Kimkim Trip Reviews for Chile

After problems with the reservations at the first hotel in Santiago, the rest of the trip went very smoothly and was a wonderful introduction to the country. Every guide and service provided was exactly on time, professional, engaging and fluent in English. It's hard to identfy one as better than another. I could not have been more pleased with the local service providers. When a glitch occurred because of the Valley of the Moon excusrion was rained out, the schedule was quickly rearranged to accommodate our needs. Every internal flight was on time and the drivers got us to the airports in plenty of time. We were never rushed. The accommodations in San Pedro and in Puerto Varas were outstanding. The hotels' food was very good so we ate most of the meals there. I recommend substituting for the RQ Stay Santa Magadena. While the location is good, the hotel room itself has numerous deficiencies.

We had a very nice trip in Torres Del Paine National Park and really appreciated all the arrangements and help provided by Jesse. We'll definitely recommend KimKim service to our friends in the future.

Hotel Review

Hosteria Pehoe

Authenticity & Character

Location

Natural beauty

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Boat Trip to Glacier Grey

Chile

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Lorena had organised a perfectly co-ordinated 2 week Chilean trip for us. Packed with adventure, amazing views and friendly tour guides…it exceeded our expectations.

Hotel Review

Hotel Boutique Le Reve

Santiago

Friendly boutique hotel where nothing was too much trouble for staff. Comfortable beds and beautiful communal courtyard to sit out in. Perfectly located for access to bars and restaurants

Authenticity & Character

Location

Access to local restaurants

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Puritama Canyon Trek

San Pedro de Atacama

It felt amazing trekking in an actual canyon in the Atacama desert and the highlight was our own personal ‘spa’ at the end of it…delightful to swim in the natural mountain water

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

This is the first time we have used kimkim to help plan our holiday and would have no hesitation in recommending to others. Lorena, our Chile travel consultant listened to the needs off our group and worked with us to come up with a set of experiences we will never forget. The attention to detail allowed us to travel extensively with ease and we were all so impressed with the level of organisation involved that allowed us to do that.

Johanna and her team were amazing. We had a great time. Small issues which were taken care of promptly. Everything was well organized and communication was great. We were a big group with varying needs and her team was able to handle it all professionally and timely manner. Thank you for making this a great trip for us!!!

Chile was a fantastic country to visit. The diversity starting with the lagoons in the high regions of the Atacama desert, to the Glacier regions and mountain vistas in Patagonia and the happening city of Santiago left us spellbound. Our guides, Johanna and Kristy were amazing, patient and super helpful through out the planning and the trip.

The tour van driver Tatto (?), who led me to Torres del Paine National Park, was also extremely helpful, offered me driving tips and a hand towel to clean up muddy lights of my rental car.

Hotel Review

Hosteria Pehoe

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Boat Trip to Glacier Grey

Chile

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We had a glorious first time in Chile! This is a huge country, so we narrowed our trip to Santiago and Torres del Paine. And we saw Santiago, Valparaiso, Vin Del Mar, Colghagua Valley, Torres Del Paine National Park (two areas). From our time in Santiago, we learned about Chile’s history and economy. From our time in Torres del Paine and Patagonia, we saw great natural beauty. Everywhere we met lovely people and had a wonderful time. Our tour guides were fantastic - thank you Chris, Orlando, and Claudia. We obviously need to go back - there are 41 national parks and we saw 1. We highly recommend a trip to Chile!

Hotel Reviews

Pullman Santiago El Bosque

Las Condes, Santiago

This hotel was clean, the people were friendly, and the hotel had all we needed for our stay. Its location is in a great area - we walked neighborhoods and found restaurants. Breakfast was included and was very nice. Everything was perfect - we would stay here again.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Weskar Lodge

Puerto Natales

We enjoyed this hotel very much. Its location near Puerto Natales was great and we had a room with a fabulous view. We thoroughly enjoyed the happy hour and the dinners. The people were very friendly. Lots of international travelers staying here to go and see Torres del Paine and other Patagonia areas. Breakfast was minimal, but that seemed to be due to the fact that everyone was headed out for hikes and tours. We would stay here again!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Panoramic private city tour around Santiago de Chile - Half day

