Top 10 Places To Visit in Chile - Travel Guide

What's up guys my name is Ryan and I recently turned from exploring the country of Chile and I want to share with you my favorite places and experiences so here's my Chile top 10. Located in South America, Chile is a massive country offering some of the most diverse landscapes on the continent. From the scenery of Patagonia to the otherworldly landscapes of the Atacama desert, Chile is waiting to be experienced. Let's start this video off at the capital of Chile, Santiago. Located in the center of the country, Santiago is a massive city. It was founded in 1541 and today it's a large city in the country with about 40% of the population living there. One of the highlights of Santiago is the Gran Torre Cosa Nera. It's the tallest building in South America with a height of 984 feet and was completed in 2013. A fun thing that you can do in Santiago is visit the Cerro San Cristobal. It's this hill that overlooks the capital and you can take up a gondola to reach the top of it. Another thing that I like about Santiago is that it's close to the Andes Mountains. They overlook the city and you can visit some really cool places nearby. One interesting spot is El Yeso Dam. It's about a two-hour drive from Santiago and it's this huge reservoir nestled in the Andes Mountains. Afterwards we're going to venture to one of Chile's most unique places, Easter Island. Also known as Rapa Nui, Easter Island is located 3,000 kilometers off the coast of Chile making it one of the most remote places on earth. Now to get there it can only be accessed by taking a five and a half hour flight from Santiago. Now it's believed that the island was settled around the year 1280 by Polynesians who sailed from French Polynesia. What makes the island so mysterious and famous is the moai statues. There are about 900 moai on the island with the tallest reaching over 10 meters high and weighing over 80 tons. It's a mystery how the statues were transported but it's believed that logs were used to move the moai across the island. One of my favorite places to see the moai is at Ahu Tongariki. There's 15 statues perfectly lined up with a dramatic view of the coast. Another interesting place on the island is Ranogua. It's this massive volcanic crater on the southeastern side of the island and this place is just so fascinating. After Easter Island we're gonna head back to Chile's mainland to visit the Atacama Desert. Located in northern Chile, the Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth. There are some places that are believed to not have received rain for over 400 years. Now to get to Atacama Desert there's a few options. You can fly into the Calama airport and then head to the town of San Pedro de Atacama which has a lot of attractions. The Valley of the Moon is one of the most popular places in Atacama. It's located just a few minutes outside of San Pedro and the Valley of the Moon is home to these incredible geological formations that look amazing especially during sunrise or sunset. Another interesting place is Piedras Rojas. It's located about a two-hour drive from San Pedro. It's this really cool body of water with the unique rocks and the elevation here is over 12,000 feet which is pretty crazy. Another fascinating place in the Atacama Desert is the Lauca National Park. It's located in the very northern part of Chile and to get there you can fly into the town of Arica and then from there make about a three-hour drive. Lauca is situated at an elevation around 15,000 feet and there's a few lakes and the scenery here is just so bizarre especially with the Parino Cota volcano as a backdrop. After we're going to visit one of the most extreme places in the Atacama Desert, Ojos del Salado. With an elevation of 22,615 feet, Ojos del Salado is the highest volcano on earth and also the highest point in Chile. It is possible to climb the volcano and it takes anywhere from 8 to 15 days to summit the mountain due to harsh weather and acclimatization. Now to get there you can fly into the Copiapo airport. It's about a three-hour drive. I really like the area around the volcano. The surrounding landscapes are stunning. There's high altitude lakes and lots of wildlife such as flamingos and llamas. Aside from the desert, Atacama and northern Chile have a really beautiful coastline. The stark contrast of the arid mountains against the pacific ocean is very unique. Now there's some big cities along the coast such as Antofagasta and Iquique. I think the sand dunes that are around Iquique are so cool. You can climb with them and get a great view of the area. Afterwards, we're going to leave the desert to visit the Lake District. Located in southern Chile above Patagonia, the Lake District offers some of the country's most beautiful scenery. It's a landfill of pristine rivers, snow-capped volcanoes, and amazing lakes. One of my favorite places in the Lake District is Conguillo National Park. Located about a two hour drive from Temuco, I think Conguillo is one of the most beautiful and unique places in Chile. The crowning feature of the park is the Llama volcano. It's one of the most active volcanoes in Chile and has a height of 10,253 feet. It's erupted many times in the previous centuries, with its most recent in 2009. Now my favorite feature of the area is the Arucaria trees, also known as the monkey puzzle tree. I think they are some of the most peculiar shaped trees in the world. It's the official tree of Chile and I think they just look so cool. It's one of the most scenic backdrops with the Arucaria trees and the volcano in the distance. Another really cool town in the Lake District is Pucon. Located about an hour and a half from Temuco, Pucon is this picturesque town on Lago Villarica and is a perfect place to base yourself as you explore the Lake District. There's so many attractions nearby and I love the backdrop of the Villarico volcano, which is one of the most active volcanoes in the country, last erupting in 2015. Another incredible volcano in the Lake District is Osorno. Located about an hour and a half outside of Puerto Montt, Osorno is one of the most iconic volcanoes in the region with its distinctive shape. It has a height of 8,701 feet and what I like about it is that you can see it from all over the region. I really like the view of the Osorno volcano across the nearby lake. I also like that you can drive up Osorno and there's a ski lift that can take you even higher up the mountain. After it, we're going to go