Trip Report: Chile
Visited in September 2022
Chile is a country with one of the most special outlines in this world. The country is a narrow strip that stretches more than 4,200 kilometers from north to south. This makes Chile the second longest country in the world, surpassed only by Brazil with a difference of 95km. Chile is also the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica.
When I visited Chile in mid-September, this meant that a considerable part of the country was still in the depths of winter. For this reason, I did not have to think long about which places I wanted to visit. The Atacama Desert, my first stop, can be visited all year round. The cities of Santiago de Chile and Valparaíso were my other stops.
I crossed the border between Bolivia and Chile on a Friday morning after finishing the 3-day Salar de Uyuni tour. Since I just spent a week at over 3,300 meters of altitude in Bolivia, I was looking forward to San Pedro de Atacama, as the altitude there is “only” 2,400 meters. After all, that meant a little bit warmer weather. I was sick and tired of the sub-zero temperatures at night.
Funnily enough, I noticed a lot of Chilean soldiers at the border. Already in the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia we were told that this border area is proetcted by Bolivian soldiers. I first thought that this might be because of smuggling or illegal immigration. However, it could have another reason going back to the 19th century.
About 140 years ago, Bolivia and Chile were at war. San Pedro de Atacama was still part of Bolivia at that time. In fact, Bolivia was not a landlocked country but had a coastline before the war. According to the history, Chile used the day of Carnaval to invade Bolivia while practically the whole Bolivian army was heavily drunk celebrating. In their condition, they did not represent a serious opponent.
Chile then annexed the 400km coastal area of Bolivia, as well as parts of Peru. Peru was also involved in the war as an ally of Bolivia. Apparently, this issue is even today a sore point for many Bolivians. Bolivia still has a Navy, for example. In 2013, the International Court of Justice dismissed a lawsuit filed by then-President Evo Morales that would have forced Chile to negotiate with Bolivia for unrestricted access to the sea.
The procedure at the Chilean border was still quite smooth and the transfer from to San Pedro took about an hour. It was an extremely wise decision to finish the Salar de Uyuni tour in Chile. Not only because it allowed me to enter a new country, but especially because the others in my tour group had to drive seven hours back to Uyuni that day, from where they had to take the ten-hour overnight bus to La Paz afterwards.
I, on the other hand, arrived at my hotel in San Pedro at 11 am. Theoretically, I could have joined a half-day tour in the afternoon on the same day. However, I was exhausted after the fantastic but also challenging Salar de Uyuni tour. I was much more looking forward to my warm room, a shower, finally a good coffee again as well as good food. I decided to take it easy that day and plan my activities for the next days.
San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is a popular tourist destination in Chile. The small village with its 5,000 inhabitants serves as a base for tours to the Atacama Desert or other interesting places in the region. If there was an award for the least authentic town in the world, San Pedro would have a good chance of winning it. In this dusty village with Wild West characteristics, pretty much everything is geared towards tourism.
There is a street called Caracoles, where tour operators line up next to each other. If you walk up and down the approximately 300 meter long street, you will pass at least 20 different tour operators. In addition, there are restaurants, cafes, mini-markets and souvenir stores. San Pedro de Atacama is ultimately a village whose only raison d’être is tourism.
Unfortunately, this also makes San Pedro a quite expensive destination. On the one hand, the restaurants and cafes were relatively expensive and on the other hand, the hotels were also overpriced for what you got in return. Already before my trip, I noticed that decent budget accommodations are rather scarce in San Pedro.
For my basic hotel, I eventually paid over $200 for three nights. For San Pedro, this was still a reasonable price. However, the hotel was a simple no-frills accommodation that you would have gotten even in Chile’s capital Santiago for half the price. At least, the location of the accommodation was perfect and it was clean. For those who don’t want to pay that much, there are also hostels where you can stay for about 20-25 dollars in a dorm.
Having mentioned earlier why it is an advantage to finish the Salar de Uyuni tour in Chile, I must also tell you the disadvantage. The activities that you can do from San Pedro are sometimes a bit repetitive to those in the Salar de Uyuni. The tour operators in San Pedro sell virtually all the same tours. I counted nine tours in total. Of these, eight are half-day tours, if I remember correctly, and one is a full-day tour. So you can do two tours in one day with a lunch break of two to three hours in between.
