Charlotte's Trip to Chile
By Charlotte McClean
I was recently lucky enough to take a trip to Chile and explore several different parts of this huge country, including the capital Santiago, the Atacama Desert and Easter Island. We first flew to London Heathrow and then flew direct to Santiago from there with British Airways on what was about a 10-hour flight.
Location
It only took us about 20 minutes with light traffic to reach the centre of Santiago from the airport. Our first hotel was the 4 star Doubletree Vitacura in the very exclusive Vitacura neighbourhood, with spacious rooms and a boutique feel. We also stayed at the 5 star Hotel Plaza San Francisco, near the bohemian Lastarria district, the boutique Hotel Magnolia in a beautiful period building, and finally the Holiday Inn Santiago Airport Hotel, which is only a zebra-crossing away from the airport! Our hotel in the Atacama Desert was the Hotel Altiplanico in the town of San Pedro. This was a great base for excursions out into the desert. We then stayed at the 3 star Taha Tai Hotel on our trip to Easter Island, a complex of bungalows with a nice restaurant on site.
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What I Loved
My highlight of the holiday has to be our trip to the Atacama Desert, which was a 2 hour flight to Calama in the north of the country. We were based in San Pedro de Atacama and were able to do excursions out into the desert itself, which is one of the driest places on earth. You can do private or shared tours from the town into the desert to places like Half Moon Valley and the Altiplanic Lagoons and Salt Flats.
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Activities & Places to See
- While in Santiago, we did the city walking tour which lasted about three hours and took us to places like La Moneda presidential palace and the main square at the Plaza de Armas.
- We also went on great excursions to the colourful port town of Valparaiso and to Vina del Mar, a coastal resort on the Pacific Ocean.
- Easter Island is a must see! We flew to Hanga Roa and explored the beautiful green island, which is mostly a national park. Don’t forget to check out the Moai statues!
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Shopping
Most of the major brands and shopping centres were located in Santiago, such as the Mall Espacio M and the Centro Artesanal Santa Lucia. However, there weren’t many shopping options in places outside Santiago, and Easter Island only had a few small souvenir shops.
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Food & Bars
Chile is known for its great wine, so we visited the great Casablanca wine region where we did a wine cellar tour and tasting at La Casona Matetic. Elsewhere, there are plenty of bars and restaurants specialising in local dishes like Chilean Empanadas and Cazuela, a fresh stew with meat, corn and rice. The local drink speciality is the pisco sour, a delicious cocktail made with citrus juice and pisco.
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