-us
good morning
buenas tardes
BWEH-nahs TAR-des
good afternoon
buenas noches
BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs
good evening or good night
Through our eyes
Rapa Nui is Polynesian, not South American, and feels it from the moment you land.
Rapa Nui, Chile
Good to Know
Chile changes more dramatically across its length than almost any country its size. If your trip covers more than one region, give yourself a day on each end to adjust rather than moving straight through.
Earthquakes and volcanoes in Chile
Chile sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the same geology that built the Andes makes the country seismically active. Earthquakes happen regularly, most of them minor. Chilean building codes are among the strictest in the world because of this, and locals treat small tremors as unremarkable.
There are roughly 100 active volcanoes in Chile, concentrated in the Lakes District. Villarrica is permanently active, venting gas and smoke continuously with lava visible at night, which is part of why people come to the region.
Heads up
Volcanic activity is closely monitored, and access to summits and trails is restricted when conditions change. Follow posted guidance rather than assuming a trail is open because it was yesterday.
All Argentina travel guides
Santiago
Santiago Travel Guide
A capital hemmed in by the Andes, with ski slopes, vineyards, and a Pacific port all within an hour or two.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
Easter Island Travel Guide
One of the most remote inhabited places on earth, and Polynesian in every way that matters.
Atacama Desert
Atacama Desert Travel Guide
The driest place on earth, where geyser fields, salt flats, and high-altitude lagoons all sit within a day of one small adobe town.
Patagonia
Patagonia Travel Guide
The areas throughout the Patagonia region and how to visit the various landscapes of the south of Argentina.
