Author: AfflictedTraveler

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Puerto Varas – Los Lagos

I love to drive. Unfortunately, the geography of Chile doesn’t lend itself easily to driving. If attempted, the drive from Santiago to Puerto Varas would have been over 10 hours and 1000 kilometers on some sketchy roads. It’s the kind of time not available on an 8-day itinerary.  It’s an hour and a forty-five minute flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt, and then another 30 minute drive from the airport in Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas. Much more preferable than the drive, although a lot less adventurous. The flight was on a Airbus A321 on LATAM Airlines, basically the first leg of three to get us to Puerto Montt for a two day stay,  and then from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas for the part of our trip promising the most adventure and discovery in the Chilean Patagonia north of Puerto Natales.

Getting the rental car at the Puerto Montt airport was very straightforward. The drive from the Puerto Montt airport to our hotel in Puerto Varas was a meandering trek through sparsely populated Lakes District countryside on what continued to be a lovely sunny day, but a bit cooler due to being farther south. Puerto Varas is focused on tourism with hotels and restaurants all along the lakefront. This was evident as we entered the city by car from the airport, and made our way toward our hotel driving through the residential parts of the city.

 

Settling in

Puerto Varas reminds me of a lesser frequented Florida beach town – it’s touristy but not overwhelmingly so. On arrival to the Hotel Cabana del Lago, we checked in, and were pleased to discover that all the rooms were facing Lake Llanquihue, and all the rooms and cottages had panoramic views of the volcanoes across the lake. We had a cottage with a kitchenette, and a living room area. The main room in particular had lots of glass to take in the panoramic scenery.  Stepping onto the balcony was like stepping into the panoramic views.  it was just gorgeous, like the kind of scenery that can’t be truly represented with as many photos as one takes, and as carefully selected as one tries, it just doesn’t convey the same feeling as being there. The hotel was a multi building complex with plenty of amenities, including spa, workout facilities, swimming pool, restaurants, in short everything you expect from a high-end hotel. The most welcoming facilities for me were the glassed in informal dining/bar area, and the expansive terrace with panoramic views across the the lake toward the volcanoes.

 

Tour of Volcan Osorno

With the views so beautiful and enchanting right in front of me, I wanted to see the rest of it from a more intimate vantage.  So we hopped into our rental vehicle, a little Ford four-wheel-drive SUV not available in the States.  All wheel drive wasn’t a necessity, it’s what they offered at the airport rental counter. We took a tour around Lake Llanquihue, completely circumnavigating in a leisurely day trip excursion from the hotel. Along the way we stopped at several points to take in the scenery and bring back memories.

The trip around  Lake Llanquihue basically broke down to four parts.  For part one we stopped at the Parque Nacional Perez Rosales Laguna Verde. Certainly not a highlight, but the first stop in the circuit. For part two we drove to the Saltos Rio Petrohue section of the park, an area where we had fast-moving rapids, surrounded by picturesque scenery. Stop number three we arrived at a place where we could park the car and hike along a sandy path to the mouth of the Petrohue River at the junction with Lago Todos los Santos for some very cool photos of Volcan Osorno in the distance. This was a bit of a bittersweet experience because while the views were amazing, we had to contend with biting horseflies menacing us whenever we stood still to take a photo. You know you’re off the beaten path when there’s not a soul in sight and you’re horsefly chow. The final leg of the round-the-lake trek was the drive up Volcan Osorno Centro de Ski.  There were very few people wandering about as it was summer, and the main use of the facility was for skiing.  There was a self-serve zipline facility from near the top of the volcano.  But the most interesting part was wandering about, taking it all in, and returning with some hard to describe photos.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1kqfnBqcSQvFRwoMjDJrHwFtaob8&w=640&h=480]

 

Discovery Trek

The town of Puerto Varas is basically the interior of the Lake Llanquihue facing resort complex of hotels and amenities. The interior of the town neither had a lot of pedestrian traffic nor a lot of automobile traffic. There was no need for an automobile unless leaving town as everything was easily accessible on foot. The weather was lovely mid-70s blue skies –  couldn’t ask for better walking weather.  With the low humidity, we had the sensation of being in the mountains with a little nip to the air, but in reality we were just a couple hundred feet above sea level.

