Tailor-made Chile holidays shaped around your passions

Chile’s geographical extremes means that you can explore a real variety of landscapes in the course of the same trip: you might watch geysers erupt at dawn in the Atacama Desert, then just a few days later take a boat trip to the terminal face of a glacier in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park — or go hiking around a snow-topped volcano in the Lake District. The great outdoors is naturally a huge element of trips to Chile, but the country has many other dimensions too, including winelands and some of the world’s best stargazing due to its exceptionally clear skies free from light pollution. There’s also the arty, idiosyncratic port city of Valparaíso to explore, and Easter Island, home to carved moai and a Polynesian culture unlike anything you’ll find on the mainland. You can read more about what to do in Chile in our guide to its highlights.

There’s a real variety of options, from state-of-the-art ecolodges in Torres del Paine National Park to chalet-like guesthouses and B&Bs in the Lake District. In the cities of Santiago and Valparaíso, we’ve scouted out boutique, characterful establishments (often with excellent views) rather than impersonal corporate hotels. In the central valleys, you can stay in a traditional casa de campo (country house), or even, in the Elqui Valley, a dome-like structure with a detachable roof purpose-built for stargazing. And, in the far south of Patagonia, you can take a three-day cruise of the Tierra del Fuego icefields, staying on an expedition vessel specially designed to navigate these frozen waters. Our specialists have stayed at all our properties so they can hand-pick the best places to stay based on your preferences.

Most journeys start in Santiago, Chile’s capital, which has a dramatic backdrop of the Andes (part of the vast mountain range that runs along the entire west coast of South America, from Venezuela to Chile and Argentina). From here, you can travel to almost anywhere in the country.

You can reach Valparaíso, a coastal city with a vibrant street-art and seafood scene, by car from Santiago in a couple of hours. Chile’s far north has the lunar-like valleys and salt flats of the Atacama Desert, the world’s highest and driest non-Polar desert. Further south lie the lush, green, vineyard-braided central valleys, where you can spend days hopping between bodegas (wine cellars). As you continue south, there’s the alpine-like Lake District (if the Alps had volcanoes), before you hit Patagonia proper: all pampas, wide-open plains, glacier-striated mountains, and remote icefields. And, a six-hour flight from the capital will bring you to Easter Island with its enigmatic moai. Our specialists have visited the best places to go in Chile so they can help you decide where’s best for your trip.

You can fly directly from London to Santiago, Chile’s capital, in 14 hours. It’s also possible to fly to Chile from London via Madrid, Buenos Aires, or São Paulo, which takes about 16 hours.

Chile’s time zone is GMT -4, or GMT -3 in British summertime. You might experience a bit of jet lag, so we recommend getting plenty of fresh air and ideally sunlight on the day of your arrival, if possible. In Santiago, we can arrange a variety of guided walking tours or suggest walks to local points of interest near your hotel.

The best way to get around Chile is by road, though the country’s colossal length means that flying is unavoidable if you’d like to explore more than one region in the course of the same trip — we’ll help you choose the best options to cut down on travel time. For most of your trip, we’ll arrange private transfers for you with your own driver. However, the wild landscapes and long, empty stretches of road in the Lake District and Patagonia are the stuff of road-trip legend, and we’ll help you get behind the wheel yourself here, from planning your route to taking care of the logistics. Our travel guide will give you more ideas for a self-drive trip in Chile.

Yes, but keep your passport and entrance card (tarjeta de turismo) to hand while driving.

Use our travel tool to find up-to-date visa and passport requirements for Chile. Enter where you’re travelling to and from (including any stopover destinations en route or flight layovers), along with your intended travel dates and passport details, for a full list of requirements.

• Entry requirements travel tool

Your GP can provide you with immunisation advice for Chile, but it’s a good idea to be up to date with the recommended vaccinations for your home country. We also recommend checking Chile’s profile on the Travel Health Pro website.