mellowg

I asked about this on the S. America forum, and they referred me a couple of bus companies that will get you from Lima to Santiago for $65. These companies offer the new luxury buses that I assume are geared towards tourists and wealthier locals.

$27, 18 hours: Lima-Tacna: http://www.turifax.com/pau1eng.htm
Cab across border
$40, 30 hours (not 6, as was pointed out): Arica-Santiago: http://www.turbus.com or http://www.pullman.cl

Which means you could probably do it for $40 on local buses.

Someone also mentioned that you can avoid the $100 Chile reciprocity fee by crossing overland into Chile.

For me, this is great info because I can fly to LIM (or even GYE) instead of EZE or SCL and save a load of cash. What is it about flying into EZE or SCL that makes it so damn prohibitively expensive?!

EmailKid

Probably not enough competition. About the same distance as Europe, but what a price difference

When I was researching my last year's Thanksgiving trip, I looked into long distance luxury buses from SCL or EZE to Tierra del Fuego, but in the end could not justify the amount of time spent traveling v. buying tickets and flying Aerolineas Argentinas / Tyrol. Unfortunatelly, when you have so much vacation time, days off become more valuable

That said, I've talked to plenty of travelers who do the luxury buses, often expressing time not in terms by hours spent, but number videos seen

This simply comes down to the issue of what the traveler has more of: time or money. I've read about people who work six months a year, and travel the rest. It's a great way to see the world, and while I'm tempted every time I see an episode of Globetrekker / Lonely Planet (the original name), so far I have resisted and so far decided to keep my day job

EmailKid

cj001f

Arica to Santiago is a 30 hr bus ride.

mellowg

Hmm...that's funny...you're absolutely right. I took the timetabe for granted (it just said the arriving time, NOT the day) and didn't check it against the actual distance. In that case, it makes it a lot less attractive to people and a much better deal!

That makes it a 48 hour bus ride for $65.

Thank you for the correction. It certainly changes the journey significantly.

civicmon

SCL and EZE have low competiton... SCL can even qualify as more of a fortress hub because of LAN but then again, not many other airlines serve the city.

LIM's a much poorer city compared to SCL/EZE as well, which plays a lot into fares.

cmlauer1210

Hello,
I am going to be flying into Lima in a few days and was wondering if you could find the bus to Tacna at the airport and if they run fairly frequently, overnight perhaps. thanks

david_33

The airport is far from the Bus terminals. One of the safest to Tacna would be Cruz del Sur. Terminal located on Jiron Quilca in Lima or Ave. Javier Prado about another 15 minutes further from the airport. http://www.cruzdelsur.com.pe/inicio_2.php

thebobmc

Welcome to FlyerTalk cmlauer1210.

And also welcome david_33, in case you weren't given a welcome when you first joined FT. And thanks for the link to the Cruz Del Sur website.

I have been watching this thread for some time now, hoping someone would post a report on this trip, as I may be travelling by bus from Santiago to Lima ( with several stops along the way ) in early 2010.

So please post a trip report if you end up making this journey by bus.

EmailKid

We do, ahem, have a Trip Report forum, and it is considered impolite to cross post to different fora.

But to repeat myself from an earlier post in this thread, that is one LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG bus ride. I ended up flying to Tierra del Fuego and basically Fin del Mundo, and am glad I did. Again, when you have so many vacation days, you don't want to spend them riding a bus, even if it is a luxury first class bus.

Well, at least I don't

EmailKid

Palal

Do you guys know the price on a fully-reclining pullman bus seat?

thebobmc

Apologies ! I wasn't trying to incite anyone to break the FT rules. Really, I wasn't.

Really what I am looking for is something far less detailed than what is posted in the Trip Report forum. I would just like to hear comments from someone who has made this trip by bus and survived. Recommendations for bus companies and class of service. Interesting stops. And particularly any relevant info about crossing the border from Chile into Peru.

As far as Palal's question, here is the url for the Pullman website;

http://www.pullman.cl/

Although my Spanish is not good, it appears that you have to register as a user before it will give you any information about schedules and fares. Perhaps someone who is already registered or whose Spanish language skills are good will provide you with the info you seek.

hauteboy

Ugh.. I did that route 10 years ago.. actually La Paz to Arica to Calama to Santiago, over 40 hrs on a bus over the course of 3-4 days. Not likely to repeat! But yes, it was cheaper than flying. I remember it was Tur-bus from Calama. I also ended up in the hospital 24 hrs after arriving in Santiago, but that's another story...

rb.sr

All long distance international buses leaving from the main bus terminal are "Pullman" or "luxury" buses. The standard is "semi-cama," which generally has ~36 seats and almost fully reclines. There are also "cama" buses which have ~24 fully reclining seats; these are much less common and 50% more expensive. For shorter runs standard coaches are "executivo" (~44 seats).