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1SIgXTPAY7IgjsvNgCa6Vf5LgMsM&w=640&h=480]

 

Food Scene

We kept seeking out “local fare” with a bent towards seafood.  We asked for restaurant recommendations from the concierge.  I’m not sure I got the best of recommendations as I believe the staff was put off by us not dining at the hotel. My hunch is that the hotels do have the best fare in Puerto Varas as strongly hinted by the meal we had at Hotel Cabana del Lago.  The food at the restaurants we patronized to this point on the trip was good, but didn’t rise to any loftier level beyond good.

 

Las Buenas Brasas

This place was tucked away, needing a walk through little garden to enter the restaurant.  It was a mainstream restaurant catering mostly to tourists. This was one of the very few restaurants that had an English speaking waiter.  More seafood, and it was good, but of note was the Sea Urchin roe – Uni in Sushi Speak.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found it on the menu.  I asked the waiter how it was prepared, expecting to hear something bizarre I hadn’t come across before.  He offered to bring me a sample to avoid the effort of a difficult explanation.  The sample turned out to be more generous than what would pass for a $20 serving at a good US Sushi Bar. It was great. Absolutely fresh. Naturally I ordered it as an appetizer, and it turned out to be more Uni than I’d had before – like accumulated ever.  I have to emphasize how fresh this was, because this sort of thing is to be avoided if anything other than very fresh.  People that love Uni will know what I’m talking about.

 

Donde el Gordito

This place was featured in one of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episodes, and there’s a photo of him with the owner proudly on display.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall mom and pop run seafood restaurant featuring large seafood portions, hence gordito in the name. It was good, and there was plenty of it.

 

Hotel Cabana del Lago

This was our final meal in Puerto Varas before heading to the airport in Puerto Montt for our flight to Puerto Natales.  This was by far the best meal in Puerto Varas, which is why I suspect the better fare is at the hotels in this town.  The food was elegantly prepared and served. Everything was fresh, and the service was impeccable.  The view can’t be beat either.  Trying to go local for food, which is one of the things I like to do to accomplish immersion, is not what I would advise here. The local stuff was “meh”, and the hotel offering was superior.

 

Epilogue

In closing, Puerto Varas was the perfect stop off before getting to the epic portion of the Chilean trip – Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park. There was enough to do to keep us well engaged for a couple of days. The circumnavigation of Lago Llanquihue, and the visit to Volcan Osorno was just as inspiring as it was beautiful, and memorable. And the little walkabout the town of Puerto Varas away from the touristy bits also was interesting. From a food perspective, The Uni experience in Puerto Varas will stand out as a memory for a long time.  All my favorite Sushi places will have a new mark to hit for Uni – but never to be attained for quantity, even if they hit the mark for quality.  The Lakes District, if not Puerto Varas specifically, would be a very interesting place to come back to for further exploration. There are lakes scattered all over the map leaving plenty of opportunity for exploration, and justifying why the rental car companies offer all wheel drive vehicles.  Surely there must be places where that feature would be put to good use.

Related Trips

Chile travel planning Chile Travel Planning – Santiago, The Lakes District and Patagonia

Related Destinations

Santiago
Puerto Natales – Chilean Patagonia
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Santiago

Drink the water. I can’t give that advice for all cities in South America, but it’s good advice for all of Chile. And it hints at Chile’s tidiness and level of safety.

Having been to Santiago previously on business, I am aware from my own experience that personal safety is not a concern in this modern, youthful, South American city. I was able to order my own taxi from the airport when I was there previously on business. While this is something people living in most parts of the world today would take for granted, it’s not something I could do universally in South America, per my company’s travel policy. There are cities where I must have a private car and driver (sometimes armed) while traveling on business. Fast forward a few years and I am able to summon an Uber at the airport without incident for the 45-minute ride to the Providencia neighborhood, my home in Santiago for 2 days.

 

Settling in

Santiago is a collection of 32 neighborhoods with great variety. Some are more residential, quiet, and off the beaten path. While others are lined with cafes, restaurants, and boutique hotels. I selected Providencia as my residence in Santiago because it’s lively, walkable, and to me represents a slice of life in Santiago. Our boutique hotel is located in the heart of the Comuna Providencia on Orrego Luco street, a short walk from Providencia street. The hotel was centrally located and all points of interest were accessible by foot from there. The neighborhood is green with tree-lined side streets, where the trees looked like they might be a hundred years old. It felt safe, even at night. I was comfortable walking with my wife all over town from this location.

