The route that gives Chile its full north-to-south argument in seven days: two days in Santiago for the Cerro Santa Lucía and the Mercado Central and the specific Chilean contradiction of the most European-feeling capital in South America sitting at the foot of the Andes that make every wide street end in a mountain, two days in the Atacama Desert for the Valle de la Luna at sunset (the salt formations visible in the last light as the specific lunar landscape that the name describes accurately and that the Mars analogy the scientists use is also accurate because the Atacama is the driest non-polar desert on Earth and the place where NASA tests Mars rovers), and three days on a single section of the Carretera Austral (the 1,240km unpaved gravel road through Patagonian Chile — the road that Pinochet built to connect the isolated south and that the isolated south has used to become the most specific long-distance driving route in the Americas).
Reading time: 10 minutes | Last updated: 2025
Chile stretches 4,300km from the Atacama in the north to the Torres del Paine in the south — the equivalent of London to Lagos in a single country. The seven-day itinerary cannot cover this range. It gives the three specific Chile arguments: the capital, the driest desert, and the Patagonian road. The Torres del Paine circuit is covered in 7 Days in Chilean Patagonia.
Before You Leave
Getting there: Fly London-Santiago (via Madrid (Iberia), São Paulo (LATAM), New York (American/LATAM) — 14-17 hours total). UK citizens: Chile visa-free 90 days.
Currency: Chilean Peso (CLP). 1 GBP ≈ 1,150 CLP (2025). Chile is South America’s most expensive country — mid-range daily budget: CLP 65,000-120,000 / £56-104.
The internal flights: Santiago-Calama (the Atacama gateway): 2 hours, CLP 40,000-90,000 / £35-78 one way on LATAM or Sky Airline. Book 2-3 months ahead.
The Route
Santiago (2 nights) → fly to Calama → San Pedro de Atacama (2 nights) → fly Calama-Puerto Montt → Carretera Austral, Futaleufú base (3 nights)
DAYS 1-2 — Santiago
Day 1: The Cerro Santa Lucía and the Barrio Lastarria
The Cerro Santa Lucía:
The Cerro Santa Lucía (the fortified hill at the centre of the city — the 1872 Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna park conversion, the Terraza Neptuno (the fountain terrace below the summit, the Santiago skyline visible to the west, the Andes visible to the east)):
At 7am: the hill before the Santiago smog builds (the smog peaks from noon, the Andes are clearest in the first two hours of daylight).
Free entry.
The Barrio Lastarria:
The Barrio Lastarria (the arts neighbourhood — the Museo de Artes Visuales (MAVI), the bookshops, the completo italiano at the corner fuente de soda (the Chilean hot dog with the avocado, the tomato, the mayonnaise — the specific Chilean fast food object of simultaneous national pride and embarrassment)):
CLP 2,500-4,000 / £2.17-3.48.
Day 2: The Mercado Central and the Museo de la Memoria
The Mercado Central:
The Mercado Central (the 1872 iron market — the fish market under the specific cast-iron dome, the caldillo de congrio (the conger eel stew — the Neruda ode), the ceviche chileno (distinct from the Peruvian — the Chilean uses the lemon rather than the lime and the result is different)):
At 9am: the market at the working hour before the tour group arrives at 11am.
The Museo de la Memoria:
The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (the museum of the Pinochet dictatorship 1973-1990 — the specific Chilean history, the 3,095 confirmed killed, the 38,000 tortured, the testimony visible in the audio and video installations): free.
DAYS 3-4 — The Atacama Desert
Day 3: The Valle de la Luna at Sunset
San Pedro de Atacama:
San Pedro de Atacama (the village at 2,400m altitude, the gateway to the Atacama — the specific high-altitude desert town, the dust streets, the adobe buildings, the tour operators, and the night sky (the Atacama gives some of the clearest astronomical observation in the world because the altitude and the dryness eliminate the atmospheric water vapour that blurs the stars)):
The Valle de la Luna:
The Valle de la Luna (the Valley of the Moon — the salt and clay formations, the dunes, the specific Atacama landscape that the last light converts to the lunar surface):
At 5:30pm (2 hours before sunset): the valley at the light that gives the formation shadows visible at maximum length.
Entry: CLP 4,000 / £3.48. Tour from San Pedro: CLP 15,000-25,000 / £13.04-21.74.
Day 4: The El Tatio Geysers
The El Tatio:
The El Tatio geyser field (the highest-elevation geyser field in the world at 4,320m — the 80+ geysers visible at maximum activity in the first 2 hours after dawn when the temperature differential between the ground and the air is greatest):
At 4:30am departure from San Pedro (the drive is 90 minutes, the geysers peak at 6-7am): the steam columns visible simultaneously across the field at the specific Atacama dawn.
Tour from San Pedro (mandatory): CLP 35,000-50,000 / £30.43-43.48 including breakfast at the geyser field.
DAYS 5-7 — The Carretera Austral
Fly Puerto Montt, drive south:
The Carretera Austral (Route 7 — the 1,240km gravel road from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins through the Aysén and the Los Lagos regions):
The specific Futaleufú section (the 160km south of Chaitén — the Futaleufú River (the Class V whitewater river, the most technically demanding commercially rafted river in the world), the Palena fjord landscape, the specific Carretera Austral that the gravel road gives at 60km/h through the beech forest):
Car hire: Essential. The Hertz and the Europcar in Puerto Montt give the 4WD (the 4WD is required for the gravel sections south of Chaitén): CLP 80,000-150,000 / £69.57-130.43/day.
The Futaleufú:
The Futaleufú whitewater rafting (the Class V rafting on the Futaleufú River — the specific river that the international kayaking community has used as the benchmark of the extreme whitewater since the 1990s):
Full-day raft: CLP 120,000-180,000 / £104.35-156.52 per person.
The Parque Pumalín:
The Parque Pumalín (the Douglas Tompkins-created private national park — the 402,000-hectare temperate rainforest donated to the Chilean state in 2019, the largest private land donation to any government in history, the specific Carretera Austral conservation argument visible in the park that the road passes through):
Free entry. The Mirador Los Alerces (the viewing platform above the alerce grove — the Fitzroya cupressoides, the South American cousin of the redwood, individuals over 3,000 years old visible on the trail).
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Santiago) | £450-800 | £650-1,100 |
| Internal flights (Santiago-Calama, Calama-Puerto Montt) | £70-180 | £100-250 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £105-280 | £280-700 |
| Food (7 days) | £40-100 | £100-260 |
| Atacama tours (Valle de la Luna + El Tatio) | £43-65 | £43-65 |
| Futaleufú rafting | £104 | £156 |
| Car hire (3 days, Carretera) | £208-391 | £280-500 |
| Total | £1,020-1,816 | £1,453-3,031 |
