Chile in August
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Anonymous
| Advice needed- thinking of taking our family of 4 with 2 teens, age 15 and 17 to Chile for 2 weeks in mid August 2025. We have never been before. 17 yr old is almost fluent in Spanish. Kids like skiing and might want to do that for 4-5 days. Interested in Altacama Desert trip and maybe Easter Island. Would this be possible ? Any other ideas, tips, must sees, things to avoid or possible itineraries welcome ! Any travel company recommendations? TIA! |
Anonymous
| Easter Island is a 5.5 hour flight so you would lose a fair bit of time travelling there and back. |
Anonymous
| We visited Chile in August (years ago) as part of a larger trip. We didn't ski, but spent a few days in Santiago, visited Easter Island (a haul but it is really unlike anywhere I've ever been and I had wanted to go there my whole life), stopped in Valparaiso for a night, and visited the Atacama (which is also incredible.) It's long enough ago that I can't recommend companies anymore, but in the Atacama we did a tour of the geothermal springs, and a night stargazing tour that was really cool. |
Anonymous
| I went in July but it was more than 20 years ago so I won’t have any recommendations. You can easily do skiing as a day trip from Santiago. We also really enjoyed coming to the Lake District which has a very Germanic feel (good pastries) and did a day trip to Chilpe which looks like Ireland. We flew to the atacama — I remember at the time being warned by Chileans to be very careful as it is considered a very rough area of the country (lot of crime and prostitution and poverty). The geothermal springs are neat and I recall there was also a flamingo preserve but the birds were so far away that it was hard to see them. |
Anonymous
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Valle Nevado is one of the most popular ski resorts in Chile. I haven't skii'd there but my friend went there when she lived in Stgo and she loved it. Seems relatively easy to get to from Stgo.
https://www.vallenevado.com/en/ Having one of your kids be almost fluent will really help you if you decide to drive anywhere. Will help with things like parking. Stgo is a great city and Chile is an amazing country so you'll have a blast. |
Anonymous
| I went to Atacama in August about 20 years ago and it was great weather wise. Went back with family this year during spring break (anges varied from 6 months to 74 years) and really enjoyed Atacama. Went enjoyed the valley of the moon, puritama hot springs, salt flats, laguna chaxa (flamingos), lakes past piedras Rojas were incredible ( We saw vicuñas). Stayed air bb outside town and did stargazing on roof of air bnb. Saw Milky Way. Main thing is only one gas station in atacama so ensure to fill up for long rides. Didn’t feel unsafe at all. We were advised to skip Calama town (where we flew into- ie don’t get groceries here) and did shopping in Atacama. Enjoy!!! |
Anonymous
Do you recommend your Airbnb? If so, would love the details. |
Anonymous
Yes! Here it is: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53293550?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=f410abd0-87e5-4d23-ae0b-f9042ca0049a |
Anonymous
I’m the PP that raised safety issues with atacama and you’ve now refreshed my memory that it was the town where the airport was that our Chilean friends were most apprehensive about. I joked that the way they described it was like the way Obi Wan Kenobi described Mos Eisley. |
Anonymous
Thanks so much! |
Anonymous
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We also considered this hotel in town: https://www.booking.com/Share-THqeP9
And for some attractions you'll need to buy the tickets in advance e.g.: Piedras Rojas and Laguna Miscanti (you buy them in advance - at Socaire town and maybe online) This lake was very pretty and didn't need tickets: Laguna Tuyajito Would also recommend getting tix for Valley of the Moon and Puritama springs in advance (the credit card machines can be finicky and tix sell out) You can also go sandboarding. We also mapped out activities based on altitude, ie start lower and go higher - and had no problems. Happy planning! |