Chile Holidays
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Chilean Peso
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Stretching more than four thousand kilometres yet barely two hundred wide, the country runs from Andean desert to sub-polar glaciers, so a single trip can feel like visiting several different countries within one set of borders, each with its own climate, landscape and pace.
The high, bone-dry Atacama air and near-zero light pollution give some of the finest stargazing on the planet, which is why the world builds its biggest observatories up here.
Granite towers, calving glaciers and turquoise lakes crowd into the far south, and Torres del Paine alone rewards several days of walking without ever repeating a view, with condors overhead and guanacos grazing the valleys below.
The Maipo, Casablanca and Colchagua valleys sit close enough to Santiago for a day among the vines, pouring some of the best cabernet and sauvignon blanc in the Americas.
Santiago is safe, walkable and well connected, making a relaxed first base to shake off the long flight before heading north or south, with good food, museums and a mountain backdrop to fill a day or two.
Tourism is a point of local pride, service is friendly and unhurried, and English is widely spoken across the hotels, tours and restaurants most visitors use.
Deciding where to go is the real work of any itinerary here, since the distances are long and each region asks for its own slice of the trip. The best Patagonia holidays and Atacama Desert holidays usually share a route rather than compete, and the six areas below cover most first visits.
Santiago: The capital sits in a valley ringed by the Andes, mixing museums, leafy Barrio Lastarria and the Cerro San Cristobal cable car with easy day trips out to the coast and the vineyards.
San Pedro de Atacama: This adobe desert town at 2,407 metres is the launch pad for Moon Valley, the El Tatio geysers above 4,000 metres and salt-flat lagoons that mirror the volcanoes at dawn.
Valparaiso: A steep, colour-splashed port city of funicular lifts and street art, an hour and a half from the capital and paired naturally with the Casablanca wine valley on the way.
Torres del Paine: The crown of Chilean Patagonia, where the granite towers, the Grey Glacier and the famous W route draw walkers from across the world into one compact national park.
The Lake District: Around Puerto Varas and Pucon, snow-capped volcanoes rise over deep lakes, hot springs and forest trails, a gentler and greener south than Patagonia proper.
Easter Island: Some 3,700 kilometres out in the Pacific, remote Rapa Nui guards its brooding moai statues, a five-hour flight from Santiago and a trip that rewards several unhurried days.
Once the headline regions are chosen, the list of things worth building a day around only grows, from dawn geysers to long lunches among the vines. Many people combine Torres del Paine tours in the south with Chile wine tours near the capital, spacing the big outdoor days against gentler ones rather than front-loading everything.
El Tatio geysers: The highest geyser field on earth erupts best at sunrise above 4,000 metres, so tours leave San Pedro in the cold dark and reward the early start with steam against the first light.
Moon Valley sunset: The dune-and-salt landscape of Valle de la Luna glows orange and violet as the sun drops, an easy late-afternoon trip that needs no altitude acclimatisation at all.
Walk the W route: Torres del Paine's classic multi-day trail links the towers, the French Valley and Grey Glacier over roughly four to five days, with refugios and lodges spacing the nights, and the final dawn climb to the towers ranking among the great walking moments in South America.
Vineyard day out: The Maipo and Casablanca valleys pour cabernet, carmenere and sauvignon blanc within easy reach of Santiago, most estates offering tastings paired with a long, unhurried lunch.
Valparaiso on foot: The port city's hills climb by antique funicular to a maze of murals, cafes and viewpoints, an easy full day of wandering paired with a coastal seafood lunch.
Lake District volcanoes: Around Pucon the Villarrica volcano, forest trails and natural hot springs fill several relaxed days, a green and active contrast to the desert and the deep south.
Stargazing tour: A guided evening at a desert observatory near San Pedro puts Saturn, distant galaxies and the southern sky through serious telescopes under skies almost free of cloud.
For most people, only mildly and briefly. San Pedro de Atacama sits at 2,407 metres, just over the threshold where a minority feel a headache or breathlessness, while the excursions climb higher, with the El Tatio geysers above 4,000 metres. Santiago, by contrast, is only 520 metres and causes no trouble at all. Spend a day or two acclimatising in San Pedro before the high tours, drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol at first, and symptoms usually fade on their own.
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Aguas Calientes, Buenos Aires, Cusco, Lima, Mendoza, Ollantaytambo, Puerto Maldonado, Santiago, Valparaíso
From £12173
£7669per person
0204 505 9777 
