As well as its wide variety of landscapes, famous wine and being the most southerly country in the world, Chile is notable for being one of the most developed countries in South America. As a result, crossing the border from Bolivia to Chile after weeks on the altoplano was a shock to the system. We immediately noticed how efficient the border crossing was, that the roads were well-maintained and not dirt tracks but most of all that cost of food was astronomical in comparison to its neighbours. Some of the most expensive places we encountered in South America were in Chile, there is plenty to see and do but we had to pick up the pace of our travel a bit here to reduce costs due to the comparatively high prices of just about everything (except wine!). Chile travel is not ideal for those on a tight budget, expect to spend more here than elsewhere on the continent. We had to make some exceptions to our usual budget in some places but were just about able to make it work without breaking the bank.
San Pedro de Atacama, Santiago, Valparaiso, Easter Island, Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales
Chile has a minimum salary in line with other South American countries, however groceries, rent and living costs are much higher than elsewhere, this leads to some societal problems with wealth inequality.
Uber works!
Fee-free ATM: Scotiabank. Be aware that ATMs in Chile are often inaccessible when the bank is shut, we were caught out by this on a couple of occasions. Thankfully many places including most restaurants, hostels and bus stations accept credit and debit cards but make sure to be prepared in advance if you do need cash.
Safety
We felt very safe in Chile in general and particularly in Easter Island and Chilean Patagonia, with a low population density and low crime rate. However we were warned not to stray from the tourist areas in Santiago. As always in cities, crime happens more often so be vigilant.
San Pedro de Atacama
A snug desert town with red-brown adobe buildings, many of them function as hippie new-age shops, hip restaurants and dive-bars. The streets are absolutely crammed with tour companies and crawling with tourists (mainly Chilean)!
We found San Pedro de Atacama to be the single most expensive place we visited in South America, more expensive than Galapagos, Easter Island, Patagonia or Uruguay. From tour to restaurants to simple groceries, this place was unbeaten for crazy high prices. On one occasion we spent £17 on groceries and only bought milk, cereal, coffee, bread and eggs! You won’t find a huge variety of fruit and vegetables in the supermarket as supplies need to be transported through the Atacama desert by trucks. We also found that there was a fee to use all of the ATM’s in the town, which ranged from £5-10 per transaction. We did find some money exchange shops in San Pedro where we could change dollars to Chilean peso quite easily, avoiding the ATM charges which saved the costs from spiralling any further. As you can imagine, given the outrageous prices here we left pretty sharpish!
The main street in San Pedro de Atacama – it happened to be pedestrianised too!
Book onward travel as soon as you arrive, we found that there were no seats left for the bus we wanted to get to Salta when we tried to book in person 2 days before. I would imagine that booking the Uyuni Salt Flat tour starting in San Pedro would be more expensive than in Uyuni but I can’t verify this.
Accommodation
Hostal Mirador – it’s a little out of town but it’s got a good kitchen and the rooms are okay for the price
Hostal Mirador, as the name suggests, has an impressive terrace where you can eat lunch or scoff egg mayo sandwiches like us
Foodie Places
I have to admit we mostly kept eating out to an absolute minimum because of the astronomical prices. However we did indulge in a pizza at Pizzeria Italiana lounge, one pizza cost £15 here, ouch!
Lola’s – we watched the Superbowl here and the drinks weren’t too overpriced. We did have a strange experience though as everyone was gathered in one tiny room watching the Superbowl while through a doorway in the much larger room a DJ played to nobody. For the second half of the match a handful of random people including small children gathered in the other room to sing karaoke?! Weird, I know.
Superbowl halftime show at Lola’s
We couldn’t afford to eat out much but we found that you can buy pasta, pasta sauce in sachets and parmesan from the supermarket for around £3.50 so we basically ate that for 3 days straight. Variety is the spice of life!
