A friend and I are planning to drive from Atacama down to Patagonia next year. We know of many others who have done this. We want alot of adventure, some hiking and biking, and will rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle.
We would like suggestions on where to stay, what to do, where to eat, roads to avoid, must see views, interesting people, once in a lifetime epxeriences, and different ways to have fun. The spouses are staying home!!!! We are adventurous, but will leave the golf clubs at home. Both of us enjoy fine dining, good wine, a hot shower at the end of the day, and great places to explore. I am a little more cautious, but Mike will tackle anything, anywhere in the world. Give us your best, please.
Reply to this Sounds like a great journey. However, you can't drive the entire length of the country as there is no road south of where the Carratera Austral ends. You'll need to cross into Argentina for this part of the trip and then return to Chile just above Puerto Natales. This area is well worth seeing (Torres del Paine, Fity Roy, Perito Moreno glacier, etc)
Reply to this Thanks. Do you have any names of hotels or restaurants? Thanks
Reply to this We have driven the length of Chile from Arica to Chiloe in several different trips.
My best advice for eating on the coast is head for the local fish market where there are always ladies preparing fresh caught fish or selling smoked seafood. In Arica We had the best Seviche, we ordered the Peruvian style. We have never bothered in Chile looking for "fancy" restaurants except in Santiago , because the seafood is so wonderful it is always prepared well. My favorite fish is Congrio (which BTW no matter what your guide books says is not Conger eel),. I did have a great Chinese meal in Calama that was also based on fresh seafood, can't remember the name but it was a "fancier" place, done up in high style on a marginal near Rt.5 in the center. Near la Serena, on the Costanera closer to Coquimbo there were 4 simple seafood restaurants, we ate at everyone and they also were outstanding. i could go on and on
There are so many options for hotels and you are traveling the length of Chile, it is hard to recommend specifics, some times we stayed in national park refugios sometimes we would stay in a more upscale hotel near the beach. There is a wide variety of accomodations available.
We will continue the drive soon through Argentina down to Futalafeu and Puerto Natales etc.
Reply to this If you start in Arica, rent a a pickup and take extra gas (we foolishly had a vitara and had the gas inside), Lauca was as spectacular as it gets. We stayed a night in Putre (skip the wine at that altitude) then crossed the state park and stayed at the refugio (no other options) at the Salir de Surire (carry your own food) went to Colchane (looking for gas, but the Guy was in Church???) coasted down a spectacular geological landscape to intriguing Iquique were we went upscale for a night at a seaside highrise and had a fantastic crab dish . We didn't need the 4X4 further south even near San Pedro to save money you can change vehicles in Iquique
My mouth is watering and I've still got two weeks until my next trip to Chile, where i will be staying in the lake district and eating at the seafood markets in Puerto Montt (famous)and Valdivia. Will go further south in April.
Reply to this Whoops that Chinese place was in Copiapo not Calama.
Reply to this Hi,
that´s great! When planning your trip in detail use the route information from COCHERA ANDINA. There you get information on road condition, distance, travel time etc. for routes in central and south america. Last year we made a trip from Venezuela to Peru and it was a reliable basis for planning our trip. We rent a off-road verhicle at latino-cars.com and had no trouble with it.
All the best!
Morretes
Reply to this Thank you for this valuable information. Do you suggest a 4 wheel drive or ?? What about food and gas?
Reply to this Yes, a 4 wheel drive. It is always good to have 20 liters of extra gas with you. Normally in Chile you won´t have too many problems to find a gas station. If there is no gas station for a long distance you will find information about that at cochera andina too. We had never problems with food.
Reply to this hi ,, I am from Chile , living in Calgary.... I had been traveling several time fron Arica to Puerto Montt in Chile ... Not problems at all.. Several police controls on the road , just to check DL .... Been Chilean , always I try to avoid going driving to downtown of any city , to much traffic and pedestrians. Do not leave your car unattended,,some body will notice that u are a foreigner having lot stuff, will be easy to open y good bye.....Gas stations along the road are safe ,,, in general all Panamerican Hwy is safe. From santiago to the south , the hwy is very very good good..except for ten toll stations..but,, if you go downtown, youmust very carefull, leaving sombody of you group in the car is a good idea....my self I preparing my trip toChile, south of Pto Monnt driving a car,, good luck...
Reply to this Checho have you forgotten the parking attendants that take money (legally) and will watch/wash your car while you do whatever you need to do in the down towns of all the cities and some larger towns. These guys expect a small tip and they are not going to jeopardize there job or there tips by letting someone break in to a car on their watch.; I have never had a problem. I do keep an eye on my vehicle when parked at a restaurant or gas station when the gypsies (yes really) show up.
Reply to this Thanks to both of you. We are open to any suggestions or your favorite places to stay, visit or dine. The wives are staying home, and my friend Mike is quite adventurous. So the sky is the limit, as they say. We plan to go in September or October 2009. What about the 4 wheel drive necessity?
Thanks again,
Reply to this As I said before we hired a 4X4 from Arica to go up to Lauca, we drove to the salar and stayed at the ranger staion and across and down to Iquique where we traded for a Toyota Yaris. We never used four wheel drive but we did ford a shallow stream and the clearance was useful. The 4X4 is really expensive (double)and you might want to trade back and forth.
Since I posted before we were down in the lake district (most of November) and a Yaris was a little low for some of the adventures my husbands wanted to do.We traded for a pickup which was better but not 4X4 and we fishtailed a bit, but he doesn't know how to drive slow.The lake district is well covered in books and on the net BUT
I highly recommend some time in Lago Ranco, which is almost always overlooked,and just before you reach Futrono, there is a restaurant called De Pellin and Coigue, it has a poor website, but truly it has one of the most magnificent views from a restaurant in Chile. The food is also wonderful and so is the wine. Closed Sunday night and all day Monday.
The little tourist office as you come into town is manned by a very enthusiastic local woman who is super helpful.
I also think a great drive,from there, is up to Lago Maihue, from Llifen, explore the north (dirt)coast road for some of the most stunning scenery and for fun you might take the 13 KM road over to the Banos de Chihuio for a very funky old fashioned "TERMAS" or take your trunks and use the hot spring pool.
On the road to Maihui there is a small fishing resort called Chollinco, they also have exceptional views and a nice restaurant. They have ziplines, though they needed 2 days notice as we were off season.
I recommend driving around Lago Ranco also. I don't recommend trying to find the back roads to Entre Lagos, the maps don't match up with what is there and it was boring and we got lost for hours. I actually would skip that area (entre Lagos), hard to get views and very touristy.
Reply to this Thank you for your wonderful insights. Stay safe and travel well.
Reply to this What type of clothing will we need in Patagonia? Viewing photos from bloggers, I see penty of heavy duty boots, along with down parks and squall jackets. And would you suggest bringing from home or buying there and donating them as we head north from Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine?
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