Planning on doing an Atacama self drive holiday? Unless you want disappointment and frustration to be the keyword for your holiday. this is the blog you need to read. We hired a car in Calama early on day 1 and took our time driving to San Pedro. We and had 3 nights and 3 and half days in the area. We could have spent more time if we opted to do a few of the surrounding walks. Just as an aside if you are over 60 there are many discounts to be had. Valley de la Luna. Ignore what the tour operators tell you. They will say that the park is closed or that you can only visit in the morning. Recommendation would be to drive out at around about 3 pm (last entrance is 4 ). Park at the entrance buy your tickets from the machine and a nice man will give you a map and familiarise you with the points of interest. Spend one and a half to 2 hours at the Valley and then leave the park before it closes at 5:45 pm and drive around to the coyote lookout for sunset. Actually the paid spot is not necessarily the best view. There are many views around the same area that provide similar sunsets vistas. We arrived in San Pedro around 12, found accomm and spent some time wandering through town. San Pedro South Laguna Chaxa/ Socaire/Laguna Miscanti y Monquies/Red Rocks/Salar de Aguas Calientes. Laguna Chaxa is fairly straightforward and you can buy a ticket at the entrance. From Laguna Chaxa you can head to the town of Socaire. It is here that you can buy a ticket for Laguna Miscanti and the Red Rocks. That little ticket office (if you can call it that) closes at 2 pm. The alternative is to buy tickets online which is what we would recommend. We didn't actually make it to Laguna Miscanti (because it was after 2 pm and there was no Internet to buy a ticket) however I would like to have seen this from what I read). We drove onto red rocks/Salar de Aguas calientes and we were greeted by a stunning vista of red rocks, salt plains and lakes with a mountain back drop. The best vantage point is the first view as you come down the hill and there is a viewing point where you can stop. Frankly, we were glad we didn't bother to buy ticket to the Red Rocks but the drive was definitely worth it. San Pedro North El Tatio Geysers I know everyone says to be there by sunrise, but there are a lot of good reasons to have a sleep in and leave San Pedro at about 6 am. If you leave at this time, you have no traffic on the way up, it's a really rough road so you will be driving in daylight, and you get to the Geysers just as the crowd is leaving, which means you have the place to yourself. And the experience was just as good. No need to pre-book, pay as you enter. We spent about an hour and a half at the Geysers. The pool to swim was closed. Another advantage of going later is that you then head back down to San Pedro without any traffic and you can stop at multiple places along the way to experience the view. Puritama Hot Springs On the way back from the Geysers you could stop at the Puritama hot Springs. We actually didn't do this on the way back because we wouldn't really have had enough time to enjoy the experience but drove back later in the afternoon (aim to leave town at 2.30 so you are at the pools by 3.30). There are two times available, am and pm, check the website and bookings should be made in advance and take your own towel. This was an amazing experience and I would say a must do. The springs are set in the Guatín Gorge, surrounded by pampas grass and there are eight different pools in which to laze about or be massaged by the waterfalls. Laguna Cejar The Laguna is only open to DIYers from 9-12 and although it says you can pay cash, when we got to the ticket office they said we should have paid online..arhhh! However they then produced a credit card machine so all was good. We got to the Laguna at about 8.45 and had the huge salt pool all to ourselves. (You are actually only allowed 30mins in the pool). The pool is not all that warm and the showers afterwards are really cold so each to their own but we opted to shower when we got home. If you are pressed for time you could do this in combination with others sites south of San Pedro but it would be a high day. We did it on the last day and had plenty of time to pack, have lunch and drive back to Calama in time for a 3pm flight. Enjoy and stay calm.😃 Roz Doyle Australia

It was a great winery and tour. I would recommend it to anyone. Claudio was an excellent driver who explained a lot about Chilean history and culture

This was an amazing tour! We travelled by various means from Helsinki to Tallin,Estonia to Honningsvag ( North Cape) to Narvik by coach and train then flew to Oslo. Highlights were travelling on an icebreaker ,floating in the ice in a thermal suit,snowmobiles,dogsledding,visting Santa Claus's village ,staying in an igloo to view the Northern Lights. Visiting museums,learning more about the Sami. The scenery was amazingly beautiful and we counted sea eagles ,moose and reindeers. By coach we had a double seat each which makes it very comfortable. It was expensive in every way. Wine especially!! The hotel rooms were small and basic which is fine, as very clean. The Scandinavians are very friendly and all speak English Some people arranged to go skiing,others fishing. The tour was especially marvellous due to our great guide Heidi Hem from Norway and in Oslo, Igori. Oslo was full of interest visit so wished I had added another couple of days. The tour could be extended to Iceland too and judging by the photos lived up to expectations I would thoroughly recommend these tours to everyone. It went like a dream! One definitely needs snow boots!!

I would not call this a 4 day trip. The company will pick you up on day one and drop you at your accomodation, which they also book. Day 2 was a good guided tour on a 15 seater minibus, the guide was great (as was the driver, he had some skills). This tour takes you into Torres del Paines and to a place where you can walk to see a glacier from about a kilometre away, a little disappointing. Day 3 was a mystery to us. We got picked up at the stated time and were taken to a 150 passenger catamaran, we got to see 2 glaciers, a cormorant colony and some fur seals. We also got to walk, almost, up to one of the glaciers. Day 4 was a bus to Punta Arenas. And that was that.

