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| CHILE FROM NORTH TO SOUTH IN 15 DAYS |
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| Atacama Desert, Santiago de Chile, District Lakes, Patagonia, Towers of Paine... |
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Valley of the Moon
Reception at El Loa airport in Calama and transfer to San Pedro de Atacama. We will set out for the Valley of the Moon. It is a quiet and enigmatic place similar to a lunar landscape with important stone formations and big sand dunes.
To get to the Valley, you take the road parallel to the Salt Mountains Range, crossing the driest desert in the world. In the Valley of the Moon, we will see the salt statues, Las Tres Marías, the salt mine and the salt caverns. In the afternoon, we will get back to San Pedro. |
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Tatio Geysers, Atacama Salt Flat and Toconao
We will get up very early to go to our next meeting point: the Tatio Geysers, which are at 4,000 m.a.s.l. They eject springs of water of almost 8 meters; these stream columns give mystic charm to the natural landscape.
We will walk around the different geysers and take a bath in the thermal water pool. In the afternoon we will visit the town of Toconao. Then we will go to the quarries of Liparita stone and Jerez Valley. Finally, we will arrive at the Atacama Salt Flat and Chaxa Lagoon to stop by and watch the flamingos as the sun goes down. |
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Quitor Pukará, Salt Mountain Range and Tulor and Catarpe Ruins
Breakfast at the Hotel.
We will visit Quitor Pukará, the Salt Mountain Range and the Inca ruins of Catarpe. We will visit Tulor ruins, with more than 3,000 years old. We will go back to San Pedro near midday through Ayllu de Séquitor.
Afternoon off to rest. One alternative is to visit the town of San Pedro de Atacama and visit the Museum of Father Le Paige, where there is an impressive mummy of an indigenous woman with untouched hair and complete outfit.
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Calama - Santiago
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Calama Airport.
Reception and transfer from Santiago de Chile Airport to the hotel.
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Santiago – City Tour
Breakfast at the hotel. We will visit the city of Santiago. We will visit some interesting places such as: the Presidential Palace known as Palacio de la Moneda (Government House), which is a neoclassic building because all coins of the country in the past were coined there. To get to the Palace, we will take the main avenue, Bernardo O' Higgins Boulevard.
The Historical and Civic Center, along with Huérfanos and Ahumada pedestrian walkways, are the places which concentrate the main business activity of the city and lead to Plaza de Armas (Main Square), strategic place where the first city layouts were designed. You can see the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Main Post Office and the Town Hall.
Then we will go to the University neighborhood, the Art Museum and the river Mapocho on its side, the Equestrian Club; afterwards, we will visit San Cristobal Hill, also called Metropolitan Park, main green lung of Santiago de Chile.
We will visit the residential neighborhoods such as Providencia (with its business area), Las Condes or Vitacura, main towns involved in the growth and modernity of Santiago. The Bohemian neighborhood of Bella Vista concentrates a great cultural, artistic and night life.
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Viña del Mar and Valparaíso
Breakfast at the hotel. We will depart from our hotel towards the Pacific Ocean, pass by the agricultural valleys of Curacaví and Casablanca known for their fertile and fine agricultural and wine-growing richness. Then we will reach the city of Valparaíso, main port of the country.
Its picturesque silhouette, protected by a string of hills flowing into the sea, highlights the most important shipping destination in the South Pacific Ocean until the Panama Canal was opened in 1914.
We will go into the town center and its neighborhoods up the hills to better understand the most flourishing city of the beginnings of 20th century in Chile.
We will walk around its main squares and learn about the centennial tradition of its port. Walking along the coastline towards the bay, we will reach the city of Viña del Mar, the most famous and popular resort in the area with its neat parks and numerous palms depicting it as “Garden City”. It is the epicenter of youth in summer. After visiting its beaches, casino and avenues, we will return to Santiago.
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Viña Undurraga in Maipo Valley - Folkloric Dinner Show
Breakfast at the hotel. Near Santiago, we will find great valleys that protect the harvests with an excellent combination of climate and soil, as in Maipo Valley.
In Talagante we will visit Santa Ana country state, area where Don Francisco Undurraga Vicuña founded Undurraga vineyard in 1885.
The winery was visited by important famous personalities due to its lineage tradition.
We will visit Undurraga Vineyard, its wineries and premises; appreciate how grape growing, harvest, and process and its transformation into wine are done, all this surrounded by a unique atmosphere mingling the old tradition with new technology. We will taste its traditional wines. This vineyard has German Riesling and French varietal stocks such as Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Pinot Noir.