The Hotel itself, Le Reve, is on the intimate side, offering 31 guest rooms, with an interior courtyard that made me feel like I was in a private garden. Our courtyard facing room was peaceful and quiet, and belied the fact that the hotel was in a lively night-life area. My room was spacious, with a grand window opening onto the courtyard, had an American sized bathroom with amenities that I would expect. The bed was very comfortable – important for a hotel, and few people mention such things. The hotel was well rated on Tripadvisor, as well as booking.com, which was the resource I used to make the reservation. I would stay at Le Reve again, as well as recommend it to others.

Our quiet, comfortable courtyard facing room at hotel Le Reve
Our quiet, comfortable courtyard facing room at hotel Le Reve

 

Discovery Trek

The best way to get to know a place is by walking through the heart of it at a pace that allows for discovering the little things that might otherwise go unnoticed.  The entire trek was just over 12 miles and a little over 6 hours, broken up with stops along the way for sightseeing, and lunch.  It was a beautiful day for a walking tour, early summer in Chile with a breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and temperatures in the mid 80s — amateur traveler’s sunburn weather.

I like the visual nature of Google maps.  I could go on for paragraphs about the route and things seen along the way.  Or I can show you the map.  Enlarge the map and you should easily see the 4 sections of the trek: from the hotel (pin 1) to Mercado Central (pin 2); from Mercado Central to Barrio Lastarria (pin 3); from Barrio Lastarria to Cerro san Cristobal (pin 4); and Finally from Cerro San Cristobal back to the hotel.  Click on each of the 4 pins to see the details associated with that particular location, especially the photos. You can see the photos I’ve imported into the map, as well as other photos Google Maps has in its inventory for a particular location.  You can click on any establishment on the map along the path walked to get Google Maps details related to that place, including photos.  This is a pretty cool way to explore our Santiago discovery trek, and explore it beyond the media I had originally set aside for this post.

 

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1ZD0Q8gv_-Fvu4-i4mUKT8fx98yQ&w=640&h=480]

 

Hotel Le Reve to Mercado Central along Providencia Street (pin 1 to pin 2)

This is leg 1 of the trek, and is represented by the circuit from pin 1 to pin 2 on the map.  This was the longest leg of the walk and followed Provedencia Street for most of the way.  This particular day was a Tuesday, a regular weekday between the holidays at the end of December.  This leg of the walk gave me a sense of the pace and vitality of the city as people were out and about with their daily mid-morning activities.

 

Mercado Central to Barrio Lastarria (pin 2 to pin 3)

This is leg 2 of the trek, and is represented by pin 2 to pin 3 on the map.  We specifically walked to Barrio Lastarria for lunch at the restaurant Bocanariz.  It was a quieter walk as compared with leg 1 because it was away from the main road, Provedencia Street. A video is required to share the feel of this leg of the walk, but alas I didn’t think to take one.  Second best would be a complete Google Street View of this leg of the walk, which I made available through this link.  It’s too bad Google doesn’t allow the use of Street View directly from user-saved maps, like the one I embedded for this post. Such functionality would take user saved Google Maps to a new level of cool.

 

Bario Lastarria to Cerro San Cristobal (pin 3 to pin 4)

This is leg 3 of the walking trek, represented by pin3 to pin4 on the map.  This is a shorter walk relatively speaking, taking us from the Bocanariz restaurant where we had a fabulous seafood meal, to the funicular at the base of Parque Cerro san Cristobal.  This too is an interesting walk, and more picturesque than the cityscape encountered on the first leg.  I am including the Google Maps Street View images for this leg of the walk with this link.  This image set was saved with a resolution of 720P.

 

Food Scene

Liguria

Arrival meal at typical local Santiago restaurant. This place was recommended to us by our hotel concierge.  This was our first exposure to how little English was spoken everywhere in Chile.  So, this restaurant is frequented by locals, and we arrived for lunch around 12:30 to find the place empty.  We were the first customers, originally thinking that this restaurant wasn’t very popular, but it filled to capacity within the hour, with people waiting in the doorway for entry.  This is where Google translate comes in handy as there was just 1 person that spoke even a bit of English.  We managed to convey that we wanted to try typical Chilean dishes, and the waiter recommended beef roast and pork roast with the help of our translation app.   The roasts were slow cooked to be tender, but the pork rib could have used some additional cooking time.

