Luxury Chile Desert & Lake Adventure - 14 Days

Day 3: Santiago City Tour, Evening Culinary Experience

Start the day with a private city tour of Santiago. Accompanied by a local guide, you'll explore the Plaza de Armas in Santiago's historic center. Founded in 1541, it's home to the impressive Catedral Metropolitana, a neoclassical church whose twin bell towers dominate the plaza's north side.

Continue to the Civic District, home to ministerial buildings and the presidential palace of La Moneda, an 18th-century work of art in itself. Next, ride the cable car to Cerro San Cristóbal for 360-degree city views. Take in the urban sprawl and spot landmarks like the Gran Torre Costanera, the tallest building in Latin America.

Freshen up at your hotel before tonight's private food tour. Start with a Chilean wine-tasting session at one of the country's top producers, then head to an upscale bar to sample sophisticated cocktails and tapas prepared by a nationally renowned chef. Finish your evening in one of the capital's top restaurants, savoring a delicious dinner with local wines. 

Day 5: Day Trip to Cajón del Maipo & El Morado Lodge

See Chile like a local as you transfer east of the city to Cajón del Maipo, a popular weekend getaway. Your first stop is San José, a town located deep in the Andes at about 3,281 feet (1,000 m). Stretch your legs on a walk down the quaint streets, stopping at its colorful town square. Back on the road, you'll make another stop to indulge your sweet tooth at the Chocolate House. Within this fairy-tale building is a tempting selection of ice creams and handmade chocolates to sustain you on your travels.

From here, head deeper into the mountains to the edge of El Morado National Park, where you'll be treated to panoramic views of the surrounding peaks. Your guide will also teach you how this mountain range, one of the world's largest, originated and all about its rich mineral content. Your alpine tour finishes up at El Morado Lodge and Spa, located at the highest point of Cajón del Maipo (6,200 ft/ 1,900 m). Enjoy a delicious meal at its restaurant, and luxuriate in one of the swimming pools before heading back to the city.

Day 6: Fly to San Pedro de Atacama, Stargazing Tour

Transfer to the airport early and board a two-hour flight north to Calama in the country's far north. Upon arrival, your driver will be waiting to take you to the secluded outpost of San Pedro de Atacama, the launching point for adventures into the Atacama Desert. This high-altitude desert features endless salt flats, towering Andean peaks, and the volcanic Cordillera Domeyko, where red-hued mountains form the base of El Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon).

Check into your remote lodge, Nayara Alto Atacama, built from adobe to blend into the surrounding desert and Salt Mountain range. Highlights include Inca artwork, a telescope for stargazing, and the Atacamenian quincho, a pavilion where you can feast on barbecue accompanied by live music and Chilean wines. The desert gardens are home to a saltwater pool with carved rock beds and firepits, a llama enclosure, and Spa Puri's healing mineral baths.

Tonight, you'll enjoy an astronomical tour in the Atacama, one of the best places in the world for stargazing. Using a laser pointer, your guide will teach you how to identify constellations with the naked eye. You'll also get to use high-powered telescopes and binoculars to spot an array of celestial objects, including planets, binary stars, and spherical clusters. End the session with hot tea or chocolate beneath the stars before returning to your wilderness lodge.

Day 7: Atacama Salt Flats, Lagoons & Traditional Villages Tour

Spend a full day traversing Chile's famous Salar de Atacama (Atacama Salt Flats) with a private guide. First, you'll visit the traditional villages of Toconao and Socaire, which are known for their mud-and-volcanic-rock buildings and the 18th-century church in Toconao. Meet the locals and peruse craft markets, where you can pick up alpaca-wool clothing and handicrafts.

Next, visit high-plateau lagoons in Los Flamencos National Reserve. Set at 7,500 feet (2,300 m) above sea level, Laguna Chaxa is one of the best places in the world to see flamingoes. The algae-rich water is a magnet for three of the world's five flamingo species: James's, Chilean, and Andean. The birds flock here to breed and feed on plankton, shadowed by volcanoes and moon-like salt crusts. Continue to the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons for more bird-watching, then end with sweeping salt-flat views from Salar de Talar and Piedras Rojas.

Day 8: Hot-Air Balloon Ride & Valley of the Moon Tour

Rise early for a private sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the Atacama Desert. Your driver will drop you at the launch site just before dawn, where you'll have a safety briefing accompanied by tea and coffee while the balloon is inflated. Step aboard and rise into the sky as the sun breaks on the horizon, casting a golden glow over the rolling desert landscape, scattered with lagoons and chalk-white salt flats. The hour-long flight concludes with a Champagne breakfast back on land. 

