Chile on your own
A 4,300 km ribbon between the world's driest desert and the glaciers of Patagonia: Chile is the vertical road trip par excellence — one country, five planets.
When to go
Seasons are inverted: the austral summer (November-March) is THE window for Patagonia and the Carretera Austral. The Atacama works year-round — beware the "altiplanic winter" (January-February rains that sometimes close the high tracks) and the freezing nights of June-August. The centre (Valparaíso, the vineyards) is superb in spring (October-November) and at harvest (March-April). Avoid Patagonia from May to September: short days, reduced ferries, closed refugios.
What it costs
City car rental €35-55/day, SUV or 4x4 for ripio €60-100/day, with one-way drop-off fees that can top €300 — the loop is king. Fuel around €1.30/L (bencina 93/95/97), decent doubles €50-110, a bunk in a Patagonian refugio €25-40. Budget €3,000-4,500 for two over 15 days excluding international flights, domestic flights included (Santiago-Calama or Santiago-Punta Arenas: €60-150 one way depending on how early you book).
Driving & transport
Right-hand driving, dipped headlights compulsory by day on highways. In Santiago, the urban expressways require a TAG (electronic toll transponder): check it is included with the rental or bypass the capital. On ripio: 40-60 km/h max, tyres checked, spare wheel inspected before setting off, and slow down BEFORE oncoming traffic (starred windscreens guaranteed otherwise). In Patagonia, hold the doors with both hands — the wind rips them off — and fill up at every station: the next one can be 400 km away. Book the Carretera Austral ferries (Hornopirén-Caleta Gonzalo) several weeks ahead in summer.
You don't drive across Chile, you slice it up: 4,300 km from the tropics to Cape Horn, pinned between the Pacific and the Andes. Nobody drives from San Pedro de Atacama to Punta Arenas — you combine domestic flights and regional rentals: the Atacama desert and its high-altitude lagoons in the north, Valparaíso and the vineyards in the centre, then the deep south — volcanoes, Chiloé island, the Carretera Austral and Torres del Paine. Each block deserves its own trip; two blocks already fill three solid weeks.
It is also South America's easiest country to drive: immaculate COPEC stations, a paved network in the centre, low road crime. The real apprenticeship is ripio — the gravel roads that guard the Carretera Austral and the way to the finest corners — and distance management: 400 km without a fuel station is planned the night before, not at the orange warning light.
The destinations that matter
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No. 013 to 4 nightsSan Pedro de AtacamaThe world's driest desert hides its treasures between 2,400 and 4,300 m: geysers steaming at dawn, royal-blue lagoons ringed by volcanoes, and the purest starry sky on the planet.No. 021 to 2 nightsValparaísoAn amphitheatre of colourful tin houses tumbling to the Pacific, century-old funiculars and street art on every corner: South America's most poetic port.No. 033 to 4 nightsLake District and volcanoesPerfect volcanic cones mirrored in steel-blue lakes, forests of prehistoric araucarias and hot springs under fine drizzle: the Chilean Switzerland, in tectonic version.No. 042 to 3 nightsChiloé IslandAn island of legends and mists where the wooden churches are three centuries old, where houses grow on stilts and where Humboldt and Magellanic penguins nest side by side.No. 057 to 10 nightsCarretera AustralThe continent's last great wild road: 1,240 km of ripio and paved stretches between fjords, rainforests and hanging glaciers — the journey within the journey.No. 063 to 4 nightsTorres del PaineThree granite towers rearing above turquoise lakes, guanacos by the hundreds and a wind that sculpts everything: Patagonia's absolute sanctuary, earned step by step.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Chile on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
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