Vineyard earth, volcanic stone and a horizon without end
When to go
September-April
Trip length
11 days / 10 nights
Typical investmentPrice
from $11,675 pp
This 10-night journey links the capital, Chile’s wine country, and one of the most remote inhabited islands on Earth. Spend three days in Santiago and central valley wine country before flying far into the Pacific to Rapa Nui, where four days with a private guide give you time to explore the moai, ceremonial sites and volcanic landscapes in depth.
Along the way
Four days on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with a licensed local guide
The moai of Ahu Tongariki and the quarry at Rano Raraku
Cabernet and carménère in Chile’s central valley
Santiago’s markets and Andean views to start
Your route
City markets beneath the Andes
Arrive in Santiago and settle into your hotel. Keep the first afternoon free. It's a good stretch to rest after the flight, or take a short walk near the hotel before the pace picks up tomorrow.
Explore the capital with a private guide, moving between neighborhood markets, the city's political history, and viewpoints toward the Andes. Santiago's downtown core still centers on La Moneda Palace and the plazas around it, and the mountains form a backdrop to nearly every part of the city on a clear day. Your guide can shape the day around whichever of these interests you most.
Choose a museum, a design district, or a food-focused outing with your guide, then keep the rest of the day at leisure. Santiago's food scene draws on Chile's long coastline and its wine valleys, both close enough to shape the city's markets and menus. The open afternoon is a good chance to revisit a neighborhood at your own pace.
Country roads, old estates & valley light
Travel into Chile's Colchagua or Maipo wine country and settle at a small hotel surrounded by vines and farmland. Maipo is Chile's oldest wine region, planted in the shadow of the Andes just outside Santiago, while Colchagua lies further south and is known for its bolder reds. Either way, expect a slower pace and open, rural scenery after two days in the capital.
Visit a handful of estates with a private guide, learning the region's farming history and tasting through cabernet sauvignon and carménère, the grape most identified with Chile. Carménère was thought extinct after a 19th-century blight wiped it out in Europe, until it turned up decades later growing quietly among Chile's vines, misidentified as merlot. Lunch is usually built around the tasting, pairing regional dishes with whatever's being poured.
Keep the day open for gardens, cycling on quiet estate roads, or another private rural outing before the flight to Rapa Nui. It's worth treating this as a true rest day, since tomorrow's flight west is a long one.
Moai, volcanoes & Polynesian history
Fly to Rapa Nui and settle into your hotel. Meet your local guide for an orientation to the island's geography and cultural protocols. Rapa Nui sits among the most isolated inhabited places on Earth, far out in the Pacific, and the island's Rapa Nui community maintains its own customs around visiting ancestral and sacred sites, which your guide will walk you through.
Explore the island's major archaeological sites with a licensed local guide, from the quarry at Rano Raraku, where dozens of moai were carved and left mid-journey, to the fifteen restored moai standing at Ahu Tongariki. Many of the island's most significant sites sit inside Rapa Nui National Park, where access is regulated to help protect them, and Ahu Tongariki in particular is known for sunrise, when the moai stand in silhouette against the light.
Visit Rano Kau's crater lake and the ceremonial village of Orongo, where your guide can walk you through the island's navigation history, its beliefs, and the events of its later, harder centuries. Orongo overlooks the small islets offshore where the island's birdman competition once took place, one of the more striking chapters your guide is likely to cover here.
Spend a final full day with your guide on smaller sites, coastal landscapes, and local food, with a beach stop at Anakena if the weather holds. Anakena's white coral sand and palm trees stand out against the volcanic rock that covers most of the island, and it's a natural place to end a day of exploring.
Transfer to the airport for the flight back to mainland Chile or onward travel.
Let's discover your next adventure
Our top picks
The Singular Santiago places 62 rooms in Lastarria beside Parque Forestal and the city’s museum district. A seasonal rooftop pool, full spa, rooftop bar, and restaurant give the hotel more facilities than most of Santiago’s historic-center boutiques.
Hotel Magnolia places 40 rooms inside a restored 1929 building beside Cerro Santa Lucía. Original stone, stained glass, a dramatic central stair, rooftop terrace, and contemporary Chilean restaurant create a design-led alternative to Santiago’s larger luxury hotels.
Mandarin Oriental, Santiago places 299 rooms within 25,000 square meters of gardens in Las Condes. A lagoon-style seasonal pool, several restaurants, spa, family suites, and broad public spaces create the capital’s most resort-like luxury stay.
Vik Chile combines 22 individually designed rooms with seven glass-walled bungalows above a private vineyard in the Millahue Valley. Architecture, art, wine, horseback riding, two restaurants, spa, and a seasonal infinity pool make the estate a complete wine-country destination.
Clos Apalta Residence now places four original casitas and six newer villas above an organic vineyard in the Colchagua Valley. Ten accommodations, a Relais & Châteaux restaurant, private tastings, hiking, pool, and highly personal service create a quieter alternative to larger wine resorts.
Explora Rapa Nui places 26 Varúa Rooms and four Raa Suites on open grassland outside Hanga Roa. More than 30 guided explorations, meals, drinks, airport transfers, outdoor pool, hot tub, sauna, and spa are included in a full island expedition.
Keep exploring
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