None of our vacations can be complete without a Wine Tour & Tasting!!! So after visiting the amazingly beautiful Machu Pichu, we headed down South to Chile, the wine country! I badly needed to rest, after all the travel, altitude and treks and lack of vegetarian food (sigh!). We flew from Cusco to Lima and then to Santiago de Chile (There is another Santiago de Atacama, mind you!)
Santiago de Chile
Stayed in a serviced apartment in the heart of the city of Santiago, right next to the MRT and all the restaurants. It pays to do a lot of research before booking the hotels!
Chile was extremely 'chilly' as it was winter in May/June and on top of that it was raining all 3 days we were there. What a spoil sport! Anyway, there is nothing much to see in the Santiago city, its just like any other city in the world. So off we went to the suburbs to visit the vineyards, the place of our interest. We chose the Concha y Toro Winery as its among the top ones out there. Booked the wine tour online, by ourselves and it worked out cheaper than going through an agent.
Here is the link if you are interested http://www.grayline.com/Santiago/Concha_y_Toro_Winery . There wasn't much of a taste I could get out of the wines, in that freezing weather! But this winery is highly recommended!!
Useful Tip: Travel in the Metro, cabs are way too expensive and of course they dont speak English :)
One of their wines that you must try!
Valpraiso & Viña Del Mar
These are the coastal towns of Central Chile, on the line of Pacific Ocean. Just A couple of hours drive from Santiago and can be seen in a day. We had booked a day trip with Viator but unfortunately it was pouring heavily the whole day and we could hardly enjoy the trip. But these 2 towns are very beautiful and it's worth spending a night over if the weather is good. While you drive down to the garden city of Vina Del Mar, you travel through the wine country and can stop over several vineyards for wine tasting if planned in advance.
Valpraiso port is extremely picturesque and built in the 16th-century on a total of 43 hills which are reached by narrow windy streets, staircases and a series of lifts (funiculars). This area has been declared by UNESCO as patrimony of humanity due to its eclectic architecture and urban development.
It's disappointing to say that I have no photos of the beautiful view of the Valpraiso port due to the heavy rains that day :-( You can google it to see how beautiful the city is!!
Few other things that you can do while in Santiago, which we didnt do (but I had researched on it!)
1. take a trip to Cajon de Maipo
2. go on casablanca valley/san antonia valley wine tour and stay overnight at casa marin in vineyards
3. Go to San Pedro and Visit Atacama salt lake & Moon Valley (in Northern Chile)
4. Santiago city Hop on hop off tour
5. Visit Easter Island
Santiago de Chile
Stayed in a serviced apartment in the heart of the city of Santiago, right next to the MRT and all the restaurants. It pays to do a lot of research before booking the hotels!
Chile was extremely 'chilly' as it was winter in May/June and on top of that it was raining all 3 days we were there. What a spoil sport! Anyway, there is nothing much to see in the Santiago city, its just like any other city in the world. So off we went to the suburbs to visit the vineyards, the place of our interest. We chose the Concha y Toro Winery as its among the top ones out there. Booked the wine tour online, by ourselves and it worked out cheaper than going through an agent.
Here is the link if you are interested http://www.grayline.com/Santiago/Concha_y_Toro_Winery . There wasn't much of a taste I could get out of the wines, in that freezing weather! But this winery is highly recommended!!
Useful Tip: Travel in the Metro, cabs are way too expensive and of course they dont speak English :)
One of their wines that you must try!
These are the coastal towns of Central Chile, on the line of Pacific Ocean. Just A couple of hours drive from Santiago and can be seen in a day. We had booked a day trip with Viator but unfortunately it was pouring heavily the whole day and we could hardly enjoy the trip. But these 2 towns are very beautiful and it's worth spending a night over if the weather is good. While you drive down to the garden city of Vina Del Mar, you travel through the wine country and can stop over several vineyards for wine tasting if planned in advance.
Valpraiso port is extremely picturesque and built in the 16th-century on a total of 43 hills which are reached by narrow windy streets, staircases and a series of lifts (funiculars). This area has been declared by UNESCO as patrimony of humanity due to its eclectic architecture and urban development.
It's disappointing to say that I have no photos of the beautiful view of the Valpraiso port due to the heavy rains that day :-( You can google it to see how beautiful the city is!!
Few other things that you can do while in Santiago, which we didnt do (but I had researched on it!)
1. take a trip to Cajon de Maipo
2. go on casablanca valley/san antonia valley wine tour and stay overnight at casa marin in vineyards
3. Go to San Pedro and Visit Atacama salt lake & Moon Valley (in Northern Chile)
4. Santiago city Hop on hop off tour
5. Visit Easter Island
2 comments:
Probably the best part is the small, unassuming but superbly authentic Indian restaurant Delhi Darbar in Provedencia. Try the Chilean version of the Pisco Sour.
Thanks for the article! Chile is on the top of my to-visit places of the world. It has SO much to offer, that I'm waiting for a really long vacation to go there. Besides, while doing a little research on prices in Santiago de Chile I discovered that cost of living there is relatively low (here's a list of main consumers prices http://www.traveling365.com/2012/09/the-cost-of-living-in-chile/#more-489) which is a pleasant surprise. Hope 3 weeks will be enough for me to discover this beautiful country!
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