Traveling through Chile in 4 weeks is a great adventure: 4.500 kilometers of travel from Peru to Patagonia, visiting deserts, volcanoes and forests
Il Chile it is a thin strip of land squeezed between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean that runs for 4500 kilometers between Peru and the extreme tip of the American continent at Cape Horn. Traveling in its entirety is a real adventure and visiting the most beautiful and evocative places will take you about 4 weeks. In this guide we will show you the most interesting places to visit on a trip to Chile with a Latin American flavour.
First week:
As soon as you arrive in Chile, take a week to explore the capital Santiago and the surrounding region. Santiago is a city of 6 million inhabitants and extends over a large area in the valley of the same name, but most of the most interesting destinations are located in the historic center. In a couple of days you can visit the Moneda Palace, where the 1973 coup d'état ended, the beautiful Plaza de Armas and the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombina. Don't forget to stop by Pablo Neruda's house and spend a romantic evening in the Nunoa neighborhood to the rhythm of Jazz.
It is located a short distance from the capital Valparaiso, one of the most fascinating and contradictory cities in Chile. Valparaiso is simultaneously suggestive and scruffy, rich in history and chaotic, probably not all visitors will like it, but among its streets and the funiculars that climb the cerros of the upper city, you will see a lively and kaleidoscopic place. Worth visiting while you are here are the port with the typical Central Market, the Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house and the wonderful views that open onto the sea from the funicular platforms.
Staying in the central area of Chile it is a good idea to take the opportunity to visit the Andean area around Portillo, the most important and famous ski resort in Chile, which offers spectacular views all year round and, above all, the Laguna del Inca, a wonderful glacial lake at almost 3.000 meters above sea level.
Second week:
Set off to explore northern Chile in the direction San Pedro de Atacama using a bus or, to save time, a plane with one of the numerous national companies that cover internal routes. The northern region of Chile is characterized by vast desert, volcanic areas and salt lakes, a magical place far from civilization and in contact with wild nature. San Pedro de Atacama is the ideal base for exploring the sparsely populated areas of the region and this small town just a stone's throw from the border with Bolivia has seen rapid growth due to the large influx of tourists.
The most interesting destinations in this area of Chile are the Valle de la Luna, with its arid and extraterrestrial landscape which at sunrise and sunrise transforms into a unique spectacle in the world, the geysers of El Tatio, an area where the geothermal forces underground create incredible fountains of bubbling water and the Chaxa lagoon, a salt lake in the center of a desert plain speckled with geometric lattices of salt crystals where one of the largest colonies of flamingos in South America lives. A short distance from San Pedro, within the majestic and desolate Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth, you can venture to explore the magical Geoglyphs of Chug Chug, a series of enormous drawings created on the parched surface of the plain created by the mysterious pre-Inca civilization that inhabited the region a thousand years ago and perfectly visible even at high altitudes.
We advise you to plan your travel itinerary carefully to avoid spending most of it in very long journeys between one destination and another.
Third week:
Take a domestic flight to get down to pucon, in the central south of Chile, completely changing the environment and climate. In this area, between Araucania and the lake region, you will find a temperate climate, beautiful forests and endless possibilities for practicing sports and adventurous excursions. To experience the thrill of walking near the crater of a volcano and practicing any type of sport you have to pass through the town of Pucon, on Lake Villarica. The area is an ancient volcanic area and you will find a large number of spas, although the real attraction of the region is the excursions: on foot, by mountain bike, on horseback and, above all, the climb up to the crater to see the lava of the Villarica volcano.
Just south of the lake region lies a unique region of Chile: theChiloe island, a reality that has preserved its identity and its original indigenous culture, despite the Spanish conquest, resisting the Spanish-American hegemony of Santiago. On this island you will find traditional buildings on stilts, the local culture of salmon fishermen and landscapes shrouded in the mystery of the mists rising from the ocean.
Fourth week:
The last stop on our 4 week trip to Chile is the fascinating one Patagonia, the land that enchanted Bruce Chatwin, with its wild forests and a natural environment that still shows all the power of uncontaminated nature. As a base for this part of the trip, the most suitable city is Puerto Natales, which will allow you to reach both the northern and southern regions of Patagonia.
Prepare yourself properly to explore this cold and sparsely inhabited land which will give you places that are unique in the world for their beauty and grandeur. Given the vastness of the region, in just a week you will have to choose a particular area and we recommend the Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, which offers the best of trekking without reaching the most inaccessible areas of the south of Tierra del Fuego. This large nature reserve is a jewel that offers the most beautiful peaks of the entire Andes mountain range and wonderful coniferous forests full of paths to immerse yourself in nature. Another destination that should not be missed is the Perito Moreno glacier, which is located just across the border with Argentina and represents the third largest glacier on the planet. To reach it, the best choice is to join an organized group to safely reach the breathtaking view of the glacier and its changing reflections that the sunlight creates when it illuminates it.
