Chili

Basic information;

 

Emergency number:

  • Police – 137

  • Ambulance – 131

  • Fire department – 132

  • Central number – 133

  • 911 & 112 will also be connected

Land code Phone: +56

Money: chilian pesos (CLP)

Bank: in the banks and ATM’s you can only get pesos. At every transaction youll have to pay the bank around €5 euro and your own bank for using a ATM. be smart take some extra money if you’re gonna take money from the wall. but also be aware of your surrounding.

Embassy: its never stupid to look for the embassys from your coutry in other countrys. look for the adres, Phone number of email. its easy if something happend or if you go to a place where in no connection. Then everyone know where you are.

Busses: the country is better with busses then trains or airplanes. every city has 1 or more bus terminals with a great offer at bus tours to the whole country and even capital citys from the countrys around. Its better to just go there in the morning and look for the bus youll need, and look if you can get a better price at a other company and buy the tickets there. we payed between 15/60 euros for long tours to other citys.

City busses: you can pay busses with a bus card or cash money.

Trains: there are not a lot of trains. youll find in some places touristic trains, most of the time really expencive. 

We used hostelworld, booking.com and icamping.

  • Hostels: the prices are really diverent. it depants on the season, in house by people, room and city you would like to stay. it can be from 7 to 21 euros a night, and maby even more. but what would you expect from a hostel and what can you expect?! first that it is clean, keep this as your most important because you dont like to have uninvided animals. if you dont trust it or wont like it, just reservate 1 night or first ask to get a look around. all the rest you have to take as a gift. most hostels have hot showers, sometimes with a time table. if you want a cheap room you know you are with a lot of people on a room and a saturday is a party day, if you like to have a private or less big room you have to make an reservation in front, especialy in the big citys. almost every hostel has a free breakfast this also can have a big variation, keep your idea of it low, the better it will be, expect some bread, dolce de leche, jam and coffee. sometimes cornflackes and milk or yoghurt and if you have luck some cake are ham and cheese.

  • Campsites: this is the most cheap thing to do in south america. there are a lot of campsites, free campsites and private campsites and even special stops at gasstations. from our experiance its save but cold. you have to be prepared for this especialy in the south and patagonia. what can you expec?! a free campsite has no or a cold shower, no cooking area ( fire is not allowed in the wild) and no protection. a private or paid campsite ( between 2,50 to 7 euro.) has most of the time a hot shower with a time table, they have cooking areas and sometimes even a laundy area, a lot of them have wifi and protection and parking lots. on this camsites they sometimes also rent tents or lodges.

  • Lodges: this whas for us also a invention. a lot of the paid campsites also rent lodges. this are rooms/smal houses for a cheap price. sometimes even more cheap then a hostel. pluspoints 24/7 hot shower and private, wifi, private room, heater and sometimes even a television and stoof. but other problem you pay for the house/room this c\is for the most times a room for 4 persons if you are alone it could be expansive. campsites are not in the city centers and theres no free breakfast included

Get South: this is a company who works in argentina, chili and uruguay. they offer discounts in hostels and some tourist atractions. you can find the books in your hostels or online. this can save you 10% at your hostel.

Rental car from Argentina

If you  have a rental car from argentina and want to cross the border to chili make shure you got a duane paper. you need this to cross the border with the car. otherwise you have to go back to the company youll rented the car from. 

Roads: if you have a rental car, keep in mind that the roads are really bad, most of the time there a offroad ways and a lot of holes in the ground. 

City’s:

Puerto natales: 

Hosteria: hostel Vaiora. price €15 a night. this whas one of the cheapest hostels in the city. friendly people but dont speak english. a supermarket around the corner and 5 blocks to the bus terminal. no kitchen, drinks are allowed and a really good breakkfast. they can give information about torres del paine. but can not really help you with reservations. its possible to leave your stuf here when you go for torres del paine everyday € 4 euro’s or pay another night when you come back. they also have a campsite with the possibility to cook.

What we did, what we recommend:

  • Torres Del Paine. bring a day trip to Torres Del Paine or go for the full adventure of the W, O or Q trip. ( find information in our Tips of Torres Del Paine )

  • Go to the museum the milodon cave with a lot of patagonian history and the history of the milodon bear

  • Take a boat trip between the glaciers for 2 days

  • Take a boat trip along the coast to puert montt

  • Go for a hike around the glacier

Go crazy:

  • Wild hostel: we tought its strange to visit this hostel. but it isn’t. this hostel has nice beers on tap and bottle and they are famous for there hamburgers, yes the are good and worth to try. for the small and big eater. and for us a triple burger. its nice after you finished the torres del paine and like to have a fat meal.

  • Kau lodge/ the coffee maker: we love to drink good coffee and this hostel has italian style coffee. with a nice view over the water and a good cup of coffee youre day start well!!

Puerto Rio Tranquilo:

How to get here:

To get here by car the easiest way is to start at Chili Chico. This city next to the border with Argentina. The road that is for an small part also ofroad is really beautiful and also an must visit. This road between the moutains is great and gives you and open mind.

What we did, what we recommend:

  • Marble caves: the famous caves inside the lake Carrera. the silver colored water and blue cave are beautiful and worth it to visit. price $10000 CLP.

  • Go with a boot to look for pinquins

  • Ice hiking

Puerto Varas:

What we did, what we recommend:

  • Take a trip to here from Bariloche or the other way around. do this by bus or more special with a tour over 3 diverent lakes $260 USD

  • Take a tour to the island Chiloe, and look for the houses on the the water and the animal wild life

  • Go to Puert Montt

  • Visit the vulcano, Vulcán Osorno.

Chili chico:

Where we stayed: we made use of the campsite of hosteria la Patagonia $5000 CLP a night. with a dishwas area and toilets and shower. not really good but oke for 1 night.

What we did, what we recommend:

  • Take a tour to rio tranquilo for the marble caves

  • Enjoy the nature with a really beautiful ofroad way inside the mountains.

  • Take a look at the mirador on top of the town

  • Take an excursion to an gold or silver mine

  • Take a visit at Los Antiguos ( Argentina ) with the famous cherry’s from patagonia

Punto arenas:

What we did, what we recommend:

  • Go to the king pinquins on Porvenir ( city at the other side of the water )

  • Visit one of the southern nature parkes

  • Visit the pinquin island isla magdalena

  • Take the ferry to the other side of the lake and take a tour to Ushuaia ( Argentina )

  • Take a tour to Puerto Williams, the lowest city in the world. tour takes 30 hours and maby you’ll see the small delfins joining you at your trip

  • Go to an Lookout for dolphins

Puerto williams:

This is world lowest villiage but not easy to reach. there are 2 different ways. first way is by boat tour from punto arenas with a 30 hour tour, or take the 2 hour boat tour from ushuaia, this one is more expencief but faster and only in the high season nov till april

What we did, what we recommend:

  • There are a lot of hikes on this island

  • Rent a bike

  • Visit museums

  • Go to a post office for a special postcard

  • Bring a visit to the local people who lived in tierra del fuego for thousend of years

ALL OF THE INFORMATION IS BASED ON OUR EXPERIANCE FROM OUR TRIP TO SOUTH AMERICA IN 2017 AND THINGS CAN BE CHANGED!!!

All of the information is based on our experience from our trip to Croatia and bosnia in 2019 and things can be changed