Hot answers tagged chile
12
Lonely Planet has information on this. There are flights from/to Santiago and from/to Papeete. Some people choose this connection just to travel between France and Tahiti by avoiding annoyances of a transit through the USA.
Lan Airlines (100-920; Av Atamu Tekena s/n; 9am-4:30pm Mon-Fri &
9am-12:30pm Sat), near Av Pont, is the only airline serving ...
11
That's entirely possible.
Firstly, there are no trains. Seriously. Don't bother trying to find them. In Argentina there's one from Buenos Aires to Rosario, but the bus is cheaper AND faster. There are some tourist trains in North Argentina (near Salta) and yes, there is the train from Cusco in Peru to Aguas Calientes, but that's about it.
I'll discuss ...
9
A good question, and yes, you are correct. A few things to understand:
The Entry Reciprocity Fee is ONLY charged at SCL. It applies (differently) to citizens of Albania, Australia, Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Other citizens don't have to pay. (Yay for the Kiwi passport!)
The receipt for payment of the reciprocity fee is attached to your ...
9
There are some direct buses from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile. For example, CATA Internacional runs a daily bus, on weekdays only (Mon-Fri), which leaves at 17:00 from BA (Retiro) and arrives next day at approximately 12:30 (= duration ~19.5 hours). The price is 750 $AR / ~150 USD (semicama) or 820 $AR (cama ejecutivo).
Besides the Argentine ...
9
The end of most major bus lines from Santiago is in Puerto Montt, from there people usually take the Navimag ferry to go further south, for example to Puerto Natales where there is another road. This is not a short ferry, more a cruise ship and takes four days.
The other option is to go to Chiloé island which is south-west of Puerto Montt, There are several ...
8
The best options you have is looking for sail boats requiring a crew.
You should be careful with that. Make sure the captain is experienced enough. Cape horn is not known by being easy. But you're aware of that probably.
They will, most likely, be looking for someone with experience as well.
Things can go in many ways. It's not easy to get a good crew ...
7
In January 2011 we took a bus down to Puerto Montt. There was no continuous road to go south further due to a volcano that destroyed the road.
We continued the trip with a bus to Chiloe Island (over a ferry), spent a fews days on Chiloe, then took the ferry at Quellon to Puerto Aisen. About 24h on the boat. From there we were quickly at Coihaique in about 1 ...
7
I don't really consider this a short trip, not compared to the flight. The only real ground transport option in South America is the bus (coach). There are some domestic trains around the big cities on the eastern coast, but for most rides you have to take a bus.
I took a bus from Salta in Northern Argentina to Asunción and that took about 24 hours ...
7
It's actually longer than 24 hours. The most common route is from La Paz through to Iquique, and then down to Santiago.
The Santiago->Iquique leg alone takes 24 hours. I can recommend either Pullman (we used them for that) or Tur Bus (used them for other shorter trips). I blogged about it as well.
From Iquique to La Paz it took us 16 hours. However, ...
7
Is the reciprocity fee for US citizens only charged if you arrive at Santiago International Airport?
Officially I believe the fee is payable no matter how you enter the country, however the simple truth is that it's only collected at Santiago International Airport, and it's only collected on arrival.
If you do not enter via SCL, then you will NOT have to pay the reciprocity fee - regardless of how you do enter the country (land, water, or air via another ...
6
I was back-packing in Latin America for 20 months and took my camera everywhere. But it was only a 400 dollar point and shot which fits in my trouser pocket. I used that camera everywhere maybe except inside the favelas in Brazil.
Some friends of mine had bigger SLRs with them and used them a lot too. In Bolivia I met a guy who was there for National ...
6
I spent 3 weeks in Peru last year, mostly in Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and Colca Canyon and Arequipa. Among our fancier possessions, I had a Canon camera with me and my husband had an Asus laptop. We're not physically intimidating people by any means (I'm just 5'2"), but I think we also carry ourselves confidently when we travel (e.g. no looking at ...
6
The Costanera Center is the best future bet for such facilities. The tower itself is still under construction. It will be 300 meters high and South Amarica's tallest building. It seems likely that it will at least have an observation platform of some kind.
Currently available are several apartment hotels with rooftop swimming pools and lounges. You would of ...
5
Alas, there's no easy way.
As you know, the various colectivos run various routes around town, charging around 500 pesos (US$1ish) for a ride.
I personally just walked around while I was there, but that's a LOT of walking, especially if you're walking around the bay to Valparaíso.
From various blogs, including "How to get around Valparaíso and Viña del ...