on a drive on the Carretera Austral. Also known as Chile's Route 7, the Carretera Austral is one of the most scenic drives in South America. The route starts in Puerto Montt and drives through rural Patagonia and ends in Villa O'Higgins. According to Google Maps, it's at least a 26-hour drive and you'll pass through some of the most incredible places in Chile. Be aware that a lot of the sections of the road remains unpaved but there's hundreds of places to explore. An amazing place you'll pass on the route is the Keolap National Park. It's located about 11 hours from Puerto Montt and the park is home to the Hanging Glacier Falls and it's a fairly easy walk to get to the viewpoint. Another stop along the way is the Marble Caves. Located on the turquoise waters of Lago General Carrera, the Marble Caves are some of the most fascinating geological features of Patagonia. It's these massive rocks of marble that have been sculpted by the wind and waves the lake for thousands of years. The best way to experience the caves is by boat and you can also take a kayak tour from the nearby town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo. There's so many rural places along the Carretera Austral. While we're in the Patagonia, we're going to head to my favorite place in Chile, Torres del Paine. I'd say Torres del Paine is one of the most famous places in the country and with reason. Now to get there, we first flew into Punta Arenas and from there is a four-hour drive. When we arrived, I couldn't believe the beauty of this place. We checked into our hotel just outside the park and we had an incredible view of the Los Cuernos Mountains. They are seriously some of the most incredible mountains I've ever came across. The next day we drove up inside the national park. It was $55 a person for a three-day pass. My favorite place was the area around Lake Pehoe and it has this striking blue color. The day we were there, the wind was blowing so hard it was creating waves along the lake. As you're driving along, there are a few places you could stop. There was this one lookout we hiked up to and it gave an incredible view of Los Cuernos Mountains. The wind here was just unbelievable. As you keep driving down the road, there's this island that is connected by a bridge that you could also walk on and it offers amazing views of the lake in Los Cuernos. I mean this area is just absolutely amazing. Now one of the main reasons people come to the area is to do the hike to Mirador Base Las Torres. It's one of the most popular hikes in all of Patagonia. It's about a 12.5 mile round-trip trek with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. We start at around 8 a.m and I definitely recommend starting this hike no later than 11 because the last section to the lake closes at 3 and it takes about four hours to get there. Anyways, the first bit was a flat walk until we reached the incline of the mountain. Once we got to the top of that section, it was a beautiful view to the valley. About halfway, we came to the Chilean Refugio. This is where people can get something to eat or spend the night. We kept going and after about three hours, we got to the hardest section of the trek. It's an uphill scramble and it was a challenge but once you reach the top, you're rewarded with one of the most incredible views of the Torres Mountains. We spent a good hour just enjoying the view and also recovering from the hard hike. I mean there's very few places as epic as this. After we headed back down and the whole trek took us eight hours to do, I have to say it was one of the hardest day hikes I've ever done in my life but well worth it. After we're going to search for Patagonia's most elusive animal, the Puma. One thing special about this area in Chile is that it's one of the best places in the world to see Pumas. If you're lucky, you might see one in the Torres del Paine National Park but we did an expedition with Leon Amarga which takes place on the private land right outside of Torres del Paine and it was one of the craziest wildlife experiences I've ever had. We started at 5 a.m and headed off to find the Pumas. A guide had spotted one so once we got close, we started hiking in that direction and after a few minutes, we came across this Puma just perfectly perched on a hill. As I was filming it, it started walking towards us and the guide told us not to move and it just walked right past us. I mean it was an absolute adrenaline rush. We filmed the great Puma for a bit and then this other brown one came out of nowhere and they got in a little fight. After it found a nice place to rest out of the rock, we came across some more Pumas and got some incredible shots of them with the surrounding landscapes. The main prey of the Puma is Guanacos which are these large llama-like creatures which we also saw a good amount of. Towards the end, we got really lucky and found a mother mountain lion with her cub and were able to film them for a few minutes until they headed off. I mean it was an absolute incredible experience and our guide said that we were extremely lucky that day because sometimes you might only see one or none at all. So I'm super thankful we saw a bunch of Pumas. I will say it was very expensive but it's 100% worth it to see Pumas in the wild. For our final destination, we're going to visit the fjords of Patagonia. If you look at Patagonia from space, you can see this huge uninhabited region on Chile's side and it's home to some of the most unbelievable and untouched scenery on earth. The Chilean fjords are extremely remote and there are no roads or airports and the only way to reach the fjords is by taking a boat. Special thanks to my buddy Victor Poznav. He spent a good amount of time sailing throughout Chile's fjords and captured some of the most incredible footage. I'll link a video of his adventure in the description below. One of my favorite features of Patagonia's fjords is the glaciers. There are so many named and unnamed glaciers that very few have seen. I'd say the best way to experience the fjords is by taking an expedition cruise that is specialized in exploring this region of the world. There are very few places that are raw and as beautiful as the fjords of Patagonia. Well that is it for my Chile top 10. There's so many incredible places in this country so I'll have to make a part 2. Let me know where your favorite place is in Chile in the comments below. You can find me on instagram and tiktok at chile.films. It's Ryan and we will see you later.