Just an hour and a half northwest of Santiago, neighboring Viña del Mar and Valparaíso are like two sides of a coin. Viña, the ‘Garden City,’ is one of Chile’s premier beach resorts, with excellent hotel and shopping. Valparaíso, immortalized in the words of Pablo Neruda, is one of South America’s most charismatic and historic ports, with its charming ascensores (funicular railways) and colorful hillside constructions.

Santiago, Chile’s capital city and cultural and economic center of the nation, Santiago occupies a spectacular intermontane basin at the foot of the highest peaks in the Andes. Safe and modern, Santiago features excellent restaurants and hotels, cultural events and shopping. Ski areas, national parks, colonial haciendas and wineries all make easy day trips from Santiago.
The Cajon del Maipo is a glacially sculpted valley just southeast of Santiago. It makes an excellent day or weekend trip. Whitewater rafting , hiking, and horseback riding are among the activities offered in Santiago’s …

Chile’s southern region of lakes and volcanoes is an expression of nature’s inimitable aesthetic and startling exuberance. Between volcanic cataclysms, glacial sculpting, torrential rivers and massive temperate rainforests, this is very much a landscape in flux, modeling and remodeling itself before our eyes.
Pucon is poised between Lago Villarica and the smoking volcano of the same name. It offers something for every interest. Two national parks and one private reserve protect ancient forest habitat, a variety of rivers more than satisfies fishermen and whitewater boaters, skiing and mountaineering are possible on …

The most remote island in the world, more than 2,000 miles from the Chilean mainland, Easter Island, leaves visitors feeling that they are in the “middle of nowhere.” Politically part of Chile, but culturally part of Polynesia, this island is one of the most unique in the world. Visitors can enjoy its beautiful beaches, and admire the mysterious rock statues called Moais, carved thousands of years ago.

Northern Chile is a land of extreme contrasts, where two uniquely Andean environments, the Altiplano and the Atacama Desert, combine with unpredictable and overwhelmingly beautiful results. The vast and colorful Atacama Desert is said to be the driest desert in the world. In some parts of this desert, no precipitation has ever been recorded. 
Composed of consolidated ash from hundreds of volcanoes along the Chile-Bolivia border, the Altiplano averages over 11,000 feet high and is home to a traditional community of Aymara llama and alpaca herders. This unique environment – site …