 

Le Bistrot
Classic “Moules et Frites” as served at any French or Belgian café.  This is where we first tried the Pisco Sour, apparently the drink the Chileans stole from the Peruvians.  My wife liked it just fine, but I found it to be a little on the “girly” side. I eventually switched to chilled Pisco, which reminded me a lot of Bulgarian Muscat Rakia.  Very aromatic.  It took quite a bit of convincing for the waiter to bring me just a snifter of Pisco on the rocks.  Apparently only gringos like me do this sort of thing.

 

Bocanariz

Restaurant near Bario Lastarria.  We stopped at this restaurant to fortify ourselves during our 12 mile Santiago discovery trek.  This place was pretty good, the food preparation was definitely a step above Liguria.  We had Octopus carpaccio, fresh ceviche, Serrano ham and cheese stuffed smoked trout, and conger eel, shellfish, and clam chowder.  It was a big meal for lunch, but needed given our level of activity.

 

Bahia Pilolcura

Restaurant in the basement of a small seafood storefront with a Che Guevara poster. We asked our concierge at the hotel for a recommendation for a restaurant for dinner. Looked up the recommended restaurant  on Tripadvisor, and it wasn’t well reviewed and ridiculously expensive. So we found this mom/pop hole in the wall seafood restaurant, and we gave it a try. At least their politics is mainstream.  The storefront couldn’t have been more than 10 x 10 feet, with steep stairs accessing the “restaurant.” We looked at each other at the top of the stairs wondering if we wanted to do this, and decided to go ahead with it.  At the bottom of the stairs, the restaurant had enough seating for 8, may be 10.  We were the only customers.  The owner/waiter brought me a can of beer and a bottle of chilled Pisco.  He showed me where the cooler was should I need more beer.  The waiter understood zero English.  This was truly an adventure, but we eventually ordered, and enjoyed the meal – although it’s not the inexpensive experience one might expect.  The food was good and fresh, well prepared, and served as if we were the only customers – which we were.

 

Restaurant Perú Gustoso

Layover on Return Trip Home.  We had too much time at the airport on the return flight home, so we hopped an Uber back to Hotel Le Reve, dropped off our luggage for a few hours, walked around and ended up at this restaurant.  By this time we’d had enough of Chilean fare, and wanted to try a Peruvian restaurant.  This menu looked pretty good, with lots of seafood, including Octopus and Squid – some of our favorites.  The Pisco, however was Chilean – I asked. So I question the overall Peruvian authenticity… 😉

 

Epilogue

It was interesting, and we made the most of the 2 days we spent in Santiago.  It’s more of a modern city, with a few historic spots from its Spanish Colonial era. It’s was an interesting visit, and we enjoyed the time we spent there, in particular the discovery walk.  But I wouldn’t return to Chile specifically to revisit Santiago.

 Related Trips

Chile travel planning Chile Travel Planning – Santiago, The Lakes District and Patagonia

Related Destinations

Puerto Varas – Los Lagos
Puerto Natales – Chilean Patagonia
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France Travel Planning – Lyon to Bordeaux

France Travel Planning - Lyon to Bordeaux

Motivation – France Travel Planning

This would not be an itinerary I’d choose for a first-time visit to Europe in general, nor for a first-time visit to France specifically. This is a combination of destinations suitable to a more seasoned European traveler, and moreover, someone having experienced France previously. Having been to France in the past, I’ve visited the Paris area, Normandy, Alsace-Lorraine, Languedoc-Roussillon, Loire Valley, Burgundy, Provence, and Hautes Alpes. I truly wouldn’t have seen the rest of Europe had I not taken time off from visiting France specifically!

The south-central slice of France comprising Lyon at its eastern end, and Bordeaux to the west, with the Massif Central at its center, held for me unexplored portions of the country, promising cuisine, wine, history, and architecture to be discovered. In particular, the cuisine in the historic city of Lyon, with their traditional Bouchons, was waiting to be explored. And of course the wines of the Bordeaux region, known across France and the world, were also on the list for discovery. Both cities are UNESCO world heritage sites, and both cities have opportunities for day trips to explore the surrounding region and countryside.