5
Travel is certainly possible. Punta Arenas has 120,000 inhabitants and Ushuaia on the Argentinian side has 60000 inhabitants (with ski resorts apparently opening in June). Advisable depends of course on what you want to do.
Wikipedia has useful information on climate:
Puerto Montt, at 41°28'S, has 6.0–12.7°C in May:
Much further south, Punta Arenas ...
5
Unless I am reading the Tur-Bus site wrong the prices vary between: $42 per person to $77 per person one way.
The thing is that I can't imaging myself spending 24 hours even on a most comfortable bus but then again I like my creature comforts.
5
There are bus lines from Santiago to Puerto Montt (Tur-Bus), from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales (mentioned at Torres del Paine site and on a french forum) and from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas (Buses Fernández, Bus-Sur). From there, a bus goes to Ushuaia with a ferry crossing the Straight of Magellan but its route goes north then crosses the border to ...
5
This is one of my favourite bus trips in the world, having done Mendoza->Santiago twice and Santiago->Mendoza once. Please, please, travel it during the day, for two reasons:
1) I've done this once at night. At the top of the Andes is the border crossing. There's snow a good portion of the year on the hills around you. It's FREEZING in the middle of the ...
5
According to the website of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa applications are handled either by a consulate (embassies also act as consulates, but usually there are additional consulates) or the Department of Immigration.
There doesn't seem to be any consulates near you, so you'll have to contact the Department of Immigration. The page I linked ...
5
There are buses. At the very least, you can get a bus 1.5 hours west to Calama, which has a bigger exchange. A member of our party did that in August (winter) and got to Antofagasta, Iquique and more.
The bus companies in Chile/Bolivia don't have much online presence - it's far easier to just get one in the town - but go as early as possible when you know ...
4
None is completely reliable in that part of the world. Bring plenty of patience and plan a good amount of time between bus arrivals and departures.
The La Paz - Uyuni segment is the roughest. While you can do half (Potosi-Uyuni) on train which is more comfortable, it makes logistics more complicated. Train cancellations are common and so are bus ones but at ...
4
It will depend on how much time you have. Salar de Uyuni is HUGE (10,582 square kilometers), and not only you will need time to get there, but also to see the many different facets of it.
Still, it is possible to visit it from Chile if you have enough time. You can get a train from Avaroa on the Chilean border, but keep in mind the schedule is not exactly ...
4
According to Busbud there are three companies that offer routes from Asuncion to Santiago. NSA, Pullman Del Sur (can recommend), and Brujula.
What I'd suggest instead is if you have time, stopping in Foz de Iguazu (for the Iguazu Falls), and in either Buenos Aires if you're detouring, or Mendoza, just before the mountains. I highly recommend Mendoza - ...
4
http://www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com/ includes kayak hire and appears to be cheaper than the price you have. You could enter that. Or you could ask them where they hire their kayaks from as it must be cheaper than what you have been quoted.
4
There are several bus companies that will take you. The easiest solution, once in Buenos Aires, is to head to Retiro bus station. Go up to the second floor, and to the section for 'west bound' buses.
There will be several companies. El Rapido, Andesmar, Cata, Tur Bus, and many more - it's an extremely popular route.
As Jonik mentioned, the Plataforma ...
4
As far as I know there are no passenger trains in the north of Chile and certainly not all the way to La Paz.
The only trains in Chile run south of Santiago to Talca.
The train station in Antofagasta looks like it has not been used in many years. Your information must be very old.
Buses are your only choice on the ground, unless you drive yourself.
3
This forum states that you can bring in US$10,000.
However, it's often pretty hard to find, as there's not always a universal website for these things.
For a lot of immigration/travel/visa stuff, VisaHQ.com is the place to go - for example, their Canadian page tells you that you can bring in or take out up to $10,000 Canadian before you need to declare ...
3
Mark covered all the basics and if you stick to the major tourist attractions you can make it in five weeks. Doing a round-trip from Lima south over into Bolivia and the Northern Chile sounds do-able.
One 'attraction' that Mark left out, is the Amazon rain-forest, which you can visit in both Peru and Bolivia. After the cold Andes, this may be a welcome ...
3
I don't think you will have any problems with theft in the buses. They are used by either tourists or people working (and I honestly suggest you keep an eye on tourists!).
But don't expect comfortable and 100% reliable buses with air con and snacks. Buses from Peru and Chile are usually better than Bolivian ones, and around La Paz there are quite alright.
...
3
One idea that might be fun is to take the funicular rail to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal. You would probably have to bring food with you – there aren't really any restaurants at the top; just a few empanada vendors.
But there are tables and chairs set up there where you could look out over the city as you are enjoying your meal.
The funicular costs 2 ...
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