Santiago Tours and Hotels

[jbrowne]

We are on Infinity 11/19 to 12/3 cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Valpariso, and plan to spend three night in Santiago. Recommendations for moderate priced hotels and knowledgable tour guides would be appreciated. It would be nice if a tour guide could meet the ship, eventually get us to the Santiago hotel, then guide us at least one day in/around Santiago.

[HiltonHead]

We were on the Infinity's January 2005 cruise Ft. Lauderdale to Valariso. We were traveling with two other couples so we had the Conceirge aboard ship arrange tour/transportation from the ship to Santiago. We toured along the coast and then through the wine country on our way to Santiago stopping for lunch along the way. It was a very pleasant day. I think the Conceirge would be your best bet as they are familiar with responsible companies.

 

As far as hotels, we stayed at the Hotel Plaza San Francisco in Santiago. We chose this hotel as it was in central Santiago. Very good facilities. I would consider the price to be moderate to slightly high moderate. Check it out on the net.

 

This is a wonderful cruise that I'm sure you will enjoy.

[jbrowne]

Thanks for the interesting advice.

[Liat]

We spent a couple of days in Santiago before boarding Mercury for a Cape Horn trip in 2002. We took the city bus between Valparaiso and Santiago for about $6.00 pp. However, I might suggest this. Try to rent a car in Valparaiso. Spend the morning and have lunch in Vina del Mar, a coastal resort town adjoining Valparaiso. Then take a leisurely drive to Santiago through the wine country which will remind you very much of Southern California. We stayed at the Hotel Kennedy, which is not in the center of town, but is a four star hotel that is fairly reasonably priced. You can keep your car or get around Santiago by public transit, which is clean and reasonable. The subway is fast. Get a good guide book such as Lonely Planet. Frankly, Santiago is not the place tourists visit in Chile. It is a very nice city with a pleasant "old town" for pedestrians only; but hardly exciting. Have dinner at a restaurant called Isla Negra, named after the home of Pablo Neruda, one of Chile's two Nobel Literature Prize winners. Do not plan to eat dinner until 8:30. No one in town does and the restuarant kitchens are not really open until then. Southern Chile is beautiful, but it is some distance away from Santiago; as are the Andes to the east. On a clear day you can see Mt. Aconcagua, which at 23,000 feet is the highest point in the Western Hemisphere; but hardly a place you can reach in a day trip. It is a difficult country to see in two or three days.

When you have a chance; take the cruise around Cape Horn between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso (either direction). It was one of the best crusies we ever did.

You should be able to make all your arrangements on the net. Chile is a very computer-internet savvy country.

[dileep]

Read my cruise review in the South America Ports of Call section to see who we used. They picked us up at the ship and dropped us off 2 days later at the airport. We booked our own hotel using Marriott Rewards points, but the travel agency can get you a good rate for a hotel too.

 

You could deal directly with the agencies in Santiago if you prefer.

http://www.adsmundo.com/

http://www.turistour.com/?language=2

 

They seem to provide the local services to a lot of agents including latin trips who we booked through.