One of these tours goes to Chilean salt flats, two of the tours have lagoons as main attractions and another tour goes to geysers. So all natural spots that you have already seen on the 3-day Salar de Uyuni tour. This does not mean that these tours are not worthwhile. I still decided to do the full day tour to the so called lagunas altiplancas, although I have seen a lot of lagoons just a day before in Bolivia. I also booked a tour to the Valle de la Luna, probably the most popular tour of San Pedro.
The full day “piedras rojas” tour had three lagoons on the program, all of which were fabulous. We also saw flamingos on this tour, just like in Bolivia. Maybe the wow effect is not as big if you have seen the lagoons of the Salar de Uyuni before, but that doesn’t change the fact that the sights on this tour were absolutely spectacular. In any case, I can recommend this tour even if you were coming to San Pedro from Bolivia.
My second tour then offered something new. The Atacama Desert is commonly known as the driest place in the world. The Valle de la Luna (or Moon Valley) is only about 20 minutes away from San Pedro de Atacama and offers landscapes like from another planet. It is mainly the rock and sand formations that make this place special.
The Valle de la Luna is an afternoon tour including sunset. The area is a stone desert whose landscapes reminded me of a mixture of the Wadi Rum in Jordan and the Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan. Visiting this place is an absolute must when in San Pedro de Atacama, in my opinion.
Originally I had planned three full days in San Pedro de Atacama. However, after these two tours, I felt that I had seen all that I wanted to see. I actually would have still liked to book the Stargazing tour. San Pedro de Atacama is one of the best places in the world to see stars at night. But to my disappointment I was told that you would see relatively little on these days because it was full moon.
For this reason, I then brought forward my flight to Santiago by one day. This in the knowledge that my time in the capital would then probably be a little long. An alternative would have been to fly north to Arica and visit Lauca National Park from there. But honestly, after almost a week Bolivian and Chilean Altiplano, I had a bit enough of these landscapes.
Nevertheless, three days in San Pedro de Atacama are actually perfect if you have not been to Bolivia before. If you visit San Pedro after the Salar de Uyuni, two days will also do it in my opinion.
I have another tip regarding flights. If you book with LATAM, then choose Chile as your home country on their website. The flights are significantly cheaper, in my case by more than half. The catch is that you have to book in Spanish. But if you don’t speak Spanish, you can either use an online translator or maybe you know someone who can help you. The whole thing is completely legal and I was not asked any questions at the check-in counter.
Chilean cities
I landed in Santiago de Chile on a Monday evening and had four days for the capital and Valparaíso. I was already aware from the beginning that this is definitely too long for these two cities. On the other hand, I was looking forward to a few days of city life. Real city life, in a modern city, not like in La Paz.
Santiago is an interesting city geographically. The Andes Mountains are in close proximity and you can see them from many places in the city. At the same time, Santiago is not far from the ocean. Thus, Santiago is a city where you could theoretically make a trip to the ski slopes in one morning and spend the afternoon at the beach.
In the three days I had for Santiago, I saw the landmarks of the city, had good food and enjoyed the nightlife. Admittedly, Santiago de Chile doesn’t offer much in terms of sightseeing and one day is basically enough to see most of it. In this respect, I would definitely not call Santiago an exciting city.
I liked Santiago anyway. The vibe of the city was cool, there was a lot going on and the locals were nice. Santiago is also a city that offers a lot in terms of gastronomy, is suitable for shopping, has a good infrastructure and is relatively safe by South American standards.
If I had to criticize something, it would be at most the traffic at rush hour. This sometimes resulted in a wait time for an Uber of more than 30 minutes. However, the city has a metro, which is a good alternative to cabs.
Apart from that, Santiago is, well, a metropolis. So if you don’t like big cities, you probably won’t enjoy Santiago either, also because the city is not full of typical tourist attractions. On the other hand, if you like vibrant big cities where you can have a good time, you’ll probably be happy with Santiago as well.
