CHILE Tours and Travel

From salty-desert top to glacier-crowded bottom, Chile is a jaw-dropping reminder of nature's beauty and power. This narrow trickle of a country is jammed with enough geysers, mountains, beaches, forests and volcanoes to keep adventure nuts slavering for a lifetime.

Chile's mountainous geography spanning over 30° of latitude makes for some strange climatic variation.

CHILE TOURS AND TRAVEL: Arica Tours, Calama Tours, Hanga Roa Tours, Iquique Tours, Pucon Tours, Puerto Montt Tours, Puerto Natales Tours, Punta Arenas Tours, San Pedro de Atacama, Santiago Tours,

SANTIAGO Tours, Travel and Activities

Compared to other cities in Latin America, Santiago feels distinctly European. Its stately, dignified boulevards and neoclassical architecture, swanky high-rise suburbs, efficient metro system and, above all, general state of orderliness reflect a culture that is hard-working, prosperous and business-minded.

Santiaguinos tend to be polite, well-dressed (a little too conservatively perhaps) and somewhat restrained, despite their predilection for staying out late.

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ARICA Tours, Travel and Activities

In Arica, where Chile and Peru once fought bloody skirmishes, wealthy Bolivians now lounge on the beach, and Quechua and Aymara vendors sell handicrafts, vegetables and trinkets. Arica is a popular year-round resort, with warm currents and beach weather nearly every day; a drizzle falls only every few years.

Sleepy, laid-back San Pedro de Atacama is the gringo gathering spot of northern Chile, where Spanish-speaking locals are frequently outnumbered by German, French and English-speaking travelers.

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NORTH CHILE Tours, Travel and Activities

Norte Grande features the Pacific Ocean, the starkly desolate but unique Atacama Desert with its deeply incised canyons, and the Andean altiplano (steppe) with its volcanic summits. The region's great mineral wealth has given it a special role in Chilean history; most cities in the Atacama, such as Iquique and Antofagasta, owe their existence to nitrates and copper.

The Atacama is the most "perfect" of deserts; some coastal stations have never recorded measurable rainfall, although infrequent "El Niño" events can bring brief but phenomenal downpours in other places.

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PATAGONIA Tours, Travel and Activities

Remote and rugged, Chile's southernmost region is one of the country's most historically and geographically fascinating. Región XII, considered the heart of Patagonia, takes in all of the country's territory beyond about 49° S, including the western half of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (whose eastern half is Argentine), the largely uninhabited islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, and the slice of Antarctica claimed by Chile.

Travelers come the distance to trek in Torres del Paine, to gaze at the glaciers or simply to say they've been to the 'end of the world.'

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PUERTO MONTT Tours, Travel and Activities

From the barren plains of the north, to virgin lenga forests draped in 'old man's beard,' to glaciers descending nearly to the ocean, the island of Tierra del Fuego never ceases to enthrall those who come to explore its mystery.

To some, Puerto Montt a welcome change from the staid towns of the Lakes District, and it does have a spectacular setting - which can be appreciated when it's clear, anyway. Gateway to the southern lakes, Chiloe and Chilean Patagonia, Puerto Montt is the main transportation hub to virtually all directions.

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NORTH TO SOUTH, NATURAL WONDERS ABOUND

The tiny colonial village of San Pedro de Atacama has excellent access to the spectacular geysers, volcanoes, salt flats and lakes of the northern altiplano, and it is one of the country's most popular destinations. The town itself has an excellent archaeological museum and pretty 16th-century adobe buildings.

Parque Nacional Lauca is northern Chile's treasure. Within the huge park are herds of llama and alpaca, groups of vizcachas (related to the chinchilla) and over 100 bird species, including flamingos and Andean gulls, plus archaeological landmarks

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Santiago, Chile

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