 

Logistics – France Travel Planning

With Atlanta as my home base in the US, direct flights from there to Paris Charles de Gaulle are frequent, but generally not competitively priced. Delta and Air France have a lock on direct flights from Atlanta, and they’re codeshare partners, where codeshare is “code” for monopoly from a consumer perspective. A workable alternative would have been Atlanta to Heathrow, with a connecting flight either to Lyon, or to Bordeaux. Because I had Delta Frequent Flyer miles to burn, Atlanta to Paris Charles de Gaulle was the most convenient option, with a 55 minute connecting flight to Lyon as the second leg of the itinerary to start the trip.

I secured a rental car from Sixt, my favorite car rental company in Europe. I requested a BMW 5-series for 6 days, but received a Volvo S60, which turned out to be fairly competitive to the German car for quality and road worthiness. I like Sixt because they generally have German cars, and the quality of service has been very good in the past. I like German cars because they are designed for high speeds and handle very well. While the French speed limit is 130 KPH (80 MPH), there are wide open stretches where one could hit much higher speeds were one so inclined. Driving any faster than 130 KPH is unsafe in a vehicle not engineered and equipped for that purpose. Driving in Europe is not for the meek at heart, nor for the timid driver. I can understand the “horror” stories recounted by some US tourists of their driving experiences in Europe. Personally, driving is part of the immersive experience in travel. It’s not like home, but it’s not meant to be. And in some ways, it’s much better than driving at home. For example, European drivers generally yield the left-hand lane to those intending to pass when practical. Compare that to the doddering old coot perpetually in the left hand lane with his left turn signal on in your favorite locale in the US. In general, highways in France are less crowded than in the US, but only away from major population centers. In the cities, the French roads are every bit as congested as name-your-nightmare rush hour in the US.

Having secured a car for day trips in Lyon and Bordeaux, as well as the connection to Bordeaux from Lyon, what remained was the transportation from Bordeaux back to Paris Charles de Gaulle to start the first leg of the return trip home. To train or not to train, that is the question. I decided on First Class TGV accommodations from Bordeaux Saint Jean to Charles de Gaulle terminal 2. Yes, the TGV (Tres Grande Vitesse) does take longer than a 1 hour “puddle jumper” from Bordeaux to Paris. But sometimes it’s not about the quickest route. The train does take longer, but that’s actually a good thing. Enjoying the company of your fellow travelers, taking in the sun-soaked countryside, and catching up on one’s blog posts are all things possible in comfort with first class train tickets. And it beats sitting around Charles de Gaulle terminal 2 for hours on end, hunting down a place to sit with access to power for portable devices.

 

Itinerary – France Travel Planning

My choice for basic itinerary was to split the 8 nights available for this trip evenly between Lyon and Bordeaux. In retrospect, 8 nights is not enough time for a thorough immersion in both destinations. But the reality is that there is never enough time, so the even split was a best effort immersion starter – and there’s always the next time for those things we invariably miss, no matter how well considered and planned we make our itineraries. 

Definitely apartments over hotel rooms for this trip. As mentioned earlier, both cities are UNESCO world heritage sites, steeped in history and architecture. Lyon has 2000 years of history, including a well preserved Roman amphitheater, a medieval and Renaissance Vieille Ville portion of the city (Old Town), and a charming Presqu’ile residential area on the peninsula formed by the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers. Lyon is the culinary capital of France – not Paris. The choice of apartments for Lyon was brilliant, with panoramic views over the Saone river to the Notre Dame de Fourviere at the top of the hill. The views at night were particularly stunning, with little justice provided by photographs taken as compared to being there, no matter the effort undertaken to take the right photo, under the right conditions. Seeing the views in real time always beats the pictures taken. That’s why we travel. It’s not the same as the photos we bring back. The views from the apartment in the centrally located Presqu’ile neighborhood were simply not available from a hotel. And the price would have been many times more for the hotel as compared to the apartment had it been possible. Moreover, it’s difficult to have the same level of immersion from a hotel experience as compared to being a temporary resident, in a residential city neighborhood for a few days.

