serchjos

I snagged two of the recent IAD-SCL on Copa for $381 to check out Chile with a friend over my college's spring break. We will be in Chile from 3/8/2015 - 3/15/2015. As of right now, we are staying in Santiago 3/8-3/10, catching a bus up to Valparaiso on 3/10, then flying from Santiago to Punta Arenas on 3/11 and staying until 3/14, flying back to SCL on 3/14, and flying back to IAD on 3/15. If anyone had any recommendations for places to stay or things to do in any of the three places, that would be extremely helpful.

Specifically, I need the most help figuring out the latter part of my trip. My friend and I are heading to Punta Arenas in hopes of checking out the penguins and exploring part of Chilean Patagonia. Does anyone have experiences with different tour groups for the penguins? Any that they recommend? Places to stay? Also, we were looking for places to hike and check out Patagonia that are accessible without renting a car. Is it possible to access Torres del Plaine National Park without renting a vehicle? Should we stop in Puerto Natales? If it is way more convenient to just rent a vehicle, we can look into that.

Any advice or suggestions from previous Chile trips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for all the help!

cptspt

Hey- nice travel plans! I did a similar trip in January this year.
Punta Arenas:
We stayed at the Best Western Finis Terrae which came with free hot breakfast. The rooms were nice and clean with wifi. The hotel is very central in town- near to a grocery store and the coast. We went to visit Seno Otway pengiuns (tons of penguins, 1/2 day tour) and Torres del Paine (full day tour 530am-midnight) using a tour agency (that I think was Blue Waters, on the plaza with the hotel) as recommended and reserved by the hotel front desk. The Torres tour was amazing, but it is half in the tour bus for the long trip. However, almost all the tour groups are basically the same tour and similar prices. The tours need to be reserved and paid in cash before you go. I recommend sampling Austral beers (calafate if they have it) and going to tour the Cerveceria Austral brewery in Punta Arenas (need to prearrange). The southern Chilean beers are actually much darker and flavorful than their northern counterparts. You should also have cordero asado if you eat meat- we went to Arriero and loved it. It was incredibly windy and occasionally cold while we were there, but no snow. The roads in Punta Arenas and between it and Torres are best described as dirt roads. They are incredibly bumpy and did not look fun to drive. The cell phone service was very spotty outside of Punta Arenas proper, so make sure you get a good real gps if you go on your own.

Santiago:
We stayed on the Club level of Grand Hyatt. It was great hotel and great views of the mountains. However it is a bit far from downtown (a couple subway stops). We just did a day trip to Valpariaso, which was lovely but mostly touring in a car (hired a local driver and his English-speaking niece). We did eat sea food- a lot of squid and king fish. We also did a trip to vineyards between Santiago and Valpariaso. Valpariaso was very warm and people were out at the beach, so swimming is an option if you want.

General notes:
We bought a prepaid 30 day unlimited data SIM card ($20) for our phones which worked pretty well.
Most places were confused with non-Chip n PIN credit cards and had to be shown how to use them. In restaurants, the waiter brings a machine to the table, swipes the card and hands it to you for tip and signature.
A lot of stores want your passport to use a credit card, even for a $5 purchase, so keep it on you. Better though, use cash.
For quick food and place recommendations, the foursquare app was very helpful and accurate.
Buy or bring water bottles- water is not generally served and we were a lot thirstier than natives since we were not acclimated to the altitude. I think on the Torres tour, we drink 4L each while our guide had only 500mL for the whole day.
The cities are old and have not had the same disabilities and safety regulations, so some areas may seem really small, slightly dangerous or crazy to American standards.
Great pisco sours everywhere.

Siempre Viajando

In Chile??? Ummm, no. If you want a good pisco sour, go to Lima. If you want a good pisco sour in Chile you have to go to a Peruvian restaurant. The best PS I have found in Santiago is at La Mar, an upscale Peruvian seafood restaurant on Av. Nueva Costanera in Vitacura.

Efrem

This was news to me. I'm leaving in three weeks for my fourth trip to Chile, but have not yet been to Peru. (It's on the list.) I've enjoyed Chilean pisco sours but wasn't aware of Peruvian. Turns out they're quite different, because the pisco brandy differs from one country to another. There are also conflicting stories about its origin: one puts it in Lima, the other in Iquique - once in Peru, but part of Chile by then. (Both versions agree that the concept of a "sour," based on similar ingredients, had been around for quite a while.)

The jury is out on which tastes better, and probably always will be. Anyone who cares about pisco sours might find these links informative:

http://www.piscotrail.com/2013/12/09...the-pisco-sour (about its history)
http://www.winemag.com/Web-2012/Pisco-Smackdown (differences in today's versions)
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/peru...ry?id=20451576 (general background from ABC News)
http://theculturetrip.com/south-amer...cktail-victory (a Peruvian point of view)

Siempre Viajando

Interesting links, thanks!

My only expertise is in drinking them, I know little about the origins of pisco or the sours. But having drunk many over the years, my opinion is that the jury verdict is in, and it's in favor of the Peruvian PS.

OK, I'm married to a Peruvian woman and one of my children was born in Lima, so if you want to accuse me of being biased I won't deny it!

Eastbay1K

I will only accuse you of knowing the key to a successful marriage.

I'm partial to a proper "south of the border" pisco sour, made with fresh limon de Pica.

cptspt

Ah, should have known that would be a controversial statement and did not mean to start anything! We were actually educated greatly on the Peruvian vs Chilean Pisco debate- almost every waiter and bartender had an opinion; most preferred Peruvian style (with egg white and angostura) with Chilean alcohol. However, I had just meant that compared to anything that we can get in the US, Chilean pisco sours are great!
But now I really hope to travel to Peru to get even better ones!

YVR Cockroach

Was at an Argentinean restaurant in Santiago (hopefully a neutral judge) and they offered both styles Actuallly, the Chilean version was complimentary because we were guests at a nearby hotel but the Peruvian version wasn't. The big difference is supposed to be in the alcoholic strength - Peruvian is much stronger.

The Bolivarcito in the basement of the Bolivar hotel in Lima has these catedrales. Don't have more than one....

Eastbay1K

Not to get into a Pisco debate (including better/worse, lo original, etc.) - but "much stronger" isn't the difference. Chile Pisco runs from 35% to 46%. Most is 35 or 40%. Peru Pisco runs in the low 40s. The differences are the grapes, and what is permitted (or not) in its production.

As far as Argentinos having a clue (if indeed, they ran the restaurant), (1) probably not, and (2) for an example as to why, in the EZE LAN lounge, the bottle of Pisco (peruano) used to have the Pisco label covered over by an Avery-type label with the words Agua Ardiente typed on it (i.e., Hot/Fire Water).

Philatravelgirl

In Santiago I stayed at the W which was good on points. I did two bike tours - city and wineries as I was in city two days on way to Easter island and Lima. Posts on my blog http://philatravelgirl.com/category/travel-2/south-america/santiago-south-america/
Have fun!

Siempre Viajando

A couple of years ago I went with a friend for "just one" PS at an old hangout of mine, the bar atop the pier at the Rosa Nautica restaurant in Miraflores. The waiter asked if we wanted a "catedral" and we replied, sure, why not. Well, what they delivered to us must have been a full pint of PS. It was at least twice the size of any other "catedral" I had seen previously.

After one PS each we poured ourselves out of there. The next morning I swore I was never going to touch another one. But of course, that resolution lasted until the cebiche lunch that very afternoon...