Santiago

We would have liked this tour to be a little better. We think it was a collision of many negative factors that led to the tour being not as good as it could have been. We changed to a private tour at the last minute. Our tour guide’s English was not quite as good as it should have been - he had the knowledge of the areas, but had difficulty communicating it to us. We would have liked to have seen, for instance, Iglesia de San Francisco. Another thing that was probably going on during our tour were demonstrations in downtown Santiago, causing our tour operators to not want to let us out among the crowds.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full Day - Valparaiso & Viña del Mar

Santiago

Chris and our driver were great! We learned about Valparaiso, Vin Del Mar, and saw things that helped our knowledge. We had a good combination of walking and riding in the van. We had a lovely lunch in Vin Del Mar. This was a nice day. We very much appreciated seeing the Easter Island statue in Vin Del Mar.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colchagua Wine Valley - (Viu Manent and Santa Cruz Wineries) - Semi private basis (Lunch included)

Santiago

We had a great day in the Colchagua Wine Valley. Our driver and guide, Orlando, was fantastic and we so enjoyed our time with him. We went to the Montes and Viu Manent wineries and enjoyed both experiences. We had lunch in Santa Cruz and went to the museum there. It’s a long day, but very, very enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day Hiking Base Las Torres - 20km approx

Puerto Natales

Claudia was amazing and nicely patient with us! I loved this hike, but it’s a hard one. My husband was not sure that we should have been doing it. Once you get to the top, the experience is fantastic. But, be aware, the hike down is just as strenuous as the hike up. We probably wouldn’t have made it without Claudia, and it was her birthday, no less! Claudia took good care of us, and we thank her for it. It’s an experience I will keep with me for the rest of my life, and be glad for it.

Quality of Experience

Food

So nice of Claudia to give us tea at the top. Our lunches were great hiking lunches.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Grey Glacier Navigation

Puerto Natales

After our day of hiking to Torres del Paine, this was a nice, quiet activity. We enjoyed the glacier navigation. Our driver took care of us, but other passengers helped us understand (language barrier) that we would have down time after our glacier navigation. Fortunately, we had brought books with us and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the lodge with a glass of wine and our books, waiting while the others took the second glacier navigation. The journeys to get to activities in Patagonia are long - we learned to relax and enjoy the 2 hours rides to get places.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Everything was perfect. All I had hoped for and exceeded my expectations. One of the best trips I've ever taken.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Cabo De Hornos

Punta Arenas

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Boutique Le Reve

Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Weskar Lodge

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Glebinias

Chacras de Coria

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Boutique Acontraluz

Valparaíso

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa Silva Boutique Hotel

San Fernando

Such a special place. Peaceful, beautiful, great food and wine, I only wish we could have stayed longer.

Authenticity & Character

The hotel is the previous home of the family Silva and is cozy and peaceful.

Location

Staff

Above and beyond to arrange whatever we needed.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Penguin Colony on Magdalena Island

Chile

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Tour of Torres del Paine National Park & Surroundings

Chile

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Boat Tour to Balmaceda & Serrano Glaciers

Chile

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking and Condor Watching

Puerto Natales

This was a private tour, on private property, which is probably why we were able to see the condors near their nests on the wall of the rocks. There was not another soul that we saw that day other than my husband and I and our guide. A unique experience, and the guide was able to adjust the level of trekking to our abilities, as we are 67 and 72 yrs old, and are in good shape, but not up for anything too strenuous. Just the hike and scenery were worth the trip, the condors were icing on the cake.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mendoza Vineyard Tour & Tasting

Mendoza

Wow. Amazing. It was a private tour, and we could have never seen or tasted the food and wine that we experienced that day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mendoza Wine Tour

Mendoza

One of the best things we've ever done. The food and wine were beyond compare. The small group of people were interesting and fun. The scenery was breathtaking. The memory of the day we will never forget.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Dinner

Santiago

A truly unique experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Valparaíso & Wine Tour

Santiago

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

A bit chatty, and could have been not so long in Valparaiso. But, very good.

