touring
adventure CHILE
Above: Torres del Paine Left: Easter Island
The best-known highlights are the
capital Santiago, a charming, cosmopolitan city where a Mandarin Oriental opened this January; the barren moonscapes of the Atacama Desert; and Patagonia, the vast, mountainous region to the south, reaching down to Cape Horn at the very tip of the continent. Regional specialists tend to offer two-
week itineraries featuring all of these. Latin Routes’ 16-day Highlights of Chile trip visits Santiago, the Atacama, Patagonia and the Chilean Lake District, with a day spent on beautiful Chiloé Island, noted for its seafaring communities and unique wooden churches. The tour is priced from £3,629. Even more far flung is Easter Island, a dot in the ocean nearly 2,500 miles from Santiago. Visitors find lush calderas and jagged ocean stacks, plus the famous moai – stone heads carved by the indigenous Rapa Nui more than 500 years ago. The regions around Santiago are
also tempting tourists to explore further, with a host of beautiful valleys where Chile’s famous wines are produced.
Walks in the wilderness Torres del Paine, the spectacular national park in Patagonia, has become one of the world’s walking hotspots, with hotels booking up far in advance during the short season;
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Visitors to Easter Island find lush calderas, jagged ocean stacks and the famous moai stone heads
most operate only from October to March. Laura Rendell-Dunn, Journey Latin America’s destination specialist and business development manager, recommends travelling at the start or the end of the season for lower prices, fewer tourists and a greater chance of spotting pumas. “March is the start of autumn in the southern hemisphere, and it’s a beautiful time to visit Patagonia, when the trees turn wonderful shades of yellow and red,” she says. Journey Latin America and Rainbow
Tours recommend the lesser-known Aysén region as an alternative to Torres del Paine. It features Patagonia’s spectacular mountains and glaciers, but is practically untouched by tourism. “This region can be visited either by
staying at a high-end lodge, or for the adventurous, on a self-drive basis, as the quality of vehicles and roads means that it is a really good way to get around,” says Jack Brooker, Rainbow Tours Latin America product manager.
THE ROUTE OF PARKS
As part of the tourist board’s push to distribute visitors more widely around the country and the government’s conservation vision, a 1,700-mile scenic Route of Parks has been created, spanning 17 national parks from Puerto Montt in the Lake District to Cape Horn. It is set to be the world’s biggest
conservation project, encompassing an area almost the size of England, and protecting 60 communities and 24 ecosystems. It is, in part, the result of a million-acre land gift to the Chilean government by Tompkins Conservation, a foundation set up by North Face founder Douglas Tompkins and former Patagonia clothing chief executive Kristine Tompkins, which allowed the creation of five parks. Specialist operator Pura Aventura’s new
45-day Ruta Uncovered self-drive itinerary takes in the highlights, which can be done as one epic road trip or split into sections. Adventurers can hike in Torres del Paine, go white-water rafting on the Fú River, kayak along Queulat’s fjords, enjoy close encounters with condors and watch glorious sunsets over the Patagonian steppe. Ruta Uncovered starts at £13,950, including 44 nights’ B&B accommodation, some meals, car hire, some guiding, internal flights and an Australis cruise.
18 | Travel Weekly touring adventure | July 2019
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