OVERVIEW
Chile’s long and lean topography manages to squeeze an enormous variety of landscapes into its skinny frame. The longest, thinnest country in the world, on your Chile holiday you’ll find extremes as wide-ranging as the granite peaks and glaciers of its deepest south to the bewitching barren desert landscape of the north.
Take a journey from north to south or west to east and you’ll encounter rolling vineyards producing the finest New World grapes, volcanoes dusted with snow and a coastline peppered with islets like beautiful, mysterious Isla de Chiloé.
Don’t be confined to the mainland. Chiloé and its neighbours make for a deep exploration of the fascinating indigenous cultures who have lived this way, untouched by modern technology, for many centuries.
The most dramatic of Chile’s many islands is surely the tiny speck in the crashing Pacific Ocean, some 3,200 kilometres off the coast. Here, towering granite statues known as ‘moai’ stand sentry over the inconspicuous island, some of the last relics of an ancient culture with customs somehow more curious than its stone symbols.
In the south the fertile winelands eventually give way to the enormous expanse of Chilean Patagonia and the Torres del Paine National Park, Chile’s most famous wilderness area. In the centre of it all lies Santiago, the country’s atmospheric capital. How will you fit it all in?
Active Chile Adventure
Beginning in Santiago, the backdrop of the snow-capped Andes offers your first glimpse of adventure. Contrasts abound here, from the tranquil lakes to the salt flats of the vast, arid Atacama Desert. You could stargaze at the incredible night sky, explore the gritty port city of Valparaiso, ride the forest trails and wetlands of Puerto Varas or take your taste buds on an adventure through the Rosario Valley wine region.
Luxury Chile Explorer
Travel from the chic streets of Santiago to the wild landscapes of Patagonia and the barren desert of the Atacama. Chile’s Lake District is the ideal place to unwind and take in the fresh air and beautiful landscapes, before heading into the wilderness of the south and exploring the Torres del Paine on foot, by boat or on horseback. Stay in unusual hotels, including a former sheep processing plant, a striking glass-and-steel construction on the lake, a boutique vineyard and an adobe-walled lodge in the desert.
Chile Self-drive
Fly direct to Santiago and enjoy the city’s incredible setting, between the peaks of the Andes and the valleys of the Central Winelands. After a tour of the city you’ll visit colourful and coastal Valparaiso and cosmopolitan Vina del Mar before tasting Chilean grapes at a winery. Flying to Temuco you’ll collect your rental car, setting off on your adventure to Curacautin where you can leisurely explore Malalcahuello National Reserve. The trip concludes with the Torres del Paine, South America’s most famous national parks, among the granite columns and Patagonia steppes.