By the way, my hotel was in Santiago Centro right next to the entrance of Cerro Santa Lucia and about five minutes walk from Plaza de Armas. An excellent location as almost all the sights are within walking distance. Also, there are a lot of superb restaurants, cafes and bars in this area. In addition, the hotel had a fantastic roof top bar with a nice view.
I used another day to visit the city of Valparaíso, which is a very popular destination among tourists. Valparaíso is only two hours away from Santiago and can be visited as a day trip. Some travelers even spend several days there.
Valparaíso is a completely different city than Santiago. One of the main differences is that Valparaíso is, ahem, beautiful. Valparaíso is a colorful city known mostly for its street art. You don’t even have to actively look for any murals and graffiti, sooner or later you will automatically walk through one of the many colorful streets and alleys.
Besides, Valparaíso is a city that is relatively easy to navigate. You can visit everything on foot and the many hills that you walk up and down replace the daily fitness program. So, there is no need to book a guided tour or so.
In other respects, Valparaíso definitely seems more laid-back than Santiago. As soon as you leave the busy streets in the city center and head for the hills, Valparaíso seems pretty quiet. Traffic is almost nonexistent up here, occasionally you’ll walk past another tourist or a street dog (who unfortunately spread their feces all over town).
All in all, Valparaíso reminded me of a southern European city that looks a bit run down in parts, but is still very beautiful. If you only have time for one city, either Santiago or Valparaíso, I would recommend Valparaíso. While both cities are different, Valparaíso definitely has more charm and is unique. Santiago is, in the end, simply a big city, as there are many in this world.
In retrospect, it probably would have been better if I had spent at least one night in Valparaíso. The day trip seemed a bit rushed and I only had about 8 hours in the city. Basically, Valparaíso offers enough for more than one day. Therefore, you won’t get bored if you spend a whole weekend here.
My conclusion on Chile
I left Chile on a Saturday around noon back towards Europe. The flight from Santiago is one of the longest routes available as a direct connection to Europe. To Madrid it takes more than 12 hours. The other two direct flights to London and Paris take about 14 hours.
I spent a total of 8 days in Chile. But I must note that all my activities would have been possible in 5-6 days too. I decided before this trip to Bolivia and Chile to let things go a little slower. Therefore, it was ok that this created a certain inefficiency in my itinerary..
Looking back, Chile is for me the most European country in South America after Argentina. Both Santiago and Valparaíso could just as well be cities in southern Europe. Chile is one of the richest countries in South America. The infrastructure is pretty good and things certainly work more reliably here than in other countries on the continent.
Besides, Chile is a country that offers a huge amount of amazing places. Unfortunately, I was in Chile during winter. So it would not have made sense to visit certain parts of the country. For example, I missed the Chilean part of Patagonia. This was not a big deal for me, though, since I had already been to Patagonia in Argentina ten months earlier. Besides, I still want to go to Antarctica someday, so I can make a stop in southern Chile on the way there and visit Torres del Paine, one of the country’s main attractions.
Taking into account what I saw and also what I missed, I would rate Chile as a great destination. Chile is an extremely diverse country and in a two week trip you have the chance to see a variety of different spectacular landscapes. Also, Valparaíso, one of the most picturesque cities in South America, is located in Chile.
The most similar country to Chile is definitely Argentina. Not only Patagonia is spread over both countries, also the landscapes of Salta and Jujuy look quite similar to those of San Pedro de Atacama. Although both countries play in the same league, in direct comparison I would still call Argentina the better travel destination. I think in the end Argentina offers a bit more, which is not surprising considering the size of the country. Besides, Buenos Aires is certainly the more interesting city than Santiago and Argentina also offers better value for money than Chile.
But this should not diminish Chile in any way, because Argentina belongs to my personal top 5 in the world. Chile is of course also an amazing destination and does not have to hide behind its competitors in South America. For me, Chile remains in my memory as a country that I enjoyed during my first visit and will visit a second time at some point.
By the way, Chile was my ninth of twelve countries in South America. With my visit to Chile I also finished the “mainstream” part of South America. Now three countries are waiting in the north of the continent, which are visited by only a few tourists: Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. Let’s see when I will pass there. Maybe already next year.
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