Wine drinker or otherwise, most people have heard of Bordeaux as the famed hub of the French wine growing region. Wine growing is the most common denominator when it comes to first thoughts on the region of Bordeaux, but the city has so much more to offer. UNESCO recognized for its beautiful, and consistent architecture, the city center is clean and well maintained. Other French cities aspire to be as well-kempt as Bordeaux. Due to its smaller size, Bordeaux has a more intimate feel than Lyon. The old town is laid out in a series of medieval streets that open onto plazas and grander boulevards. Historic sites, parks, and things that simply catch the eye are peppered throughout the old part of the city. The apartment selected for Bordeaux was centrally located, right in the heart of Rue Saint Catherine, just a few minutes’ walk from the Garonne riverfront. This apartment was more about location than views, with immediate and easy pedestrian access to all city attractions, and restaurants. Bordeaux is the type of city an enthusiast could easily walk through all day , not realizing until the end that 10 miles had pleasantly passed.

 

Resources – France Travel Planning

Absolutely can’t live without google flights. It works well with mainstream carriers, as well as the puddle jumpers. I use it to analyze costs related to date ranges, as well as stopover options for those destinations unreachable directly from my home airport – like Lyon and Bordeaux. Once I have my flight schedule selected, I add my flights to the alert list for price changes, and patiently wait for a good price to come my way.

I rely on several sites for apartment rentals. In the order of preference: HomeAway, booking.com, Tripadvisor, and last and definitely least, Airbnb. Some may be shocked that I prefer to avoid Airbnb, but I have good reasons to avoid them. Their business model simply doesn’t suit me, and they have basic functional deficiencies. I’ll have to put together a Travel Tips blog post on apartment selection, and share my perspective on the challenges in using some sites versus others. But on this particular trip, I did end up using Airbnb for Lyon as they had the best apartment, and I was able to circumvent the Airbnb location ambiguity to my satisfaction before booking it. I used booking.com for the Bordeaux apartment as they had the closest to the heart of the old town. I did use the other two apartment hunting resources, but their facilities were not competitive on this particular trip with the dates I had in mind.

google maps is a staple, and I use it on every trip for a variety of purpose. France has great cellular coverage, so I didn’t have to resort to downloading maps for offline usage, like on other trips (Chile). However, France also has the so-called “safety cameras” peppered throughout their roadway systems, mostly on their 130 kph divided highways. In the many previous trips driving in France, I have received only one speeding violation in the mail. Considering my love of driving with vigor, I consider myself lucky. This time I used waze to help me navigate around the misnamed safety cameras. The app worked pretty well, alerting upon entry to and exit from the “enforcement zones.” I do have to caution that it is a data-hungry beast when in continuous use on a long drive, chewing up a lot of roaming data, which will be of concern to those on expensive international roaming plans.

Tripadvisor is awesome for advanced trip planning, as well as finding a decent restaurant on the spot. When I use it for this purpose, I select “near me now/restaurants” and filter on “open now”. Then I sort by distance – not highest rated. When I’m hungry enough to find an unplanned restaurant, I want closest, then best. Of note is the Michelin restaurant app, which I did use both in Lyon and Bordeaux. But I always cross-referenced whatever restaurants the Michelin app recommended with the Tripadvisor app, and selected what made the most sense. It was usually Tripadvisor. Yelp is not particularly useful, and I don’t even have it installed on my phone any more.

Uber works in France, and it does come in handy. It is much better than trying to hire a taxi because you need not have any communication with the driver if language challenged, aside from properly identifying yourself on pickup. I used Uber from the airport to central Lyon, as well as around town when I simply tired of walking – once or twice.

With google translate on my phone at the ready, I seek out restaurants that have no English menu available. Going to countries where I don’t speak the language, and have bare familiarity with the alphabet is possible with google translate installed. Game changer for traveling off the beaten path – or even on the beaten path where language challenged. It’s important to note that language modules are downloadable for offline usage. Again not an issue in France because the coverage is so good, but it may save some money for those on expensive roaming plans.

Meteo-France is worth a mention as a useful resource. A better weather forecasting app for France doesn’t exist. It’s nice to have a sense for the day’s weather as I set out in the morning.