Transport

KimKim helped us learn about activities available in the area we were looking to explore (in Chile). They provided sample itineraries to consider and options for changing things to get the right holiday for you.

Ana kept us updated and helped us choose the hotels, excursions and transportation. Knowledge of the area really helped us to make great choices.

CL Mundo was their local travel supporter in Santiago and Valparaiso. Our driver and guide in this area, Orlando Sanhueza did a great job of telling us about the history and area and providing advice during our journey. We enjoyed vineyards, great restaurants, downtown Santiago and walking tour of Valpo.

We also went to San Pedro de Atacama and their local agent Capricorn provided a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the history of this beautiful place. Paloma, Maria and Consuela (Connie) all helped us enjoy Moon Valley, Rainbow valley, petroglyphs, Tatio Geysers, Cejar Lagoon, Tebenquiche Nature Sanctuary and an evening astronomy experience. There’s so much to do but I feel we enjoyed the best experience compared to other traveler’s in our hotel.

Overall we never worried about transportation or experiences as it all happened with good communication via WhstsApp, or online before we arrived. I look forward to using KimKim again in the future.

Hotel Reviews

Pullman Santiago El Bosque

Las Condes, Santiago

Great location and friendly service. Close to places to eat and a safe area.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our Habitas Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Clean rooms and a friendly service although some knowledge of Spanish is recommended. An easy walk to town for restaurants. Check there are no national celebrations as there is a bar across the road and it was noisy during carnival. Very safe though and beautiful gardens and pool. Food was alright but there are more options in town.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Fauna Hotel

Valparaíso

Good location for restaurants and exploring. We also enjoyed the restaurant attached to the hotel. Really good breakfast included and for dinner!

Authenticity & Character

Great art work and antiques in communal spaces - fun and creative not just old.

Location

A fund part of town but do be careful of thieves and pickpockets.

Staff

Special thanks for their translation support where needed.

Cleanliness & Comfort

The rooms are comfortable and great choice of communal spaces for relaxing.

Activity Reviews

Visit to 2 Wineries in Casablanca Valley

Valparaíso

We really enjoyed the vineyards and lunch at Tanino. Great to see Chilean wine producers.

Quality of Experience

Food

Lunch at Tanino was the best. We hope to visit the vineyard again!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our driver Orlando looked after us well.

Cejar & Tebinquiche Lagoons - Atacama Salt Flat

San Pedro de Atacama

Relaxing end to our visit in the desert. The salt water swim was amazing. The natural features and birds on the lagoons were a great site.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Maria did a great job telling us the history of the area and looking after us.

Transport

Maria was a careful driver and provided appropriate music to entertain us.

Rainbow Valley

San Pedro de Atacama

Truly a unique and special experience. The colours are beautiful and our guide Paloma showed us a special place in a dead waterfall that we would never have seen if she didn’t help us into it.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Paloma did an excellent job looking after us and our safety along the walk and pulled us into the dead waterfall.

Transport

Panoramic City Tour

Santiago

We enjoyed the tour to understand the city and the history. We were very lucky to pick a day the guards were changing. We like a military parade and this one was unique. Although this took longer than a tour on a day without the guard change, our guide gave us information about how to spend the afternoon and see more of what we missed.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day Viña San Esteban + Visit to Quintessence Alpacas On-Site Tour

Santiago

We had a wonderful experience meeting the alpacas and learning about different breeds and understanding how well looked after they are. The production of clothing on antique equipment was fascinating. It was great to meet and feed the young llamas while they are so gentle. Much more fun than expected. Beautiful clothing as well.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Colchagua Valley - Viu Manent and Santa Cruz Wineries

Santiago

We were unable to visit Santa Cruz wineries and went somewhere else. It was alright but not what we expected. Also it was difficult finding the right place for lunch as it wasn’t available in the vineyards.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Evening Astronomy Tour

San Pedro de Atacama

A wonderful opportunity to see the stars and learn about the Southern Sky and constellations. Highly recommended.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Picked up on time and delivered us to the site. The English speaking guide was very good and the Spanish guide was very knowledgeable and easy to understand.

