Top Santiago Day Trips - page 17

Alvaro was the tour guide and Juanita was the driver. Both very experienced and friendly. Great comms on Whatsapp the night b4. Comfortable van with 11 passengers on board. Pickup at 7am. As i was the 1st pickup it took about 1 hour to pickup other passengers. Good toilet and coffee breaks. Wine tastingvwas at the situ winery and the carmenere was fantastic. Then to route 60 and the climb on 29 switchbacks ... absolutely outrageous to see this .. very cool. Then onto to the lake Lunch at the ski resort hotel ... good quality food and reasonably priced. Again, just stunning vistas of the lake and mountains. Back to hotel around 5pm. Alvaro was such a nice guy, kbowlgeable and spoke perfect English. If you have a day to spare I highly recomend this trip.

Takes about an hour to get up to the Valle Nevado ski resort and then an hour back to Santiago. The picnic was in a very pretty location where we got to see some Andean condors. Just make sure you're in good shape as this tour involves a fair amount of hiking at altitude (~10,000 ft/3000 m). My guide, Leon, did an excellent job during this approximately 5 hour tour.

Jorge was a fantastic guide who made the day very special for us. Even though 12/14 people on the tour were Spanish speaking, he took the time to also sit with my wife and I and explain everything in English (we do not speak Spanish very well, but we could understand his Spanish for many items). We were given history and context and he made the day fun, as he is also a teacher. Highly recommend!

Extremely well organised, especially English communication through provided headsets. Cable car and Funicular included in this tour make it very good value for money and a must do as they are both very impressive. All the family thoroughly enjoyed this tour package.

Stephanie is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic tour guide who took us to all the important places in Santiago and helped us get to know the city better. She communicated the pickup schedule and itinerary through WhatsApp a day early and gave many good recommendations for places to eat and visit after the tour was over

Right out of the gate Alejandro was super communicative. The night before the tour we received messages via WhatsApp that were in 3 different languages including a spreadsheet with pickup times. This was impressive as most of the tours we had been on this trip under communicated and left you wondering if you were going to be picked up. The cost of this trip was extremely reasonable. While the trip left Santiago early, Alejandro explained that this would give us an advantage as we would beat most other tour providers to Valparaiso and we would get pictures with ease. He was right!! The streets were empty and we had no trouble snapping photos of everything that we wanted without trouble of working around crowds. Later in the evening this was confirmed by another couple in our hotel who used a different tour company…..and they had great difficulty getting good photos because of the crowds. Lunch was provided and was average. While all of the scenery and history/culture are the are of this trip….I can’t stress enough how much Alejandro made the trip all the more enjoyable. Make sure to ask him about SlipKnot!!

It was an amazing trip! Just an hour away from the big metropolis finding yourself surrounded by the stunning beauty of the Andes! Our guide Diego was so informative and well acquainted with the area we visited. I loved his quick with and sense of humor.

This is a full day trip that I recommend is taken on a Saturday or Sunday. Depending on how many people are on the tour there can be a lot of pick-up points as was the case with our tour. There were about 10 people already on the bus when we boarded and were informed that there were a further 7 pick up points which ended up being a to and fro across Santiago, to complete all the pick-ups which took until 8.00am, before heading to Valparaiso. This will not be possible on a week day, as the traffic is so busy during the day. Once on our way rapid progress was made, with the first stop at the Rio Tinto Winery close by Casablanca. Javier, our tour guide who was great, said there is free admission and gave instructions that there is restaurant inside; so we could have coffee, breakfast as some of the Group had left early and had not eaten. There was snacks and fruit for sale if desired. Much of the ‘sights’ to see in Valparaiso were drive-bys, with the occasional point of interest where the bus stopped and everyone exited to view the attraction. We went to Cerro Bellavista which offers a vantage point to look out over the city. We rode one of the Furniculars to the street level to be met by the bus. We went to Vina del Mar which is a great coastal town, where you walk on the beach. The way back to Santiago was more direct and very quick. The return drop-off merry-go-round did not happen, so that was much better. Again returning to Santiago on a weekday would have been a nightmare. You must do this tour on a weekend day or you will be stuck in traffic for most of the day.