Nice tour to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. Juan speaks excellent english. He never seemed to mind answering the many questions we asked about Chile's history, changes from 60 years ago to present, and things we spotted outside our windows. He is quite knowledgeable about many topics and gave us informations about the plants, trees, wineries, etc. during our drive to/from the two cities. His van was very clean and comfortable and we really appreciated his picking us up and dropping us off.

This tour as organized by Signature Tours is very well planned and well executed. On the first day, we were met by our English-speaking guide outside Punta Arenas airport who drove us to the bus station. We took the bus to Puerto Natales operated by Bus Fernandez. Again another person met us at the bus station in Puerto Natales and drove us to the hotel. The hotel was located right on the front of the fjord with a view to the mountains. Next morning we visited the Torres del Paine National Park with our English-speaking guide. We were mesmerized by the heavenly beauty of these mountains. Later we visited the Falls inside the park and Cave De Milodon. Next morning we rode a catamaran to visit Serrano glacier. As we rode on the fjord we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains on all sides. We stopped by close to a rocky ledge, where we saw sea lions frolicking . Finally, we walked to the base of this glacier - which was a decent hike of about a mile each way. Back from the trek, we were served scotch on the rock with ice from the glacier! Later, in the afternoon we had a delicious lamb barbecue lunch at a lodge in one of the islands in the fjord. On the next morning, we were driven to the bus stop to catch the first bus to Punta Arenas airport. We reached there in ample time to catch our flight back to Santiago. Overall, we really enjoyed this trip very much and will not hesitate to recommend this trip to any one who wants to visit Torres Del Paine National Park but is not knowledgeable in Spanish language.

Puerto Natles is a nice little town on the Patagonian frontier near border crossings with Argentina. It is nice for an afternoon and dinner but not much to do. This is a good place to stay if going to Torres del Paine Nat'l Park as it is only a 3-hour drive to the park. Torres del Paine is absolutely fantastic. The park is laid out perfectly, do not try to outsmart the set up. It is complicated to plan a trip for Torres but relax and things will work out. Pristine, beautiful and a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Patagonia and the Andes. We hiked the "W" and loved it.

Did this trip in February. To sum it up it consists of 11 hours in a minivan to visit three churches in Chiloe, none of them is interesting unless you are an academic interested in the technical details of wooden church building in the mid 19th century. However good the guides are (and our guide was excellent) this piece of Chile is not worth visiting. The drive to Castro in Chiloe island comprises a 70km motorway run to a ferry and then more than two hours driving along a scruffy, semi industrialised road with no redeeming features to Castro. On arrival the only logical question is "why bother". There are so many beautiful places in Chile I would suggest that people give this excursion a swerve and prevent the total waste of a day of their lives.

We had a wonderful time with our guide, and driver. We learned a lot about the area, had a nice lunch at a local market and saw the Palafitos and beautiful churches.

When I arrived in Santiago, I contacted the local tour operator because I was unable to do the tour on the day it was planned. I asked if it could be taken at a different time and they were able to accommodate. They were very nice but I believe I ended up with the basic tour. We were 6 in the van for the transfer but the small-group tour of the winery was with 22 other people. We did not get the cheese or the premium wine. We only got 3 tastings of "ordinary" wine. Our driver's english was quite basic but the guide at Concha y Toro was excellent. It was still a nice afternoon but not what I was expecting and, as I did not have the details of my purchased tour with me, I was unable to ask for anything more.

It is so beautiful and so different at the same time. Obviously it has a lot of ice, 2km high! The most big drink water reservation on earth. And it does not have trees. The animals are lovely. You feel like in a documentary.

This tour was well organized, Ms.Marilda Villatoro was excellent and coordinated from day one, greatly appreciated! Transportation, transfer, tours and etc. all well prepared. Compared with 13-day Patagonia trip arranged by Say Haquye of Argentina agent, Chile tour agent is much much better. Chose this tour and if you want to go to Argentina side of Patagonia, it’s very easy to go from Chile side. The only things that we were upset, dine in San Pedro, Punta Arenas and Punta Natales were very painful. The cost of meal were about the price to pay in Los Angeles or New York. No kidding at all. The tourism industry seemed to ripped off visitor or foreigner, its way too ridiculous.

I arrived this day and to start the trip off, I booked this small group 1/2 day tour to Conha Y Toro. Turns out it was a very small group & I was able to take the ride to the winery on my own. Marco was my driver and an excellent guide. I learned so much about this beautiful country and he had so much enthusiasm. Upon arrival at the winery, I joined another small group of only 2, for the actual tour and tasting. The guide here was also fantastic (Claudio). It was a beautiful day and the grounds were stunning. The tastings were also nice. Met up with Marco again for the ride back. Traffic is quite bad in Santiago but I saw a lot and Marco was a great guide on the return as well. I highly recommend this tour.