Transport

The vehicle was comfortable for the journey.

Half day Moon Valley and Mirador Ckari

San Pedro de Atacama

We enjoyed the old salt mines and walking around the moon valley with the interesting salt formations. Really dramatic landscape.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Maria did a great job explaining the area and played music that was a great pairing with the experience.

Transport

Maria was a very safe driver.

Tatio Geysers

San Pedro de Atacama

The early morning pickup allows you to see the geysers in the cool morning air. You’re then rewarded with breakfast and a view of the beautiful mountains. Wildlife along the way is just as spectacular.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Consuela did a great job of explaining the geysers and makin eggs for breakfast sandwiches.

Transport

Connie was a very safe driver.

Positives of the trip: some of the local tour groups we used were incredible, particularly Senda Andina in Bolivia and W Circuit in Patagonia. Overall we saw a lot in a short period of time and the itinerary was excellent.

Negatives: Just extreme disorganization at all times from Tangol, the travel agency we were connected to on Kim Kim. Some of our issues were more minor than others but overall added up to an unpleasant experience and at the end we were left with the impression that we could have organized the trip better ourselves.
1. Understood that there were certain fees not included in our booking but these should have been clearly communicated to us ahead of time. We had no idea that one of our hikes in Patagonia required a very expensive fare for a catamaran, cash only, $30USD each way per person. We were not carrying $120 of cash on our person so we were incredibly lucky to run into a friend from back home along the trail who happened to be carrying enough spare cash to get us back home otherwise I’m not sure what would have happened.
2. All communication was very last minute. At 5:30pm the night before we were to go to Bolivia and a half hour before Tangol closed their offices for the day they messaged us asking if we had a tourist visa for Bolivia. Definitely not a question which should have waited for the last minute. We didn’t receive any information on visa requirements from Tangol ahead of time so we did our own research and figured based on information from the US Embassy website we can get our visas on arrival. Tangol then told us in order to do this we would need a lot of additional paperwork including a bank statement! Turns out they were referencing the incorrect requirements and we got into the country without a problem without any of the requirements they were telling us we needed. We were just very disappointed by how last minute this was and how it wasn’t even the right information. It made for a very stressful experience which could have been easily avoided with clear communication far in advance.
3. We clearly communicated our vegetarian meal requests ahead of time but this was not relayed to the tour groups during booking. When we brought this to Tangol’s attention they ended up only reserving 1 vegetarian meal for the remaining tours even though we were clear that we were both vegetarian. This should have been the easiest thing to get right the first time.
4. Another item which we thought should have been very straightforward was pickup from the airports. When we landed in Calama there was nobody there to pick us up. We waited for a while and called Tangol several times and finally got a hold of them. After around an hour of waiting Tangol finally arranged us with a group shuttle service even though we had bought a private transfer.
5. Our stargazing tour was cancelled due to weather which is understandable but we were given no option to reschedule and did not get a refund. What was also frustrating was knowing we probably wouldn’t have been able to go on the scheduled tour anyway since the timing overlapped with another tour we had scheduled earlier in the day.

Hotel Reviews

Remota Patagonia Lodge

Puerto Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Luciano K Hotel

Barrio Lastarria, Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our Habitas Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Boutique Andina

Uyuni

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Los Flamencos Eco Hotel

Uyuni, Potosi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

San Pedro de Atacama - Villa Mar - Uyuni. (Day 1)

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Salar de Uyuni (Day 2)

Uyuni

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Uyuni - Authentic Villages - Flamenco (Day 3)

Chile

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Flamencos - Lagunas de Colores - San Pedro de atacama (Day 4)

Uyuni

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We are home, thank you so much for putting the trip together. We have had an amazing time, experienced so much and learnt so many things about the countries we visited. We could never have done it ourselves. All the trip went to plan apart from the interruptions in Peru which we managed with. It was great to see such good organising. We were collected and delivered on time to wherever we needed to be. La Paz was a great city to visit. The drive across the highlands of Bolivia was unforgettable. Seeing the Geysers at dawn was a brilliant experience. Our hire car was good and we survived the rough roads to see the amazing Marble Caves. The visit to Magdelana Island to walk amongst the penguins was a real highlight of the trip. The cruise from Punta Arenas to Usuaia was fantastic. Horse riding was fun, so many things we did, can't write about them all.

