bradshore13

It’s such a shame what is going on in Chile, but i understand that politically the country needs a change for the better. I am in contact with friends I have in the country and there will be demonstrations from January to April when Chile will have a referendum for a new constitution. Read up on the country’s history if you can.

From what i understand the violent incidents mainly happen in the center around Plaza Baquedano and start around 16pm so it’s safe to go around and  take photos from 10am till 16pm. Barrio Italia, ProvIdencia,  Vitacura and Las Condes are areas safe to go out at night with lots of great bars and restaurants although Bellavista is close to Baquedano it remains active at night with lots of clubs bars and restaurants open, yet still a place where you need to be vigilant toward petty crime, like pick pockets etc.

Viña del  Mar is un-effected, while Valparaiso has been effected on a small business level. Tourism still remains active, with Cerro Allegre and Cerro Concepcion the main tourist hills with great bars and restaurants .

There are a lot of Chileans that need tourism.  As long as you have a good guide, know the safe areas and avoid marches past 16pm you will be OK.

Also don’t forget that the vineyards are the best place to be.  The Casablanca valley between Santiago and Valparaiso has great food and wine on offer away from the cities.

Emiliana Organic

Veramonte

Matetic

Casa Marin

Casas del Bosque

Bodegas RE

A great agency to consult is www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl Michael the guy who runs it is a British expat.

The thing to do is a wine tour transfer from Santiago to San Antonio. You have to go through Casablanca and San Antonio wine valleys to get to the San Antonio port terminal. We did that with www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl. That was in 2011 when we sailed from Valparaiso. Michael is a British expat that knows the area very well.

I would make sure you are there for four days before departing or four days after arriving. So many people bypass a lot of interesting things to see like Valparaiso for example.

Remember there is nothing to see in San Antonio unless you like the casino. You are better off  arriving in Santiago, do a day city tour and maybe one other day for a Maipo valley wine  tour. Then a transfer wine tour to Valparaiso. Spend the night in Valparaiso, then the next day do a Valparaíso and Viña del mar city tour. The next day take another a transfer wine tour or direct transfer to San Antonio port terminal.

That's what i would suggest.

The thing to do is a wine tour transfer from Santiago to San Antonio. You have to go through Casablanca and San Antonio wine valleys to get to the San Antonio port terminal. We did that with www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl. Michael is a British expat that knows the area very well.

I would make sure you are there for four days before departing or four days after arriving. So many people bypass a lot of interesting things to see like Valparaiso for example.

Remember there is nothing to see in San Antonio unless you like the casino. You are better off  arriving in Santiago, do a day city tour and maybe one other day for a Maipo valley wine  tour. Then a transfer wine tour to Valparaiso. Spend the night in Valparaiso, then the next day do a Valparaíso and Viña del mar city tour. The next day take another a transfer wine tour or direct transfer to San Antonio port terminal.

That's what i would suggest.

The tour company i always recommend is http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl if you fancy a transfer tour stopping at different vineyards in the Casablanca valley on the way to Santiago.

Michael is the owner. A British expat. Very good tour and transfer.

Everyone keeps recommending Santiago and San Antonio and not even mentioning Valparaíso. Valparaiso is the place to stay before and after a cruise. There are plenty of great hotels and restaurants. The fauna Hotel, Hotel Acontra Luz, The Zero Hotel, Cirol Armstrong, Casa Higueras, Hotel Sommerscales, Hotel Manor Atkinson.

The drive from Valparaiso to San Antonio is only an hour.

Its best to stay in Valparaiso and take a transfer from there to San Antonio. It's not as interesting as valparaíso.

We always use michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl if you want someone knowledgeable to take you around some great vineyards.

We planned wine tours with http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Michael is an expat from London who is also a sommelier.

Casas del Bosque and Emiliana are very good wineries but there are also some smaller ones you could go to.

Get in contact with michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl

Good luck

Have heard a mixed bag of reviews about Southern Excursions. We did tours from the port of Valparaiso Chile with http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Michael the owner is an expat from London, so English is not a problem and he is a wonderful guy.

Get in contact with michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Hope this helps

We will be going to Chile later in the year and will spend a week doing wine tours with http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl

We are looking to stay at these places in Santiago and Valparaiso.

Santiago

Hotel Orly (http://www.orlyhotel.com/)

Hotel Lasterria (http://www.lastarriahotel.com/)

Hotel Aubrey (http://www.theaubrey.com/)

The Singular Hotel (http://www.thesingular.com/santiago/lastarria/hotel-es.html)

Valparaiso

Hotel Fauna (http://www.faunahotel.cl/)

Hotel Via Via (http://www.viaviacafe.cl/)

Hotel Cirol Armstrong (http://www.ciriloarmstrong.com/en-us/)

Hotel Zero (http://www.zerohotel.com/)

Hotel Casahigueras (http://www.casahigueras.cl/)

Hotel Palacioastoreca http://www.hotelpalacioastoreca.com/

Hope that helps

We did a tour with http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl. Our transfer took us to House Casa del vino in the Casablanca valley.

Although this restaurant was gourmet fusion we still learned about some Chilean cuisine.

