Chile Trip Planner: Santiago, the Atacama, Patagonia, and Easter Island

Seven days covers Santiago and the Atacama desert, ten adds Patagonia, and fourteen adds the Lake District or Easter Island. Each region is a flight apart, so book domestic flights early. Budget about CLP 50,000-90,000 a day as a backpacker, CLP 150,000-280,000 mid-range, or CLP 550,000+ for luxury.

Citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU do not need a visa for tourism and can stay up to 90 days. You are issued a tourist card (tarjeta de turismo) on arrival, a small paper slip you must keep and surrender when you leave the country, so don't lose it. Your passport should be valid for the duration of your stay (six months' validity is the safest standard), and officers can ask for proof of onward travel and sufficient funds. The old US$160 reciprocity fee for US arrivals was abolished in 2014. Confirm your nationality's current rule on the official Chile Travel entry requirements page or the US Embassy in Chile before you fly.

Chile is one of the safer countries in South America, and the tourist regions are well-traveled and routine for solo and women travelers. Petty theft (pickpocketing, bag-snatching) is the realistic risk, concentrated in central Santiago, Valparaíso, and crowded transport hubs, rather than violent crime. Keep your phone away on the street, watch bags in busy markets and bus terminals, and use ride-hailing apps or registered taxis after dark. The bigger hazards are environmental: high-altitude excursions in the Atacama, fierce Patagonian wind, and active volcanoes near Pucón. Check your government's current travel advisory for region-specific notes before going.

It depends entirely on the region, because Chile spans desert to glacier. December to February is the southern summer: the only comfortable window for Patagonia and the Lake District, but also the busiest and priciest, and the Santiago wine country is warm. October-November and March-April are the shoulder months, with thinner crowds, the autumn grape harvest, and still-open Patagonia early and late in the window. June to August is winter, good for Andes skiing near Santiago but with most of Patagonia closed and storm-bound. The Atacama works year-round, though dawn excursions are near-freezing in any season.

Seven days covers two regions done well, usually Santiago plus the Atacama desert, or Santiago plus a slice of the south. Ten days is the comfortable first-timer length for the classic three-region arc: Santiago, the Atacama, and Patagonia, linked by internal flights. Two weeks lets you add the Lake District around Puerto Varas and Pucón, or detour to Easter Island, without every day becoming a transfer. The country is too long to see in a single short trip, so pick two or three regions and connect them by air rather than trying to cover the whole length.

Fly between the regions. Chile is over 4,300 km long, so Santiago to the Atacama or to Patagonia is a 2-3 hour flight versus a multi-day drive, and budget domestic carriers are cheap when booked a couple of weeks ahead. Within a region, long-distance buses are comfortable and extensive, rental cars suit the Lake District, the Carretera Austral, and Atacama self-drives, and Santiago has a clean, easy Metro. Easter Island is reached only by a 5.5-hour flight from Santiago. Build the trip around a few internal flights and rent a car only where the scenery is the drive.

The currency is the Chilean peso (CLP), with prices in the thousands, so a coffee can read '3,500'. Cards are widely accepted in cities, hotels, and mid-range restaurants, but carry cash for street food, small shops, rural areas, and the remote regions. Withdraw from bank ATMs attached to branches (Banco de Chile, Santander, BancoEstado), take larger amounts to limit the per-withdrawal fee that most Chilean ATMs charge foreign cards, and tell your bank you're traveling. A 10 percent tip (propina) is customary and often suggested on the bill at sit-down restaurants.

Yes, plan for it. San Pedro de Atacama sits at about 2,400m and the headline excursions climb far higher: the El Tatio geysers are at 4,300m and several salt-flat lagoons near 4,200m. Some visitors feel headaches, breathlessness, or poor sleep at these heights. Spend your first day on lower excursions like the Valle de la Luna, drink plenty of water, go easy on alcohol, and save the highest dawn runs for once you've adjusted. Anyone with heart or lung conditions should check with a doctor before the 4,000m-plus tours.

Eat the seafood and the regional specialities. The long Pacific coast delivers superb fish and shellfish: try ceviche, machas a la parmesana (razor clams), and a hearty paila marina seafood stew. On the street, grab a completo (a loaded hot dog) or an empanada de pino (beef, onion, egg, and olive). Pastel de choclo (a corn-and-meat pie) and the Fiestas Patrias asado are the national comfort foods. Wash it down with a pisco sour or a glass of Chilean Carménère or Sauvignon Blanc from the Maipo and Casablanca valleys, and try mote con huesillo, a sweet peach-and-wheat summer drink.

In Santiago and most of central Chile the tap water is treated and generally safe to drink, though its high mineral content upsets some visitors' stomachs at first. In the Atacama north, including San Pedro de Atacama, the water has elevated mineral and arsenic levels, so most travelers stick to bottled or filtered water there. Carrying a filter bottle covers the smaller towns and the remote regions and cuts plastic waste. When in doubt, ask your accommodation whether the local tap is potable.