Activities
Atacama Desert Astronomy tour – we did this on Valentines day and it was very romantic. The guide provided information about the Atacama desert and you could look through a telescope at planets, stars and other galactic phenomena. It doesn’t hurt that wine and nibbles are provided too. The Atacama desert is one of the best places in the world to stargaze due to the fact that there is no light pollution from humans and its geographic location is close to the equator. Astronomers from all across the world including NASA have bases in the desert to observe the universe with the latest super powerful telescopes. Very occasionally these astronomers go missing in the desert.
The Stargazing tour also included a semi-professional photo shoot
Moon Valley tour with White and Green Travel – if you book both the moon valley and the astronomy tour at the same time you can get a discount, you get snacks provided on both of these tours which was important for us since we were living off pasta in San Pedro. We enjoyed the tour, the guide was friendly and the views of Moon Valley were captivating, especially the white dusting on the rocks in the desert landscape. Unlike similar sites in Bolivia, where you are free to wander around everywhere, the sites around San Pedro had a specific trail marked for tourists to walk around. We found that this was common for a lot of popular sites in Chile. While this was understandable to protect this sites it was a little disappointing to just be herded around a path like in a theme park after the freedom to properly wander round and explore in other countries.
Meteorite Museum – this museum only accepts cash, this caught us out and we had to walk all the way back to our hostel to grab some money. There is an audioguide in English which is very informative if you’re interested in meteorites. The collection is owned by a pair of brothers, you can even touch the meteorites!
The meteorite museum is actually in a geodesic dome, all the meteorites in the collection were found in the Atacama desert
We stumbled across this church in San Pedro de Atacama
Santiago
La Moneda Palace, this palace was stormed during the 1973 military coup d’état
Santiago is the capital city of Chile. The sprawling city is a bit of a concrete jungle and some claim that it lacks character, we found that it was a fairly standard city with everything you would expect from a large capital but not too much beyond that. We took a free walking tour of the Yungay neighbourhood which gave a bit more insight into the regular life and culture of the city, I recommend this as the centre is a little faceless. We were also warned that some parts of Santiago were a little sketchy despite Chile’s reputation as a country with high living standards.
Accommodation
We stayed at two Airbnbs, one in the centre close to the Plaza de Armas and one in Estacion Central for a night before heading to Easter Island. Both Airbnbs were in high rise buildings and had decent enough facilities with a kitchen.
Foodie Places
Due to the high costs in Chile we generally limited eating out here and cooked most of our meals in the Airbnb.
New Horizon – I had the best curry in South America here, the coconut fish curry is fantastic!
Activities
Free walking tour of the city centre, booked via Guruwalk covering most of the main sights, government buildings etc in the city centre
Interesting architecture in Santiago
Barrio Yungay free walking tour – this tour provided a local perspective on living in Santiago and Chile with its perks and problems, interesting street art and a sneaky glimpse of President Boric’s house. The tour guide said that he saw the president drinking in a local pub in Yungay the week before we visited.
The president’s house was fenced off but you can still see it from the road, it’s the blue house on the corner
Museum of Memory and Human Rights – a must-see museum of the stark reality of Pinochet’s dictatorship and his rise and fall. The purpose of the museum is to keep the memory of atrocities committed during the regime alive. It also acts as a place to remember the regime’s victims with a visual wall of remembrance featuring known victims photos, provided by their families. There’s also a free app you can download which is an audio guide.
It’s hard not to be touched by the memorial wall with photos of the victims of Pinochet’s regime
Santa Lucía Park – we walked to the top, it’s not that challenging. Nice 360 views of the city.
Cerro San Cristóbal – you can either get the funicular, which is like a tram uphill, cable car or bus to the top. Great views over the city and an interesting outdoor church at the top. We opted to walk down as we missed the last funicular, it was a long downhill walk spiralling from the peak. We also saw people cycling up and back down the hill, it looked very difficult uphill. I almost felt sorry for some poor souls who’d taken that route up.
