Finally! I have the opportunity to go to South America.

Do any of you have tips for Chile in general, or Iquique in particular? I am scouting the hotels on the web; Best Western and Holiday Inn express look O.K. Is there a better alternative with a local flavor?

I am excited to be going. I have not seen the full itinerary, so I don't know the number of days we will stay.

The Lake District in Northern Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Imagine the Canadian Rockies without people.

We're going on a vacation in Chile in Oct-Nov, heading South to the Lake District, Puerto Montt, Chiloe Island. I traveled throught Chile in '74, from Arica to Punta Arenas and El Porvinir on Tierra del Fuego, looking forward to going back!

[This message has been edited by Old Gold (edited 08-22-2000).]

Hyatt in Santiago is to be the best hotel in the area. It truly is a magnificent property.SHeraton being second and it is nice as well. The Lake District, Northern Patagonia is beautiful. Chiloe Island is nice and has a lot to offer. Puerto Montt is nice too but it is just a town. I think that it would be nice to travel to one of the nearby islands to see some homes of the locals. Lake Llanquihue is great and offers some nice sailing. Have a great time and do bring a lot of dollar bills as they are exchanged in large amounts.

I plan to fly UA to Santiago in December and from Chile I understand it is now posible to fly to the Falkland Islands? Maybe someone else knows? I'd like to spend Xmas day there.

Spent Xmas in Argentina/Brazil and NYE in Antarctica, and skirted the Chilean country sailing out of Tierra Del Fuego .. the border delineation down there is bizzarre!

Some notes and photos here:

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ozstamps/penguin.html


Last time I was in Chile the deserted old port of Vapariaso I recall being very pretty and not far from Santiago. I also flew to Chilean possession Easter Island on Lan Chile, which IMHO is a "must" if you have the few days that takes.




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~ Glen ~

You will like Chile and the area around the Lake District (or further south in Tierra del Fuego). In terms of hotels, the Hyatt is a good choice in the eastern side of the city. It's where a lot of foreign politicans stay when they visit. Another "leading hotel of the world" choice with more local flavor is the Hotel Carrera in the downtown part of the city, which is within spitting distance of the main government palace square (forget the exact name but there are still bullet marks visible from the 1973 coup). The rooms in the Carrera can be cramped though (and no miles unlike the Hyatt)

If you are a US citizen, bear in mind that Chile charges $50 cash for a visa on point of entry - just something I remember from my last visit there, although not relevant to me. So best to check this out and be prepared beforehand.

A fantastic beautiful country and well worth the effort in getting there. Enjoy the wine too.

ozstamps,

LanChile fly to the Falkland Islands. Their flight 991 goes SCL-PMC-PUQ-MPN (Santiago - Puerto Montt - Punta Arenas - Mt Pleasant, Falklands Islands), and 990 does the reverse. I believe the flight is Saturdays only, so you'd either have to stay 1hr 30 mins, or 7 days, 1 hr 30 mins!

Conrad

Conrad .. wow there is some info out there .. welcome to these boards!

Have you been on this flight? Any idea of cost in late December? Someone told me me there was a Chilean military flight that sometimes sold tickets .. amazing someone fairly major like Lan Chile would fly it! (I knew it would not be an Argentinian airline of course!!)

A week on the Falklands could not be too hard to take I suppose. I wanted to take a boat from there to South Georgia, which of course has no airstrip. I'll look into it tomorrow if there is a Lan Chile office in Australia (which I doubt) .. now midnight.




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~ Glen ~

Tried an on-line fare search SCL to:

Port Stanley
Pt. Stanley
Falkland Islands
Mt. Pleasant
Mount Pleasant


All came up invalid.

Any suggestions anyone?

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~ Glen ~

Sorry, did not notice "MPN" code in Conrad's posting .. worked fine on that. Came in at about $US620 round trip. Don't know if there are "airpasses" Lan Chile have for non residents that could be used for this for 2 people, or other kind of discount fares, for departing Dec 23, return Dec 30th. If anyone knows the Lan Chile system, please advise. Thanks!

OR any US airline that allow free ticket redemptions on Lan Chile. I have points with every airline, via Starwood, but can't keep track of who redeems points with who. Might be a better deal than paying money!




[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 08-23-2000).]

The charge referred to above is a "reciprocal fee" - it's what the US charges Chileans for a visa, so Chile figures it ought to work both ways. There are similar charges, for the same reason, for Canadians and Australians. Must be paid in cash of the country in question before you get to passport control. Takes 30 seconds, zero hassle.

If you're going as a family, keep in mind that the charge is per person so be sure to have enough cash on hand for everyone.

Once you pay, they staple a small certificate to the last page of your passport. It's valid for as long as the passport is.

Enjoy your trip! I went last year in March/April, and am returning again in October. Some notes and pictures:
http://www.interlog.com/~leed/

Lan Chile are in the oneworld alliance, so AA would be the US airline to try - but given your location, you may have some QF points to use - Qantas' website says that you can redeem points against Lan Chile, but it doesn't seem to have any table showing how many points you'd need.

I have not done that trip myself, but I knew about it from a mention in the travel supplement of one of the UK Sunday papers recently. The only alternative they listed for getting to the Falklands was with the RAF from Brize Norton (RAF Base in the UK), via Ascension Island, and the return fare was somewhere around �1500!

Conrad

P.S. There is a good site at http://www.tourism.org.fk/ - it even includes a link to the Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau!

[This message has been edited by Conrad (edited 08-23-2000).]

Conrad .. you should be a travel agent .. thanks! Was that a recent Sunday paper?

Have friends in UK and can ask them to save it for me and post across, as those articles let you plan things a bit in advance. Please lets know which one if you can recall.

Sunday Times travel section perhaps?

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~ Glen ~