Budget Trips to Chile

This trip was a great way to see the top highlights while leaving you wanting to explore more! Perfect 'Discovery' trip! There are a lot of flights and the airline can move around the timings so you have to be flexible and open to late nights/early starts. There really is no other way to cover so much distance in just 2 weeks. Its well worth the travel as you get to see 2 completely different sides of Chile, the Desert and Salt flats of the North and the Lakes and Mountains of the South, both equally beautiful but very different. The food wasn't as expensive as I thought, similar pricing to London restaurants so by no means cheap but not unaffordable and if you take some snacks with you its easy to skip lunches as dinner portions in every restaurant we went to are very generous. The hotels were clean, spacious and comfortable. The only pool in use (we were early in the season) was in San Pedro. Both optional excursions are well worth doing but I would recommend doing a little research into star constellations before going to help things make more sense as its a lot of information to take in. Our guide Miguel was very knowledgeable and clearly loves his country and the outdoors we were in good hands especially in the National parks as he knows the area well. He is also a keen photographer so we were going to great photo locations and he was always willing to stop the bus whenever wildlife or a good photo angle was spotted! There are long drives, but the scenery was so beautiful that the drives were just as special as the walks and plenty of stops to stretch our legs or take a photo or toilet stop.

The trails were very well marked and easy to hike on your own. There is a clear itinerary of where you should be each night. Do not bring food, as there is an excellent and ample breakfast, lunch and dinner provided. The showers were also decent and at all the camps on the W trek and had warm water. The sleeping bags and mats were warm enough, although I did go in December, so summer season. Transfers were seamless. We had to wait for the ferry to make a second trip at the end, so a one hour thirty minutes delay, and the buses waited on us to take us back to Puerto Natales. Having everything booked took the stress out of trying to get my own sites and transportation, and meals being provided saved a lot on weight. Overall, no complaints and a great trip!!

An excellent introduction to Chile, it was very interesting to see the different climate regions, desert, Santiagio, Lakes and Patagonia. The group blended particularly well together. There were plenty of great photography moments. Felipe (our guide) was excellent.

Our guide Alex Aguilera was fantastic! He organised the group really well, was a fund of information and always on hand to answer queries. The trip was varied and really interesting. The standard of the accommodation apart from Santiago, was quite basic but adequate. The meal by the local lady on the way back from the geysers, was poor, but apart from that, all the breakfasts were fine.

Do yourself a favor and book this incredible tour with Bamba. They were professional and quick to send me all the information I needed after I booked. The tour itself was incredible. I mean the salt falts are stunning, you can't go wrong here.

So many incredible tings to experience on this 4 day trip! The landscapes were unreal and Bamba did an excellent job organising the whole things. Also it was a great option being able to transfer to Atacama.