Chile
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Santiago, Pucón and the Surroundings (Chile)
It’s March 2024. After spending a month in Buenos Aires and a week on Easter Island, we have to find a place to stay before our road trip in Japan with my parents. We choose to spend a few days in Santiago before heading quickly to the lake region. Santiago Santiago has never been a remarkable city for us. Despite passing through several times (often to get to another region of Chile or Argentina), we’ve always struggled to appreciate it. This time, we opt for a hostel right in the city center, in an old house (that could have looked like a museum, Casa Marina Huérfanos, Booking link). But we…
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Back on Easter Island in 2024 (Chile)
We went to Easter Island during our first round-the-world trip (gap year), a few days’ stopover between Tahiti and Santiago. We never thought we’d go back a second time, and yet… this year, the opportunity came up, and to make the most of it, we spent a week on the island. Now, the official name of Easter Island is Rapa Nui, no longer “isla de pascua” or “easter island”. Part 1: Travel JournalPart 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Journal Measures against overtourism Even though the island is in the middle of nowhere (between 5 and 6 hours by plane to the nearest destination), it suffered from overtourism in 2018-2019,…
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Easter Island: what mobile internet and WiFi in 2024?
Easter Island is the most isolated inhabited area in the world. Tahiti is 4,000 km away, and the Chilean coast is 3,700 km to the east. While Tahiti has been connected to the “rest of the world” via undersea fiber optic since 2010, which is economically justified by its population (200,000), the same is not yet true for Easter Island. There have been several projects in recent years, but none have come to fruition. Few companies are motivated to invest an estimated one billion dollars to sell internet to just 8,000 residents. But in 2024, that’s no longer necessarily essential, and you can get a very good connection on the…
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Prepaid SIM / eSIM in Chile: How much does it cost? Where to buy one? (2024)
Buy an eSIM valid for Chile If you have an eSIM-compatible phone and want one for Chile, you can go through Holafly (read our article on the topic). See eSIM offers for Argentina. Feel free to use the promo code NOMADBENTO Holafly offers plans with unlimited internet. The price varies depending on the number of days you want. In a few clicks, you have internet on your phone! Buying a SIM card at the airport Having landed quite late and still having my Argentine SIM card (which also works in Chile), I didn’t take the time to check the offers available at the airport. If you have any info, feel free to…
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Easter Island: Sernatur accommodation list
Since Easter Island reopened after two years of COVID closures, tourists must have booked accommodation accredited by Sernatur (Easter Island’s tourism agency). The list of accommodations isn’t very easy to find. I finally tracked it down after some research, and I’ve done the work of identifying which ones are bookable on Booking.com. For the others, you’ll need to get the accommodation’s email address from the Sernatur website and contact the owner directly. Don’t delay in your research—there are 357 lodgings in total, but not many are bookable online, so availability can run out quickly. Accommodations bookable on Booking.com Accommodations not bookable online
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Easter Island: Entry Requirements and Paperwork
During our first trip to Easter Island in 2016, I don’t recall having to go through any special procedures before entering (except having to throw away Anh’s honey, much to his dismay, for biosecurity reasons). Since then, COVID came and went, and Easter Island remained completely closed for two full years. When it reopened, the island, with its 7,750 inhabitants, decided to limit the influx of tourists. Previously, you could fly there from either Tahiti or Santiago. There were two daily flights, and 160,000 tourists landed each year. Now, there are only two flights a week, exclusively from Santiago. With about 300 passengers per flight, that’s no more than 32,000…
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How to get to Easter Island on a budget with LATAM
Easter Island is known as the most isolated inhabited place on Earth. To the west, you have Tahiti, some 4,200 kilometres away. To the east, the Chilean coast lies 3,800 kilometres off. This isolation was never more true than during the COVID period. All air links to the island were suspended for 27 months! During our first round-the-world trip in 2016-2017, we took advantage of the Tahiti-Santiago flight that stopped over on the island to visit it for 3 days. Since COVID, this route has not been restored. Now, there are only two ways to get to Easter Island: Finding a cheap flight to Easter Island with LATAM In early…
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5 months in South America & Cuba: Itinerary & Transportation (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba)
Update May 2017: Here is the latest version of our itinerary in South America, Cuba & the Caribbean. All that lasted 5 months… I found transportation a bit complicated to understand in South America, some border crossings are recently impossible (especially Los Antiguos – Chile Chico), I had to tear out a lot of hair to establish this itinerary. There are many land border crossings, especially between Chile and Argentina, make sure you have enough blank pages in your passport. Click on the button at the top left of the map below to access the list of destinations. CHILE Easter Island(round-the-world ticket) Santiago (round-the-world ticket) Punta Arenas (plane 160€/person) ARGENTINA…
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One month in Chile: Itinerary, balance sheet, budget, guide, advice
We didn’t expect to stay in Chile for so long. Apart from Easter Island, we had no other must-see planned for Chile. The beginnings were not simple: Chilean Spanish sounded like a slap in the face: incomprehensible. But we didn’t give up: after Argentina, we went back there to travel the whole country, from South to North. Itinerary Easter Island (4 days): Round-the-world ticket from Papeete. Visit of the island with a 4×4 Santiago (3 days) : Round the world ticket. Linguistic shock. We tried to understand Chilean Spanish, but without success. Hence our rather precipitous departure for Argentina Punta Arenas (1 day): Flight from Santiago. Visit of Magallanes Island…
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What to eat/drink in Chile and Argentina?
After having suffered from junk food in the Philippines (too fat), in New Zealand (too fat), we are saved in Argentina and Chile (very fat too). Basically, we are anything but vegetarian and we already love juicy Argentinean meat (but expensive) in Paris. We enjoyed ourselves here! Beware, the lack of vegetables will be felt at one time or another, even for carnivores like us. In restaurants, salads are more expensive than meat and vegetarian restaurants are quite rare. Remember to eat a balanced diet. In any case, after a meal in a steakhouse, it’s hard to come back the same day because the portions are so huge. Usually we…