At night, we can have an excellent opportunity to have a close contact with the roots, art and culture of the Chilean people. We will pick you up at the hotel to take you to the restaurant where you will enjoy a folkloric dinner show of the northern, central and southern Chile, which will end with typical dances of Easter Island and Polynesia. Agile and charismatic dancers will offer us a colorful display of costumes and choreographies. After enjoying dinner, drinks and dance, we will go back to the hotel. |
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Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Santiago de Chile Airport. Reception and transfer from Puerto Montt Airport to Puerto Varas. We will visit Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt.
In Puerto Varas, also called City of Roses, we will visit houses built by the German colonizers at the beginning of the 20th century, and climb the Phillipi Hill.
In Puerto Mont, a city remarkable for its fishing and craft activity, we will visit the viewpoints and Puerto Angelmo, a traditional craftsmanship place
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Petrohué Waterfalls - Peulla
Breakfast at the hotel. We wil go to visit Peulla. We will sail along Llanquihue Lake towards Ensenada; the first stop is the Petrohué Waterfalls. Then we will continue up to Petrohué to get on the catamaran Lagos Andinos or the M/N Peulla.
We will sail the lake while enjoying spectacular views of Osorno and Puntiagudo volcanoes, Margaret Island, Yefi Fall and Tronador Hill. We will disembark at Peulla, a touristic village in the Andes Mountains. Then we can have lunch or do canopy, floating, horse back ridings on our own. Finally we will get back to Puerto Varas.
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Chiloé Island – Castro and Dalcahue
Breakfast at the hotel. We will head for Dalcahue. There we will watch the typical Chilota craftsmanship, the houses built on piles (palafitos), and then we will head for Dalcahue Church, which is one of the churches declared Heritage Trust.
From there we will head for Castro, where we will have lunch, in a palafito if you like, and then walk around the Port area, the craftsmanship market, the Square and San Francisco Church, Castro Museum and the viewpoints.
In the afternoon we will get back to Puerto Varas.
Optional: Chiloé Churches: Our excursion here will be as the previous one, but also crossing to Quinchao Island to visit the wonderful Achao Church, the oldest one in Chiloé.
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Puerto Montt - Punta Arenas City Tour
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Puerto Montt Airport in District Lakes .Reception at Punta Arenas Airport.
Punta Arenas was the first significantly populated town in Southern Patagonia. It was established on December 18, 1948. Soon it became the most important cultural, industrial, commercial and stock center in the region. We will visit the Salesian museum Maggiorino Borgatello, where we can find an important collection of Magellan wildlife specimens, folklore relics and crafts made by Tierra del Fuego native people such as yamanas, selk’nam and kaweskar aborigenes. |
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Magdalene Island - Puerto Natales
Breakfast at the hotel. Magdalene Island and Marta Inlet are the perfect places to watch typical fauna: especially penguins, cormorants and seals. This is the natural habitat par excellence of more than 100,000 Magellan penguins and one of the biggest penguin rookeries of the Chilean Patagonia.
We will sail along the Strait of Magellan to get to Magdalene Island, where we can enjoy panoramic views of Punta Arenas, Tierra del Fuego plains and oilfields in Cape Black and Laredo Bay.
While trekking we will see penguins and their hiding places along the coast up to the highest place in the island, where is the lighthouse in which the Environment Interpretive Center is, where we can read about the history of the strait and local fauna. Transfer from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales. |
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Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers
Breakfast at the hotel. We will set out from Puerto Natales surrounded by stunning and pure nature, watching forests of coligüe, cinnamon, lenga, ñire, chilco and calafate trees. Here we will also discover native fauna such as seals, cormorants, steamer ducks, condors and seagulls. We will sail the waters heading for Last Hope Sound.
The Balmaceda Mount, which is around 2,035 meters high, belongs to Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and forms the Andes Mountains. We will see Balmaceda Glacier and watch its ice falling into the cold fiord waters; and Serrano Glacier, situated to the north and where we can go just by land and is surrounded by a lagoon originated by the deicing.
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Towers of Paine
Breakfast at the hotel. Early in the morning we will set out from Puerto Natales towards Towers of Paine National Park. We will visit the one-thousand years old Milodón Cave, a stunning natural feature which has indescribably anthropological value, where it is probable that the first Patagonian men lived, as the Milodón, an extinct herbivorous animal.
Then we will go to the Biosphere Reserve: Towers of Paine National Park. Along the way we will cross lagoons full of aquatic vegetation and birds, and hills where we can find herds of guanacos grazing.
We will visit the most important places in this beautiful park, such as Nordenskjold Lake which covers the foot of the mountain with its emerald-color waters and originates the Big Fall forming Pehoé Lake.
We will do trekking along the Pingo River crossing it to pass by the sandy spot which delimits the borders of the lake; here we will watch ancient ice forms by the shore and the Grey Glacier accompanied by the magnificent scenario of hills, forests and Paine Mountains.
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Puerto Natales - Punta Arenas
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Puerto Arenas Airport.
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