View from the top of Cerro San Cristobal
Valparaiso
The port at Valparaiso
Valparaiso is a major shipping hub less than 2 hours away from Santiago. It’s known for having funky funiculars, trams which help locals reach the top of the many hills surrounding the city, colourful fisherman’s houses with tin roofs, a mish-mash of architectural styles including British, Scandinavian, German and French and an impressive street art scene.
On the funicular – Valparaiso is full of hills
Accommodation
Hostal Po Valparaíso – we booked this hostel through Airbnb, it’s located in a historic house with good-sized bedrooms alongside shared bathrooms and a shared kitchen which was ideal for us penny-pinchers.
Foodie Places
Mostly home-cooked meals except for cheeky completos at Doggis in the Paseo de Puerto mall.
Completos are hot dogs usually topped with guacamole, tomatoes and mayonnaise
Activities
Free walking city tour booked through Guruwalk covering most of the main sites, this took us to some historical buildings and included a stop at an art gallery
View of the old Fisherman quarter in Valparaiso
We opted to take the coastal train to Vina del Mar with a quick stop at Playa Caleta Portales to see the fish market and sea lions fighting for scraps at the seafront. Vina del Mar is the sister city just down the coast from Valparaiso, you can easily access it via the metro line from Valparaiso. Vina del Mar is a resort town and many Chileans we met raved about the beaches, however after our time on Galapagos and later Easter Island these beaches didn’t come anywhere close in quality and cleanliness. Sorry! We happened to pick a foggy day which didn’t help.
The sea lions were absolutely huge behind the fish market at Playa Caleta Portales!
Muelle Prat – we watched the huge cargo ships being loaded, they also offer boat trips from here although we chose not to do this.
Easter Island
We couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit Easter Island. Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world, brimming with Polynesian culture and the unique history of the Rapa Nui people. A land surrounded with mystery and legends, their written language was lost and the population decimated by in-fighting as well as later disease and exploitation. This resulted in the loss of much of the knowledge about the Rapa Nui civilisation and their famous sculptures, the moai, that cover the island.
Easter Island is also one of the most inaccessible places in the world, with the only realistic way to get there currently being a flight from Santiago which runs only a few of times per week. With strict caps on the number of visitors allowed on the island at any one time, visiting Easter Island might seem like an impossible task for those who don’t have bags of money, but it isn’t. We were able to do the whole thing independently without a travel agent. The hardest part is getting there! Check out my blog post with tips on visiting Easter Island, or Isla de Pascua as is it is known in Latin America.
We found island life very appealing, all the residents know one another and say hello when passing. There are more horses than full-time residents on the island, as a horse enthusiast this was music to my ears. The horses seem to wander freely around the island, grazing and galloping around. To see such majestic animals roaming freely, unhindered by fences or the yoke of man, I found it great!
Horses were absolutely everywhere on the island!
Accommodation
We opted for the budget accommodation: Camping y Hostal Tipanie Moana
Dan receiving a traditional welcome flower wreath at the airport
The owner was very friendly and well-connected in the community. He picked us up from the airport and welcomed us with a lovely flower garland, he organised horse-riding with a family member which worked out a lot cheaper than booking with a tour agency, he gave us a lift to Anakena beach and back, invited us to a farewell meal with island delicacies like ceviche, recommended a tour agency close by, got us cheaper seats at the Karikari show which also involved some of his family members, if you speak Spanish he also offered a tour of the island for a very good price. The rooms were self-contained private rooms with a shared bathroom, a little on the small side however there was an excellent shared kitchen. The only thing to bear in mind is that there was no aircon, this really affected us as the temperature reached 35C and we were absolutely baking in our room at night. Consider carefully exactly what you’re looking for when booking accommodation; we were traveling on a tight budget and aircon and a swimming pool are desirable facilities, however if you can manage without these you can find somewhere to stay at a much more reasonable price.
