Pacific fog, vineyard light and stars over the driest desert
When to go
September-April
Trip length
11 days / 10 nights
Typical investmentPrice
from $9,525 pp
This 10-night journey links three sides of Chile. Spend three days in Santiago finding your footing in its markets and Andean-facing neighborhoods, then head to Valparaíso for hillside streets, funiculars and a coastal wine valley known for cooler-climate grapes. Finish in San Pedro de Atacama, where salt flats, high-altitude lagoons and volcanic rock give way to some of the clearest night skies in the world.
Along the way
Stargazing under some of the world’s clearest skies
Soak in the vibrance of Valparaíso’s colorful hillside streets
Sip and savor cool-climate wines in Casablanca or San Antonio Valley
Salt flats, red rock and high-altitude lagoons in the Atacama
Your route
Markets, neighborhoods & Andes views
Arrive in Chile's capital and settle into your hotel. Keep the afternoon free for a walk through the surrounding neighborhood before an early dinner. The Andes rise sharply along the edge of the city, visible from nearly every street corner on a clear afternoon.
Explore the city with a private guide, moving between the historic center, neighborhoods like Lastarria and Providencia, and a viewpoint over the Andes. Colonial facades give way to glass towers within a few blocks, and the mountains anchor the skyline in every direction.
Keep the day open: a museum, the Bellavista arts district, a cooking class, or a private excursion into the Andean foothills, depending on what you're drawn to. Bellavista's bohemian streets, once home to Pablo Neruda, still carry that same restless creative energy.
Colorful hills & cool Pacific valleys
Travel west to Valparaíso and settle near the water. Walk the city's hillside streets and funicular neighborhoods with a local guide, tracing the same steep lanes that drew poets and dockworkers alike. Pastel houses stack up the hillsides in every direction, a UNESCO World Heritage tangle of stairways, murals and century-old funiculars.
Spend a second day in the port city, following its street art through the hills of Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción and learning how a maritime economy built neighborhoods this steep. Murals cover entire buildings here, a living gallery shaped by decades of sailors, immigrants and dockworkers who called these hills home.
Travel into Casablanca or San Antonio Valley, one of Chile's cool coastal wine regions, to meet growers and taste sauvignon blanc and pinot noir grown within sight of the Pacific fog that keeps these vineyards cold. The camanchaca rolls in most mornings off the ocean, blanketing the vines in a cool mist that gives these wines their crisp, mineral edge.
Salt flats, red stone & enormous skies
Fly north and transfer to San Pedro de Atacama. Keep the first outing short while you adjust to the desert's altitude and dry air. This is the driest non-polar desert on Earth, and the light here has a sharpness unlike anywhere else in Chile.
Explore the sculpted rock and salt formations of Valle de la Luna with a private guide, timed for sunset, when the ridgelines turn pink and orange. The valley's lunar nickname comes honestly, a landscape of salt crusts and wind-carved dunes that looks like nowhere else on the continent.
Head onto the altiplano for mineral-colored lagoons and volcano views, adjusting the route and pace to the altitude as you climb above 4,000 meters. Flamingos wade across water tinted turquoise and rust by mineral deposits, volcanoes standing guard on every horizon.
Keep the daytime open for spa time, a short walk, or a visit to a nearby village, then head out after dark for a guided astronomy session under some of the driest, clearest skies on the planet. Some of the world's most powerful observatories are built in this desert for exactly that reason, and a telescope here reveals stars invisible almost anywhere else.
Transfer to the airport for onward travel. The desert's stillness and that last stretch of open sky make for a fitting close to the trip.
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.
Tierra Atacama places 28 rooms and suites outside San Pedro with direct views toward Licancabur Volcano. Included small-group excursions, indoor and outdoor pools, spa, desert gardens, and scheduled airport transfers create a comfortable expedition base without the scale of Explora.
Awasi Atacama places 12 circular adobe suites around a private courtyard in central San Pedro. Every suite receives a private guide and four-wheel-drive vehicle, allowing desert days to be planned entirely around individual interests, pace, and altitude.
Explora Atacama places 50 rooms on a 17-hectare desert estate near San Pedro. More than 40 guided explorations, four outdoor pools, a spa, stables, observatory, meals, drinks, and scheduled airport transfers are included in its full expedition format.
Nayara Alto Atacama places 42 rooms and suites inside the red-rock Catarpe Valley outside San Pedro. Six pool areas, a full spa, onsite observatory, two restaurants, gardens, and breakfast-only or fully inclusive excursion plans make it the region’s most resort-like desert lodge.
Our Habitas Atacama places 51 low-rise rooms around gardens, a pool, wellness spaces, restaurant, and gathering areas near central San Pedro. Daily programming, music, yoga, bicycles, and an à la carte structure create a more social alternative to the region’s expedition lodges.
Casa Higueras occupies a restored 1920s mansion in Cerro Alegre, with 20 rooms across five levels and views over Valparaíso Bay. Maralegre restaurant, an outdoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna, and a walkable UNESCO-listed neighborhood make it a natural stop between Santiago and Chile’s wine valleys.
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Let’s start planning
Tell us a little about your plans. We’ll be in touch to talk through this trip with you.
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