Chile Self-Drive Holidays

Chile self-drive tours

Independent self-drive holidays in South America as a whole is not always the easiest thing in the world, even for experienced independent travellers, because of undeveloped roads, a lack of 'road etiquette' and sparse road signs.

Chile, however, is an exception and offers fantastic opportunities to explore under your own steam. The romantic notion of driving from top to bottom of the country is actually an impossibility though, as the Southern Patagonia Ice Field bisects the country, and the roads cannot cross it.

A typical self-drive itinerary in Chile

One of the most spectacular overland trips in the world is between south western Bolivia and Chile’s Atacama Desert. However, this is a trip where you definitely need to be a passenger and let an expert who knows the area do the driving.

A better option if you want to do all the driving yourself is flying to Santiago, then flying south to Temuco. In the north of this region you will find the town of Pucón (where you collect your car) nestled under the Villarrica Volcano and as you travel south from here you enter one of the most indigenous parts of Chile.

The Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve (just south of Pucon) lies on the other side of the volcano, and is full of ancient woodland, remote lakes and a deep sense of history and tradition rooted in the Mapuche Indian past. A little further south on your Chile self-drive tour, near Petrohue, you can visit the Vicente Perez National Park, which offers hiking, white water rafting and canoeing.

You will need to drop your car off at Puerto Montt and fly to Punta Arenas. From here pick up your new vehicle and drive to Puerto Natales, and from here to the wonderful Torres del Paine National Park for a few days before flying home.

Remember, this is only an example and we can tailor-make a Chile self-drive trip for you in a few other parts of the country. Below is an example of an itinerary which is good for self-drive.