The view from our room at Tipanie Moana
Foodie Places
Te Moai Sunset – we chose the seafood platter here and were so impressed that we ordered another one straight after! We were absolutely stuffed by the end but the food was great. This restaurant has excellent views over the nearby moai, Ahu Tahai, and is the perfect setting for a romantic meal at sunset
Kaimarket Rapa Nui – relatively cheap sandwiches and doughnuts
Club Sandwich – cheap fast food, we loved the completos, Chilean hotdogs with guacamole, tomatoes and mayonnaise! They don’t actually serve club sandwiches here sadly.
We brought A LOT of food with us from Santiago; food prices for things like bread and essentials are much higher than on the mainland. If you’re looking to keep expenses to a minimum, plan your meals ahead of time and bring all the ingredients with you. We noticed that many Rapa Nui residents had huge cool boxes with them when checking into their flight in Santiago, this is a sign that you should be doing the same.
Activities
Horse-riding to the north-western part of the island, we booked this through our hostel as it was much cheaper than booking through a tour company.
Full-day tour and Orongo tour With Rapa Nui Travel – very professional company with an office close to where we were staying, the tours were reasonably priced and the guide was excellent
Mirador Rano Kau on the Orongo tour
Museum Rapa Nui – I recommend visiting the museum first when you arrive as it provides an informative overview of Rapa Nui cultural beliefs, artefacts and rituals such as the Bird Man
Kari Kari show – this is a typical tourist activity, a cultural performance by the Rapa Nui people, we booked through our hostel
Anakena Beach – if you picture an island paradise, Anakena beach is exactly what you would imagine. Horses wander around aimlessly on the sand dotted with tall palm trees and wooden huts selling refreshments, all overlooked by the dignified face of the nearby moai
According to oral tradition, Anakena beach was the landing place of the first settlers on Rapa Nui, these settlers included the Polynesian chief Hotu Matu’a. Check out the moai in the background, these are some of the only maoi you can see without a local guide
Easter Island is not large and most of the island and main sights can be seen in a couple of days. Check out my blog post with our five-day itinerary here! We organised everything independently and managed to see pretty much everything that can be seen on the island without breaking the bank.
What better place to cool off in the sea than in a naturally sheltered bay (Playa Poko Poko)
Sunset or sunrise are the best times to visit Ahu Tahai
Rano Raraku – you can almost trace the route that the moai sculptures took to get across the island to their final destination
Ahu Nau-Nau at Anakena Beach – the Rapa Nui people believe that the moai watch over their communities inland and are representations of their ancestors, they are also visual reminder of the socio-spiritual power of the tribe against other neighbouring tribes. During the tumultuous period when resources were dwindling and the islanders fought amongst themselves, many moai were destroyed to symbolise the victory of a warring tribe over the defeated tribe. Many of the moai have been restored or in some cases pieced back together since the troubles.
The Birdman ritual was designed as a competition to pick the tribal leader each year, only the strongest swimmer and climber would be crowned the winner. The participants had to carry an egg from the islet of Motu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui and climb the sea cliff of Rano Kau to the clifftop village of Orongo.
Chilean Patagonia
We took a flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas, flights are relatively cheap if you book in advance. Traveling to Patagonia by land through Chile is not possible – if you did want to travel by land, after reaching Puerto Montt and Chiloe, you would need to cross the border and go the rest of the way though Argentina.
Punta Arenas
Our first stop in Patagonia! We donned our winter coats which we’d dragged along for 4 months without touching. As expected, Chilean Patagonia is eye-wateringly expensive! We moved swiftly through both Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales – alongside San Pedro de Atacama, these places are up there with the highest costs we experienced in South America for accommodation, restaurants etc. We found the influence of European immigrants fascinating here, from the mish-mash of architectural styles to the distinct grave monuments in the cemetery. Some of the grave markers even used English and German!
I thought that the prices of groceries would be really high here, however staples such as pasta, rice and bread were only slightly more expensive than in Santiago. There’s no need to lug huge quantities of pasta to Patagonia, just buy it there!
Accommodation
Again, we chose Airbnb as it was the cheapest option.