Our 14 day 5 overnight destination trip to Chile, planned by Angel, was extraordinary. We experienced a very broad view of Chile and its citizens. We started with 2 days in Santiago & Valparaiso that are home to half the population with Juan. They are both attractive cities. But nature is the real distinction. We started with 3 nights in the extreme Atacama Desert in the north. This was fooled by 3 days in the spectacular Andes lake country around Puerto Vargas, a charming small city on the largest lake in Chile. We chose to drive around on our own. The highways were very adequate and in excellent condition.Puerto Nogales followed with two boat cruises through spectacular fjords to a working sheep “estancia” (the best fresh grilled lamb ever) with both a horseback ride & a hike and then to a glacier. The 3rd day was to the Torre des PainesNational Park. It was just rated as one of the six best np in the world outside the US. A scenic 21/2 hour drive brought us to Punta Arenas and its 9,000 penguin colony. All the guides were good. Even the taxi driver to PA, Jose, was informative. The 3 hour flight back to Santiago that ended our voyage was over the the heart of the rugged Andes.
We selected economy lodging. They were all clean and relatively small without big crowds. The owner were usually there.
We learned much about Chile. We actually prefer them to large impersonal hotels.
I would highly recommend Chile with Angel as a trip adviser.

Hotel Review

Hotel Alma Sur

Punta Arenas

Small place with comfortable rooms and good breakfast.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Convenience to city

Activity Reviews

Private Tour - Estancia Visit or Grey Lake Navigation.

Chile

Beautiful catamaran ride. Horseback ride and lamb bbq. Founded in 1892z

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The trip there & horseback ride

Transport

Torres del Paine National Park - Private Panoramic Tour

Chile

Unfortunately the peaks were in the fog-still scenic

Quality of Experience

The colored lakes

Food

Box lunch of mediocre qualuty

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Amazing - everything on our two week trip was flawlessly executed. We had never used Kim Kim before and now I will never plan a trip another way! It was so well organized and Lorena was very responsive. Highly recommend!

We had a amazing time with our guides and a fantastic support from the team kimkim.
We can highly recommend to book your holiday with kimkim.
We were really looked after any any respect.
Everything was well organised and communication was excellent.
thank you for a great and memorable holiday.
Peter and Gerhard

Hotel Reviews

Altiplanico Puerto Natales

Natales

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Pullman Santiago El Bosque

Las Condes, Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our Habitas Atacama

San Pedro de Atacama

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel DoubleTree by Hilton Santiago Kennedy

Santiago

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Evening Astronomy Tour

San Pedro de Atacama

Mixed group with 2 language. very hard for the guide and to long for the guest's.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Panoramic excursion to the Torres del Paine National Park (with Box Lunch)

Puerto Natales

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full day Hike Porteria Lago Sarmiento - 6/7 km approx

Puerto Natales

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half day Moon Valley and Mirador Ckari

San Pedro de Atacama

great guide 👍

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tatio Geysers

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Panoramic private city tour around Santiago de Chile - Half day

Santiago

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cejar & Tebinquiche Lagoons - Atacama Salt Flat

San Pedro de Atacama

Quality of Experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transport

I was pleasantly surprised how well everything worked. The people picking us up were always on time and very pleasant.
We had many guides, and they were all very good.
Specifically I remember our guide on Easter Island Emilia. Very knowledgeable and willing to share with us her love of her home island.
I was not very happy when there were non English speakers on the tours: the guides had to speak in both languages, and I don’t think we got the entire story.