Pastel de Choclo (Corn Pie)

Chilean salad - Onions with tomatoes and cilantro

Empenadas - Fried with sea food and oven baked with minced beef filling.

Pebre salsa - Like pico de gallo

Fish- Salmon, Sea Bass. Congrio

Merken - Smoked Chili spice

Manjar - Dulce de leche - Like caramel

Curanto - From the South of Chile sea food stew

Lomo a la pobre- Steak and chips with fries egg

Barbecue - Cuts of steak, pork, chicken, Chorizzos, lamb

Wine and more wine

I love Chile and with the new #British Airways direct flight to #Santiago we will be there again soon.

The Atacama desert is a must. Torres del Paine in the South is a must. Lake district and Chiloe Island is a must. Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is a must. Santiago and Valparaiso are a must. Wine tours and horse riding are great activities to be done in Chile.

We did a transfer wine tour with http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl. It's run by a British expat and we shall be using their services again.

All the best

Best results are with Banco Santander and at the Copec gas stations which are dotted about. Remember that there is a daily withdrawal limit of 200,000Chilean pesos per day.

If you are stopping in Valparaiso Chile i would highly recommend using http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

They did a trip for us some years ago. Great for Casablanca Valley tours if you love wine and they also do city tours plus transfers from the port to Santiago.

contact michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl

Valparaíso is fine, so visits to the Casablanca wine valley are fine. The fires are further south. Maule region badly hit.

It's always good to remember that you can travel through wine country in between Valparaiso and Santiago. We used michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Michael is a British expat who is a Sommelier and knows the Casablanca valley and Valparaiso very well.

I would recommend the company http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl We did a tour with Michael from London some years ago.

People forget that you can stop at vineyards in between Santiago and Valparaiso.

We stopped at Casas Del Bosque, Emiliana, Lunch at House and finished up at Quinty vineyard. I was a great day.

If you don't like that kind of thing you can always take a direct transfer with any old transfer firm.

Hope this helps

I would get your guide to take you up the coast past the sand dunes. We did that with wine tours valparaiso. Viña del mar has the Fonck museum, but not much to sea in Viña.

You have to visit the house of Pablo Neruda La Sebastiana in Cerro Bellavista in Valpo.

Cerro Artilleria and Cerro Allegre/Cerro Concepción.

If you like markets Mercado Cardonal is worth a visit.

Valpo is like one big open air museum.

Good luck and have fun.

Does anyone know the cost to get from the cruise terminal Santiago (Valparaiso) to the Airport (Santiago, Arturo Merino Benitez )?

 

Trying to determine if to go directly to the airport or take an excursion before heading there...

Not many people know that you can stop at vineyards on your way to the port or on the way to the airport and Santiago.

A few years ago we used wine tours valparaiso. Great guide Michael from London who lives in Valparaiso.

We paid around $165,000 Chilean pesos per person for a full day that included 3 vineyards and a top food and wine pairing lunch. Prices may have change as we did do the tour in 2009.

http://www.winetoursvalparaiso.cl and michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl

A very nice person that cares about people.

I would recommend wine tours valparaiso with Michael.

Expat from London running a good service between Santiago and Valparaiso.

Has has some sommelier training and knows a lot about wine country.

We have used him twice before.

michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl

You can always catch a walking tour with tours for tips or you can pick up a free map and walk on your own. Ibis is very central and you can walk to the lifts that will take you up into concepción and alegre hills.

They take USD in souvenir markets. Vineyards take credit cards. Super markets will not take USD. Restaurants take local currency and credit cards.

We have in the past used Michael at winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

A British expat that lives in Valparaiso and knows wine country like the back of his hand. We had used him twice.

michael@winetoursvalparaiso.cl

You can try him.

We stayed at the Hotel Manor Atkinson before we did a wine tour transfer with winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Here are some hotels i found that are good for Valparaiso as well as Santiago.

Santiago

http://www.lastarriahotel.com/

http://www.theaubrey.com/

http://www.orlyhotel.com/

http://www.thesingular.com/santiago/lastarria/hotel-es.html

Valparaiso

http://faunahotel.cl/

http://www.zerohotel.com/

http://www.casahigueras.cl/

http://www.hotelpalacioastoreca.com/

We did a tour with Michael at winetoursvalparaiso.cl.

Very good. He is a British expat who is also a sommelier.

Many people don't realize that in between Santiago and Valparaiso you have the Casablanca valley and you can stop at wineries and have lunch on the way.

You should try and give an hour from leaving the ship to meeting your guide at the port terminal exit.

If you dont have transporte arranged and you are staying at a hotel in Valparaiso you can get a Taxi just outside of the port where they all wait.

If you just want a transfer direct to Santiago there is a transfer company in the port just as you pass customs.

If you like wine, like i do i would suggest doing a wine tour transfer like what we did with winetoursvalparaiso.cl. Michael is a Brit from London and has lots of knowledge of the Casablanca valley.

There are others you can choose from like Uncorked and Chilean Winelovers.

If you want to just take a bus to Santiago the bus terminal is 15 minutes walk away.