Foodie Places
Luan’s Restaurant – an exceptional meal, slightly expensive but everywhere here is! I loved the alpine wooden interior, it reminded me of a Swiss ski lodge mixed with a museum of curiosities
Delicious food at Luan’s!
Nanuc – we got totally hooked on their empanadas, especially their cheese and mushroom empanada, divine!
Activities
Cemetery of Punta Arenas – morbid I know but I highly recommend walking around the graves, admiring the huge mausoleums and taking in the immigrant influence. There are graves from all sorts of different maritime figures and factions here. Free entrance to this cemetery unlike the cemetery in Buenos Aires, I will never understand why they charge for entrance in Buenos Aires..
Checking out the elaborate graves
Museo Nao Victoria – this museum contains life-size replicas of the Nao Victoria (the ship that Magellan used to discover the Magellan Strait), HMS Beagle (in which the young Charles Darwin set sail on to collect flora and fauna specimens before the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’), and Shackleton’s lifeboat James Caird, which sailed from South Georgia to Elephant Island to alert authorities that the remainder of the crew were marooned. You can actually go inside the bowels of these ships and imagine what life would’ve been like for these brave sailors. There are informative plaques with information about all these voyages in English. This museum is a little way out of town, you can get an Uber here but make sure you arrange a way back. We decided to walk back to the town centre and it took around 2 hours of walking along the highway. If you are in the area also check out the Mirador Humedal 3 Puentes across the road from the museum, you can sometimes see flamingos here.
Cerro de la Cruz – great view over the city and the strait of Magellan.
Walk along the Costanera – you can see sea-birds and monuments to the pioneers of the town along the coastal path
View of the Magellan Strait near Muelle Prat
Due to the crazy high prices we decided against going on a boat trip to see the Magellenic penguins, so I can’t comment on that common tourist activity.
Check out my self-guided walking tour of Punta Arenas!
Puerto Natales
The closest town to the Torres Del Paine National Park, a hikers paradise. Keep an eye out for the Milodon on street signs, I’ll say no more!
Accommodation:
Airbnb – accommodation is expensive here. To try and save money we booked a cheap airbnb which offered ‘glamping’ in wooden huts, this was a very strange experience.
The wooden cabins were in the back garden of a hostel. When we arrived we were let into the hostel by other guests and waited for around 30 minutes for someone to check us in. There was a strange guy who reeked of alcohol and kept trying to talk to us in Spanish even though we weren’t fluent. The kitchen was a bit of a mess and the place was overall a bit ramshackle. The door was broken on our wooden cabin so we kept getting locked into the tiny space. It was a weird vibe all round. We were kept up until 4am by some hostel workers (no lie) chopping wood, using electric saws and drinking/partying all night. This wasn’t great when most people were here to go hiking early in the morning. I didn’t sleep at all. By the end of this experience we just booked another hostel and left early. On the plus side, the hostel dog and puppy were really cute.
Corner Hostel Puerto Natales – great vibe, social but not overwhelming, the place always seemed to be fully booked but we were able to get one night here after the weird experience above.
Foodie Places
Espacio Ñandu – we managed to find some cheaper items on the menu here, hooray. Portion sizes weren’t great though. Other than that, it was our regular Chilean meal of pasta and packet sauce due to the high costs.
Activities
Day trip to Torres Del Paine National Park with Patagonia Planet Tour Operador – we opted to join a group tour for ease and I’m glad we did as I hadn’t had a single wink of sleep and could barely string a coherent sentence together. This is a good option if you want to bypass the logistics of making your own way to the national park. There is a bus company called Bus-Sur that drops you off in the national park but you would then need to make your own way around and have a plan in place as the park is huge. The views in Torres del Paine are unbeatable, I highly recommend this tour! We loved seeing the wild vicunas dashing about along the route.
Torres del Paine was not so painful
After visiting Puerto Natales we took a bus to El Calafate in Argentina to continue in Patagonia.