i need to find the best and cheapest way to go from Santiago de Chile to Peru (lima or Cusco) at the beginning of June 2008
Hi,
I am going to Chile with my boyfriend for 3 months in March (mainly Santiago, but we\'ll be travelling around), and then off to Peru from the beginning of June for a month and a half. We haven\'t booked our flights yet, but we were going to book a bordeaux-santiago, santiago-lima, lima-bordeaux flight, we found some good deals, if we book quik! But i heard that buses from Santiago to Peru exist, and that they are cheap and good. Does anybody know anything about this? Does anybody know what would be the cheapest and best way to get from Santiago to Peru (Lima or Cusco) at the beginning of June 2008? Also, does anybody know about youth hostels, and what are the cheapest ways to find shelter for a night? Does couch surfing exist, or a system like in Australia (where you work for your stay in a farm in exchange of shelter for example) ?
Also, if anybody will be over in Santiago or Lima or Cusco around the same time as me, give me a shout!
Thanks very much in advance for your help!
Juliane
Reply to this We are in the exact same position as you for june. We arrive in santiago from new zealand around early june and the plan is to travel around south america before leaving from rio the end of august. From arriving in chile we want to travel north to see bolivia and peru. From what i have read, good bus links operate throughout chile up to the northern town of arica, where it is possible to get to la paz or lima relatively easily. Our problem is that we will then have to travel back south to see southern chile and argentina. It would be unfortunate to have to travel south the exact same route we had to travel north. Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.
Reply to this Hi, I'm Chilean.
The cheapest way to travel from Santiago to Lima is by bus. You take a bus from Santiago to Arica (border city on the North). These buses are very comfortable, you can sleep, it's a long trip... 31 hours. It cost like US$70 (www.turbus.cl). BUT.... you can do a stop in San Pedro de Atacama... Beautiful place in the north of Chile, close to Calama.
To cross the border you take another bus ... not so comfortable... or a taxi. This little trip take 45 min. I don't remember how much is, but is cheap. You arrive in Tacna (border Peruvian city). From this city you can take a bus to every city you want in Peru. You can find very cheap buses in Peru, but i recommend you to spend a little more money, because the cheapest are very uncomfortable .
Another way is by air. www.lan.com is the main chilean airline. Sometimes you can find really cheap flights inside chile. See this companies:
www.lan.com
www.skyairline.cl
www.aircometchile.cl
About working in hostels... i don't know.
For hingus.... if you want to travel to south, then to north... the best way i think is going south to Patagonia, by Chilean side, then, going north by the argentinian side. There are beautiful places to see in both parts.
Well.. if you need more advices, just ask me, i need to practice my english because in some months I'll take some working holiday time in New Zealand. I really need to work to spend time there, and travel. If you have some tip.... please let me know about.
Gonzalo
Reply to this Hola Gonzalo
I am currently in Santiago (arrived 5 days ago) and am a New Zealander travelling with my Australian partner. We have started taking spanish lessons at the tandem school in Recoletta near Barrio Bellavista but we will only be there for a week and need to keep practicing our spanish. If you like we could help you with english and tell you about New Zealand and you could share your knowledge on Chile and espanol. We are in Chile for two months but plan to go to peru for a little while during this time and then are headed to Colombia.
If you would like to meet up please reply to my post.
We are currently staying near Santa Lucia.
Michela
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