 

An Opportunity Missed

I love to plan because good planning usually yields a better experience, to the extent that planning can do that. But there is no such thing as perfect planning. Too much planning is a bad thing. Good travel, immersive travel, happens with a certain element of “being there” decisions, and even chance, that simply can’t and shouldn’t be planned. So, that’s the beginning of the conversation I have with anyone asking how I enjoyed the “wine tours” of Bordeaux. I didn’t do any wine tours in Bordeaux. The village hopping we did on our one-day excursion by car from Bordeaux was my choice for an immersive experience. And Bordeaux was too lovely to spend any less time exploring her. I do like wine. A lot. So there’s definitely an opportunity when I return to Bordeaux. And there are many more villages to explore in the region. In fact, so many that it would take months to visit every little village just one day at a time from Bordeaux. And I do love little villages. And so, I may not make the wine tour next time either. Of course the real solution is to move to Bordeaux, perhaps not permanently, but at least for a year. I could hit all the wine-maker’s chateaux, and all the villages from my centrally located Bordeaux apartment, just off the Garonne River. It’s a lovely thought.

France Travel Planning - Lyon to Bordeaux

 

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1Wf-4G9uQo10UcIMpObWEm6qmF1U&w=640&h=480]

 

Related Destinations – France Travel Planning

Lyon
Immersive Travel Bordeaux Immersive Travel Bordeaux
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Chile Travel Planning – Santiago, The Lakes District and Patagonia

Chile travel planning

Motivation – Chile Travel Planning

Of all the countries is South America, why would I choose Chile as the first to visit for some personal vacation time. Personal safety comes to top of mind as a motivator. Chile is safe to visit, even for those that speak no Spanish, with a low incident of crime. Chile is tourist friendly, with a young vibe, particularly in the capital city of Santiago. In fact, I’ve never traveled to any country that accepted more variety of credit cards, in more places than Chile. I eventually stopped withdrawing local currency from ATMs in favor of using my Amex card in restaurants and shops, and found nowhere it wasn’t accepted.

But the strongest motivator for Chile would be its great outdoors. Having read all about the Lakes district near Puerto Varas, mesmerized with the photos of Chilean Patagonia, and hypnotized with YouTube videos of Torres del Paine National Park, a trip to Chile was inevitable for me.

 

Logistics -Chile Travel Planning

I selected the time around Christmas and New Year for the trip for 2 basic reasons. Opportunistically, I had time off from work as paid holiday and didn’t have to dip deep into vacation time. Late December, and Early January in Chile is essentially the beginning of Summer, and pretty good weather to do the outdoor activities I had in mind in South America – In particular it is a good time of the year to visit Chilean Patagonia, and Torres del Paine National Park.

Air transportation in and out of Santiago was convenient from Atlanta, my home airport, with direct flights available. Flights from Santiago to Puerto Montt in the Lakes District, and Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia were available through LATAM Airways, and surprisingly inexpensive. For example, a round trip itinerary from Santiago to Puerto Montt, Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas, and finally the last leg back from Punta Arenas back to Santiago was under $200 per person. I had a very positive experience with LATAM airlines, a professionally run organization with good on-time performance, good personal service, and decent WIFI enabled entertainment onboard.

For ground transportation, rental cars were necessary in the lakes district, and in Patagonia. In the case of arrival at Puerto Montt, it’s basically a 30-minute drive to Puerto Varas, and no real options for alternate transportation like taxis. A rental car is also necessary to do a circuit of the lake, and to visit the volcanoes while in Puerto Varas. In the case of Punta Arenas, it would have been possible to take a bus to Puerto Natales, and another bus to Torres del Paine National Park, but this isn’t my style. It’s simply too inconvenient, time consuming (turn a 2 hour car drive into a 3 hour bus ride), and aggravating to deal with other people’s schedules. As it turned out, driving Ruta del Fin del Mundo was a must-have experience for me which framed part of the Patagonia experience in my mind, and couldn’t have been done without a rental car.

 

Itinerary -Chile Travel Planning

The basic itinerary selected was to spend 2 nights in Santiago, take an hour and 45-minute plane ride directly south to Puerto Montt, then rent a car and drive the leisurely 30 minutes to Puerto Varas. Spend 2 nights in Puerto Varas exploring the little city and its surrounding lake and volcanoes, then take the 2 hour+ flight directly to Punta Arenas. Rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle in Punta Arenas, and drive to Puerto Natales directly. Spend 4 nights in Puerto Natales, within a 2-hour drive to Torres del Paine National Park. I planned to visit 2 of the more accessible and jaw-dropping sights on the so-called W-trail in Torres del Paine National Park: Mirador del Torres at one end of the park, and the catamaran to the glaciers on Lago Grey at the other.

