Day trips from Santiago
From Santiago, both a beach and a ski area are ninety minutes away — opposite directions, same day if you plan it well.
- Best full day
- Valparaíso
- Nearest
- The Maipo valley, forty minutes
Santiago sits between the ocean and the Andes, and that is the whole list of day trips: ninety minutes west is the Pacific and Valparaíso, ninety minutes east are ski areas at three thousand metres. Between them lie three wine valleys and a canyon.
Valparaíso — 1 h 30, a full day
The best trip from Santiago and the only one that needs no organising: coaches from the Alameda terminal every fifteen minutes. The city climbs forty-two hills, with nineteenth-century funiculars instead of stairs, murals and Neruda's house La Sebastiana. Two hills, not all of them.
The Maipo valley — 40 minutes
Chile's oldest wineries, some founded in the 1850s, with vines on their own roots — phylloxera never reached the country. Cabernet sauvignon here is what malbec is in Mendoza. The nearest valley and the easiest half day.
Casablanca and Colchagua — 1 h and 2 h
Casablanca is a cooler valley near the ocean, with sauvignon blanc and chardonnay; Colchagua is further south and warmer, the heartland of carménère — a grape extinct in Europe that grew here for a century under the name merlot until it was identified in 1994. Colchagua also runs a wine train.
Cajón del Maipo — 1 h 30
A canyon south-east of the city, with hot springs, the turquoise Embalse el Yeso reservoir and a path to the El Morado glacier. This is the nearest real mountain and it works all year, unlike the ski areas.
WWhere to stayWhich district makes leaving on a trip easiest:Where to stay in Santiago →The ski areas — 1 h 30, June–September
Valle Nevado, Farellones and El Colorado sit at around three thousand metres, ninety minutes uphill on a road with forty hairpins. The season runs June to September, so you ski here in the middle of the northern hemisphere's summer. Kit is hired up there; in winter the road requires chains.
What not to do
- Valparaíso and a winery on the same day. Opposite directions; combined, both become driving.
- The ski road without checking it. It closes in snow and reopens in convoys; ask on the morning.
- Driving after a tasting. Chilean drink-driving checks are strict and random; go with a driver or an organised tour.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which trip from Santiago is best?
Valparaíso, if you pick one. Ninety minutes by coach, no organising, and it is the most distinctive city in Chile. For wine, the nearest is the Maipo valley, forty minutes away, with the country's oldest estates.
Can you ski near Santiago?
You can, from June to September, at Valle Nevado and Farellones, ninety minutes east at about three thousand metres. The road up has forty hairpins and needs chains in winter.
Do you need a car for the trips?
Not for Valparaíso — coaches from the Alameda terminal run every fifteen minutes. For the wineries you need a driver or a tour, because you do not drive after a tasting and Chilean checks are strict.
Ready for Santiago?
Where to next
Where to stay in Santiago
→Lastarria, Providencia, Bellavista or Barrio Italia — four districts, four different evenings; the metro…
Valparaíso · 103 km
→A port on forty-two hills, with nineteenth-century lifts instead of stairs and a mural on every second wall
How well does Santiago suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Front row for the next trip
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