Chile is 4,300 kilometres long. Start by picking a latitude.
What the Cajón del Maipo picnic day really costs. Whether El Tatio justifies a four in the morning start. Which Torres del Paine hike you can do without carrying a tent. Reviews of every tour you can book in Chile.
Four bases, north to south
The four days that decide a first trip to Chile.
One up the Maipo canyon, one on the coast, one in the desert before dawn, one under the towers. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The day out of SantiagoCajon del Maipo/Embalse del Yeso Tour with PicnicThe canyon road up to a reservoir the colour of antifreeze at 2,500 metres, with lunch laid out at the water. The most booked day in the country.
02The coast dayVina Del Mar, Valparaiso, Casablanca & Reñaca TourValparaíso hills, the Viña del Mar seafront and a Casablanca cellar on the way back. Three towns and a vineyard, one minibus.
03The four in the morningEl Tatio Geysers TourEl Tatio at dawn, while the field is still steaming hard enough to hide everyone else on it. Cold enough to hurt, and still worth going.
04The Patagonia dayBase of the Towers Day HikeUp to the base of the towers and back inside a day, so you get the granite without carrying a tent to it.
Four ways out of Santiago, none of them costing you a night away.
The capital has the Andes on one side and the Pacific on the other, and both are inside a morning. The choice is really canyon, coast, vineyard or snow.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · Cajon del Maipo/Embalse del Yeso Tour with Picnic
The canyon dayUp the Maipo to the El Yeso reservoir, lunch at the water.
The coast dayValparaíso hills, the Viña seafront, a cellar on the way home.
The wine dayTwo valleys an hour apart. Carmenère in one, Sauvignon in the other.
The mountain daySki resorts above 3,000 metres, ninety minutes from the city.
All 84 days out of the capital →
Six Chilean towns, and the best day out of each.
A capital with the Andes at the end of the metro line, an oasis in the driest desert on earth, a port built up forty-two hills, two Patagonian bases and an island five hours out over the Pacific.
The driest desert on earth sells four completely different days.
Geysers at dawn, red rock at sunset, salt lagoons dense enough to float in, and a sky so reliably clear that the observatories moved here for it. All four run out of one small oasis town.
The days out more travellers book than any other in Chile.
Every tour in Chile →The ones that sell out weeks ahead, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Cajon del Maipo/Embalse del Yeso Tour with Picnic
Review of Santiago’s Cajón del Maipo and Embalse del Yeso tour, with Andes views, village stops, picnic wine, guide tips, and honest drawbacks.
From · $37
Read our review →
2
Vina Del Mar, Valparaiso, Casablanca & Reñaca Tour
from $39
3
Small-Group Cajón del Maipo Full-Day Tour and Picnic
from $41.90
4
Cajon del Maipo & Embalse El Yeso Trip with Picnic
from $38
5
Valparaiso -Casablanca -Reñaca-Oceanic Rock-Concon
from $40.99
6
Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, & Casablanca Valley Tour
from $72
7
El Tatio Geysers Tour
from $70
8
Farellones Park Tour
from $54
Chile is 4,300 kilometres long. A week buys you one end of it.
Every base on this site is a separate flight out of Santiago: two hours north to the desert, three and a half south to Patagonia, five and a half west to Easter Island. Watch what that does to the cheapest day out in each.
Cheapest day out, base by base
- SantiagoWhere you land. Everything here goes out and comes back the same day.$25
- San Pedro de AtacamaFly to Calama, then an hour by road. Two nights, minimum.$32
- Puerto NatalesFly to Punta Arenas, then three hours north for the towers.$83
- Easter IslandFive and a half hours out over the Pacific. One flight a day.$70
What a day out in Chile actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The cheap end is Santiago and Valparaíso; the expensive end is nearly always Patagonia, and the distance is the reason.
City walks, museum entry, the Maipo canyon picnic run and the painted stairways of Valparaíso.
Full days: El Tatio before sunrise, the altiplanic lagoons, Valle Nevado, the hike to the base of the towers.
- 1Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, & Casablanca Valley Tourfrom $72
- 2El Tatio Geysers Tourfrom $70
- 3Farellones Park Tourfrom $54
Glacier sailings, private guides, and the Patagonian days that need a vehicle for the whole thing.
Three things this country has that nowhere else does.
Deserts and mountains are common enough. The highest geyser field on the planet, the sky the world’s observatories moved to, and nine hundred stone figures on an island in the middle of the Pacific are not.
Stargazing in the Atacama
The desert sits above 2,400 metres, gets almost no cloud and has next to no water vapour in the air, which is why the ALMA array and half the world’s large telescopes were built within a few hours of San Pedro. Public tours run from the town on moonless nights with their own telescopes; the moon phase, not the weather, is what decides whether yours is worth booking.
- 1Etno-Stargazing Tour with Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 629 reviews
- 2Stargazing Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 489 reviews
- 3Astronomical Tour with Guide and Pick Up San Pedro de Atacama★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 145 reviews
The El Tatio Geysers
The highest geyser field in the world only performs at first light, when the cold air turns the vents into columns you can see from the road. That means leaving San Pedro at four in the morning and arriving in temperatures well below freezing. The steam collapses within a couple of hours of sunrise, so a late start is a wasted one.
- 1El Tatio Geysers Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 943 reviews
- 2El Tatio Geyser Field & Wetlands★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 141 reviews
- 3Full Day Tour to Geyser del Tatio, Vado Putana and Machuca★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 134 reviews
The Moai of Easter Island
Nearly nine hundred figures were carved from a single volcanic quarry and moved, somehow, across an island 3,500 kilometres from the mainland. Most still lie where they were abandoned. Fifteen stand together at Ahu Tongariki facing inland, and the sunrise behind them is the reason most people come.
- 1Rapa Nui Culture Sightseeing Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 307 reviews
- 2Easter Island Highlights 2-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 205 reviews
- 3Easter Island Sightseeing Full Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 189 reviews
Patagonia is the far end of Chile, and it charges accordingly.
Granite towers you can reach and return from in a day, a glacier you sail up to, penguin colonies on islands in the Strait of Magellan. The cheapest day out down here costs more than most days in Santiago. That is what being 3,000 kilometres from the capital does to a price.
Every Patagonian day out →
By place — north to south
By kind of day — desert, vineyard, volcano or ice
Desert, capital, coast, volcanoes, towers: the order most first trips end up in.
The newest Chilean tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Coast and Color: Discover Viña and Valparaíso in a Day
Read our review →
Full-Day Tour to Perito Moreno Glacier (Natales)
Read our review →
Private Horseback Adventure in the Andes, with Picnic & Wine
Read our review →
New Experience Concha y Toro Winery Tour from Santiago
Read our review →
Walking Tour Valparaiso, History & Art – Private Optional
Read our review →
Essence of Santiago : History, Flavors and Panoramic Views
Read our review →
Private Full-Day Bike Tour of Santiago Cultural 5-6 hrs
Read our review →