Hotel Review

Holiday Inn Santiago - Airport Terminal

Santiago

Our first stay was better than the second. The first stay was in the newly renovated part and the accommodations were great. Not in the old part of the hotel

Authenticity & Character

Location

Just walk across the street from the international terminal

Staff

The bar service was very poor

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Valparaíso & Wine Tour

Santiago

Loved the tour, the winery tour and the tour guide

Trip to Chile

We had one of our best vacations ever thanks to Erin and her team at Kimkim.
Everyone of our airport transfers were waiting for us when we cleared customs and baggage claim and drove us to our destinations giving us good information regarding that region of Chile.
The hotels Erin selected were excellent with nice rooms, good locations for exploring the cities, and great breakfasts.
The activities that were scheduled for us were both challenging and interesting (kayaking, hiking in a temperate rain forrest, fishing, and penguin viewing. )
The restaurants in each city that were recommended were all excellent with local seafood, fresh vegetables, and fine wine.

We particularly enjoyed staying at the Matetic La Casona Hotel with its' beautiful rooms, garden areas, excellent restaurant and, of course, the fine wines. It was nice to get out of Santiago with its' warm temperatures and smoke from the recent fires.
We spent a day touring Valparaiso which was quite entertaining with its' fish market, murals, funiculars, and views.
The San Francisco of Chile.

We enjoyed staying in Puerto Varas with the beautiful beach setting, lake, and volcanoes in the background.
Jass was a perfect host with pickup at the airport and kayaking on a fjord. Learning about the fjord, salmon and mussel farms was interesting but the river was so wide and big the actual kayaking was not much fun. Would have preferred a smaller river to learn about the trees, birds, and animals.

The trekking trip to Alerce Andino National Park was interesting but not a high point. Good for training to climb a mountain with all the stairs you have to negotiate. Our guide Marcella has a spider phobia she pontificated on that was the most entertaining part of the hike.

The fishing trip I took with Matthew (?) was the best day of the trip for me. Rowing me down a quiet, beautiful river with large brown trout hungry to grab my lure, identifying multiple water birds, and cooking me a riverside lunch was perfect.
June enjoyed her penguin trip as well.

We dined at the Casa Varas and Brasas restaurants in the evening and found them both excellent.
The frozen piscos and ceviche at Casa Varas and the king crab and baked Alaska dessert at Brasas were highlights.

Puerto Natales was the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park and a perfect base to launch our different activities.
Our hotel Remota was hip and cooly designed and built using local wood and resources.
It was a long walk from town and we usually took a taxi.
It could use a better sauvignon blanc in the wine list.

Our private tour of Torres del Paine National Park was quite nice hitting all the major waterfalls and mountain views.
Saw lots of wildlife including condors, Darwin Rhea, caracara, black eagles, flamingos. and guanacos.

The Hotel Grey located in Torres del Paine was also quite nice and we enjoyed a hike to the Chorrillo Los Samones with Pablo and Jorge as our guides. Multiple plants, trees, and birds were identified on the hike along the Pingo River.
The best and most comfortable views of the glacier and the iceberg were in the hotel bar. :)

Erin worked easily with us on our itinerary changing several activities to match our interests. She was up front about the costs and provided detailed information and photos on each of the hotels, destinations, and activities.

I hardily recommend Erin and Kimkim to anyone considering a trip to Chile. You will be rewarded with a trip of a lifetime.

Joe and June Spann
Austin, Texas

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Lago Grey

Torres del Paine

great location with good restaurant and bar.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Solace Puerto Varas

Puerto Varas

Great breakfast, view from our room of the lake and volcanoes, and great location to access the town.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Accidentally left my electrical conversion equipment in my room at check-out and the house cleaner immediately recognized it and caught me before I checked out of the hotel.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Remota Patagonia Lodge

Puerto Natales

Cool, hip hotel with its' design and materials. Long walk from town. Needs a better sauvignon blanc wine on the menu.

Authenticity & Character

Location

long walk from town

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

La Casona at Matetic Vineyards

Lagunillas

Beautiful, relaxing setting with lap pool, gardens, and on-site restaurant. Great wine!!

Authenticity & Character

Location

quiet, calming setting after a long flight.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Stay at La Casona inside of Matetic Winery

Casablanca Valley

wine tasting with Pablo Took a day trip to Valparaiso...very entertaining. Strongly recommend.

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trekking in Alerce Andino National Park

Puerto Varas

Too many stairs and guide fixated on spiders.