Other options would have been to spend some time in the Atacama high desert, but my motivation wasn’t there for a desert adventure, and the logistics would have been prohibitive as well, requiring a 2-hour plane ride from Santiago going north, while the both the Lakes District and Patagonia were several hours south, in the opposite direction, by plane. I also considered and passed on Valparaiso as a destination for this particular trip. It just didn’t fit with the “outdoor theme” as well as the Lakes District and Patagonia. Easter Island was never a consideration, although I was aware it could have been an option. Easter Island would have been a lot of time spent for little travel experience in return.

 

Resources -Chile Travel Planning

There are way too many behave-alike airfare search engines out there with little differentiation among them. For my time and effort, I find that I can’t do better than using google flights. I can’t beat it for accuracy, speed, and functionality. I searched and tracked the mainstream carrier round-trip flights to Santiago, as well as the local LATAM carrier flights from Santiago to Puerto Montt, and Punta Arenas through google flights, having made use to the tracking and notification feature to get good prices.

I find myself going to booking.com first for both hotel and apartment reservations anymore. I like their map function which displays available properties visually for easy decision making. Even better is the fact that it can filter both apartments and hotels together on the same map, giving a great comparison for availability and price across both property types. The actual decision to go with an apartment or a hotel room can be a little tricky, and on this occasion felt more comfortable with hotel rooms. Apartments for me require a higher level of independence, with no support for things like concierge service, for example. Given that this was my first vacation in South America, hotels made more sense from a support perspective.

I did not depend on cellular coverage being continuously available for navigation purposes, and it turned out to be a reasonable assumption as carrier service did drop when we got way outside the cities. However, google maps has a feature where you can download map areas to your device and use google maps while offline. This turned out to work very well, although turn-by-turn voice instructions don’t work in the offline mode, the app got the job done in getting us around Patagonia where the cell signal was the worst.

I booked a rental car in Puerto Montt, as well as Punta Arenas – both through rentalcars.com. The booking experience was ok, although it is one of those sites that require an up-front deposit to confirm the reservation, which I don’t like. The site did pose a problem on one of the rentals as it tried to charge for the entire rental at reservation time. It took 15 minutes on the phone with a customer service agent to straighten out the issue. I would prefer to book directly with a rental car company of my choice, but those operating in Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas were not on my “A” list for direct dealing, so I went with rentalcars.com which had reasonably good prices.

Tripadvisor has become an indispensable travel resource for me. The phone app is particularly useful for finding things close to your current location. The most import of which is finding a good place to eat on the spot, and in short order. When I use it for this purpose, I select near me now/restaurants and filter on “open now”. Then I sort by distance – not highest rated. When I’m hungry enough to find an unplanned restaurant, I want closest, then best. But the bottom line is that I use the food pictures posted by the reviewers to make the final decision. Pictures are equivalent to a thousand reviews, and I can quickly find something close by accommodating my needs.

 

An Opportunity Missed

I didn’t realize this was possible until my arrival in Punto Arenas for the flight back to Santiago. For those of us that strive to visit every continent as a bucket list item, a trip to Antarctica, however short, is on our to-dos as we travel. Having done some research on taking a cruise to Antarctica, I was uncomfortable with the heavy seas crossing the Drake Passage, uncomfortable to the point that it was no longer an option on the list. But there’s a plane-only possibility for visiting Antarctica from Punta Arenas. Unfortunately, this was something that needed to be planned and scheduled well in advance, and couldn’t be done on the spur of the moment as the thought struck me. There are no regularly scheduled flights one might be able to find through google flights, for example. So, had I to do it all over again, I would schedule a round trip plane ride from Punta Arenas to Saint George Island, Antarctica, and cross the seventh continent off my bucket list. Maybe next time.

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Click for visual trip details

 

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Related Destinations –Chile Travel Planning

Santiago
Puerto Varas – Los Lagos
Puerto Natales – Chilean Patagonia