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Not too far from Santiago, up a mountain road with over 60 curves, sits Valle Nevado, a ski lodge in the Andes Mountains. Santiago is pretty much surrounded by mountains and I wanted to get up close to them.
Tour with Turistik
There’s no public transportation to Valle Nevado, so I booked a tour with Turistik. It’s available June through September and starts at CLP$35,900 (as of June 2024). The good thing about it is that it isn’t really a tour. It’s just a ride up the mountains to relax for a couple hours. There’s also an opportunity to go skiing, apparently. Just one tip – it’s cold up there. Take a jacket/coat and maybe a hat and gloves.
Views at Valle Nevado
Like the other tours, I was picked up at Patio Bellavista by a service bus at 8:30am. I was taken to my tour bus and we headed out of the city and up the mountain to the ski lodge. Once at the top, we were given a few options. We could pay to take the ski lift up to the very top for some spectacular views, sit at the café, or watch the condors. I chose the latter two.
The views were great and it was nice to sit and warm up with a hot chocolate. Just a warning: coffee prices are a little high, and food prices were very high.
The real highlight of the day for me was seeing the condors. They are huge, graceful birds that don’t flap their wings to fly, but glide instead. Their wingspan can be up to 10 ½ feet!