Kayaking on the Reloncaví Fjord

Puerto Varas

Jass was great but fjord but was wide and large and did not feel very intimate for a kayaking trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

All-inclusive at Hotel Remota

Puerto Natales

Presented with a menu of possible activities the first evening, We chose the most difficult hike up to the base of the three towers of Torres del Paine. It was a 14 mile round trip hike with sunshine and warmth on the hike up with the last mile picking our way up over giant boulders and the last two hours in a cold rain with driving wind. One of the most difficult hikes I have ever done especially at age 71 but we were rewarded with some magnificent views, incredible scenery, and a sense of accomplishment at the end. It was 10 hours of hiking interrupted with a half-hour lunch. Nicholas was our young guide at 24 years of age and I think he worried we were going to collapse. So did we. :) The next day we took a tour of Puerto Natales downtown and enjoyed visiting the museum and shopping for souvenirs.

Quality of Experience

Food

Snacks, salad, and a warm beer were waiting for us at the end.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Nicholas was young and energetic but at the end I think he was frustrated with the old people (us) He would get about 10-20 meters ahead of us and only look back to make sure we hadn't fallen or gotten lost.

Transport

Fly fishing on the Rio Maullín

Puerto Varas

Best day of the trip for me with phenomenal trout fishing, beautiful serene setting, and abundant wildlife. The guide was especially skilled and helpful. Would recommend highly to all those interested in one of the greatest fishing trips of their life. I used a spinning rod and reel since I am not especially skilled at fly fishing.

Quality of Experience

Food

riverside steak dinner with beer!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trip Briefing at Dittmar Adventures

Puerto Natales

My wife took this trip and enjoyed it.

Explore Chiloé Island & Puñihuil Penguins National Reserve

Puerto Varas

Wife took this trip and enjoyed it.

Torres del Paine Full Day Private Tour

Chile

We checked all the boxes on waterfalls, mountain views, and wildlife.

Half Day Hiking in the Pingo Valley

Torres del Paine

Enjoyed taking this informative hike with Pablo and Jorge in a visitor restricted area.

What an incredible trip. I have had some terrible experiences with Travel Agents in the past, so I was hesitant to work with them again. With such a logistically complex trip, I am so happy we decided to work with Jason.

Firstly, his recommendations and guidance ahead of the trip ended up being very key. With so many places to visit in Patagonia, Jason took the places we knew we wanted to visit and crafted an itinerary that mixed that with his know-how of the region. What we ended up with is a trip where we hit everything we wanted to do, as well as some surprises along the way.

Most importantly, the trip was planned out to the hour and all the transfers, flights, tours, and guides went perfectly (with the small exception of one transfer, which was not a big deal).

I would recommend Jason to anyone that wants a trip where they can truly trust someone's expertise. It was one for the ages and he made it so simple for us on the ground.

Activity Review

Hike Base of Tower Torres del Paine

Chile

This is basically a must. An extremely demanding hike with the most stunning and incredible views at the end. The highlight of our trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Everything was very good to excellent. All the local guides were good. Rutas360 in Atacama is merely a "middle man" to the local guide companies so that made it a bit challenging to know who to contact, but it all worked out. All the transfers to and from the bus stations and airports worked well, as did all the airline reservations.

My only minor issue was some of the hotels. The Doubletree in Santiago and the airport Holiday Inn were both very good. Don Tomas in Atacama was excellent.

Hotel Otai was a mixed bag. We had a noisy dog nearby and the breakfast was ok, and they got the AC working well, but on the last day I saw two cockroaches in our room. That was not horrible for me, but for most people that would be very bad.

Hotel Casa de Patagonia in Puerto Natales had good service but it was a bit noisy with thin walls. Hotel Germania in Puerto Varas was fine though our room, which faced the street, was stuffy, noisy and a bit small.

Lorena was very wonderful. Lorena responded quickly and accurately. She always kept us in the loop and was extremely accommodating when changes came up. It was a very easy, no stress process. We had a pretty logistical heavy trip and Lorena was great. We will be using Kim Kim again.