After resting at your hotel, spend the afternoon exploring the desert by car on a private Valley of the Moon tour, where you'll marvel at impressive stone and sand formations in Los Flamencos National Reserve. With no life or humidity in the valley, it's considered one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Watch the sunset over its hills and gorges before returning to your lodge for a restful evening. 

Day 9: Tatio Geysers, Machuca Village & Hot Springs Tour

It's another early start as you'll depart the hotel at 4:30 am for the 1.5-hour trip to the Tatio Geysers. Getting a jump on the day will pay dividends, as seeing the sun rise over the Atacama Desert is a singular experience. Also, sunrise is the best time to visit Tatio. The contrast between the cold outside temperatures and the boiling water of the geothermal field beneath the earth's surface causes the pillars of steam here to rise as high as 30 feet (10 m). 

At 14,173 feet (4,320 m), the Tatio Geysers are the highest in the world. So take your time and admire these otherworldly landscapes, snap plenty of photos, and breakfast will be served at the appropriate time. You can also relax in a natural geothermal pool—Mother Nature's Jacuzzi.

On the return drive to San Pedro, you'll stop at Machuca, a small, humble village on the Altiplano whose residents have bred llamas and harvested yareta (moss-like evergreen plants that can survive for thousands of years) for generations. It's a small but welcoming town comprising only about 20 homes and a simple chapel. That said, some locals sell crafts, and you can admire the llamas in the area, plus see the flamingoes residing in nearby marshlands. Afterward, you'll return to your hotel in San Pedro.

Day 10: Fly to Puerto Varas, Optional Activities

Leave the wonders of the Atacama Desert today and board a flight back to Santiago. From here, you'll take a two-hour flight south to the port city of Puerto Montt. This city is located in Chile's fertile Lake District, where snowcapped volcanoes meet forested islands dotted with shimmering lakes.

From Puerto Montt, meet your driver for the 30-minute ride north to Puerto Varas, which sits on the vast shores of Lago Llanquihue. Named "the City of Roses" after the flowers that line its streets, Puerto Varas offers a mix of German colonial architecture and Indigenous Mapuche culture.

You'll be staying on the lakeshore outside of town at Hotel AWA, a lavish retreat devised by architect-owner Mauricio Fuentes. The contemporary hotel combines concrete and volcanic rock walls with cozy lounges lit by flickering fireplaces and features rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame views of the lake and the snowy white cone of Osorno volcano. Spend the rest of the day relaxing by AWA's huge heated pool and dining in the on-site gourmet restaurant.

Day 11: Cochamó Helicopter Tour & Hike

Immerse yourself in the natural beauty surrounding Puerto Varas with a private helicopter tour and hike. In the morning, transfer to the launchpad and take to the skies on a private tour flying east, soaring over the Osorno volcano and hidden Andean valleys home to turquoise lakes and ancient forests. Eventually, you'll reach the rustic village of Cochamó, which resembles the USA's Yosemite with its U-shaped valley and centuries-old trees. 

The pilot will land at a panoramic viewpoint within Cochamó's granite mountains, which are beloved by rock climbers. While your guides prepare a tasty picnic lunch, you'll take a short hike to admire the jagged peaks and forest-covered valley views. Afterward, hop back in the helicopter to your hotel, passing over Calbuco, a mammoth stratovolcano that last erupted in 2015. Take the rest of the day to chill out at your luxury hotel.

Day 12: Day Trip to Isla Chiloé & Penguin Colony

This morning, join your private guide for a transfer from Puerto Varas to Puerto Montt and continue up the Panamericana 5 highway to the port of Pargua. Once you reach the ferry terminal, you'll embark on a 30-minute boat ride across the Chacao Channel to Isla Chiloé. Here, you'll transfer to the coastal outpost of Puñihuil and visit a nearby penguin colony home to both Magellanic and Humboldt penguins. This is notable, as it's the only place in the world where the two species coexist.

After walking with these flightless birds, you'll transfer to the town of Ancud on the northern end of Chiloé. Enjoy lunch here, followed by a walk around. The town features a viewpoint atop Huaihuen Hill with great views of Ancud's landmarks, including the Fuerte San Antonio, an early 19th-century Spanish colonial fort that played a significant role in the wars for independence. Also worth visiting is a regional museum, municipal market, and the Caulín Bird Sanctuary, a shelter for migratory birds like black-necked swans, flamingoes, and herons. Later, you'll transfer back to Puerto Varas.