10 Days/9 Nights Departs Daily from Santiago Ultimate Chile: Santiago, Easter Island, and Puerto Natales Long and narrow, Chile's latitudinal variations promise a great diversity of landscapes. On this ultimate adventure from north to south, experience the sophistication of Santiago, the mysteries of Easter Island, and the wonders of Patagonia. ACCOMMODATIONS 3 Nights Santiago 3 Nights Easter Island 3 Nights Puerto Natales INCLUSIONS All Ground Transfers plus Bus Ticket from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas Santiago City Tour Orongo Village & Ceremonial Tour Anakena Tour plus Lunch Torres del Paine National Park Tour plus Lunch Serrano & Balmaceda Glaciers Tour plus Lunch Daily Breakfast
ARRIVAL SANTIAGO: Fronting the snow capped Andes; the Chilean capital is a blend of colonial and modern architecture. There are lovely parks and gardens, excellent museums, fine restaurants and great shopping. Arrival greeting and transfer to your selected hotel. (Accommodations, Santiago) SANTIAGO: Santiago City Tour One of the best ways to experience Santiago is through its historical development. You will begin your excursion by passing Santa Lucia Hill, which is called Huelen in the native Aborigin dialect. It came about by the Spanish conqueror Pedro Valdivia who founded the city, and gave the name Santiago de Nueva Extremadura, in honor of the apostle Santiago, who was the patron Saint of Spain. You will continue to Plaza de Armas (Main Square), which is the central point of the city`s earliest urbanization. Today, the buildings of the Cathedral, the main post office, the National Historic Museum and the Municipalidad de Santiago (city council) are situated around the square. You will wander around in Plaza de la Constitucion square, where you will have the privilege of seeing La Moneda government palace. Here, you will learn about the historical milestones from Independence to present day. Finally, visit the Pre-Colombino Art Museum where more than three decades have passed since Sergio Larrain Garcia-Moreno and the Municipality of Santiago founded the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. It was a pioneering initiative for Latin America to create an institution to guard, study, and disseminate the artistic legacy of all pre-columbian peoples of America, without regard to political boundaries that today divide countries. (Breakfast, Accommodations, Santiago) SANTIAGO TO EASTER ISLAND: Transfer to the airport for a flight (not included) to Easter Island in the South Pacific, one of the most remote islands in the world. Airport greeting and transfer to hotel. Relax by the pool, go to the beach or start exploring on your own. Dinner and overnight in Rapa Nui (Polynesian name for Easter Island). (Breakfast, Santiago; Accommodations, Easter Island)
EASTER ISLAND: Private Orongo including Ceremonial Village You will leave your hotel at Hanga Roa and set off for Rano Kao, a volcano whose crater is now a fresh water lake covered with reeds. The main highlight, though, is a stopover at Orongo, stone village and ceremonial center near the crater. It was here that the annual tangata manu or birdman ceremony (a foot race) was performed by the natives. Today, this rite takes place every summer. There are over 100 petroglyphs representing the islanders' supreme diety Make Make, the birdman, and sooty terns, a seabird known in the Rapa Nui language as manutara. You will also visit the caves at Ana Kai Tangata the cavern walls of which are covered with primitive paintings. You can also step out upon the Ahu Vinapu, a ceremonial platform that is famous for its architectural perfection; today, its construction is still a mystery. (Breakfast, Accommodations, Easter Island) EASTER ISLAND: Private Anakena Tour with Lunch You will leave your hotel in Hanga Roa to begin your journey along the route that passes by the Moai: huge statues carved from volcanic rock lining the perimeter of the island that make Easter Island famous. You will also visit the ahus, which are ceremonial platforms upon which some of the statues stand: first is Ahu Vaihu, surrounded by enormous statutes that have been knocked over and are lying face down. Next is Ahu Akahanga, which is the burial spot of the first king of the island. Your next destination is Rano Raraku on the southern coast and at the foot of the extinct volcano Poike, which possesses the island's most spectacular crater. This is where the islanders sculpted these stone giants. After this break, you will head out to Ahu Tongariki, which has the largest number of moais on the island, 15 to be exact. This spot was washed away during a tidal wave that struck Easter Island in 1960, but it was restored, thanks primarily to the efforts of Japanese foundations. Finally, you will visit Ahu Te Pito Kura, where there is a huge spherical stone and the largest moai on the island. You last stop is Anakena, an incredibly lovely beach. You will return to your hotel at Hanga Roa. (Breakfast, Accommodations, Easter Island) EASTER ISLAND TO SANTIAGO: Following breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight to Santiago. Take the day to relax or explore with one of our optional tours. (Breakfast, Easter Island; Accommodations, Santiago)
SANTIAGO TO PUERTO NATALES: Transfer to the airport for your flight to Punta Arenas (we recommend arriving into Punta Arenas by 1:00 pm or earlier to connect to a 1:00 pm or 2:30 pm bus), and then transfer to the bus terminal where you will board a regular scheduled bus to Puerto Natales. The journey takes you past large estancias and fields of grazing sheep, with mountains far away on the horizon. You will be met at the bus station and transferred to your hotel with a view of the Sound. (Breakfast, Santiago; Accommodations, Puerto Natales) PUERTO NATALES: Private Torres del Paine With Lunch The excursion begins visiting the Milodon Cave, a natural monument located on Benitez Hill, 25 kilometres from Puerto Natales, where in 1895 remains of extinct animals like the Sabre Toothed Tiger, American Horse, and a large mammal known as Milodon were found. If you walk for half an hour, you can enter the cave and observe the stalactites and places where the remains were found and a replica of Milodon. Afterward, stop in the village of Cerro Castillo for shopping, enjoying the coffee service, or just taking a break. Continuing the trip toward Torres del Paine National Park, visitors will be able to enjoy the most diverse landscapes, such as, the Magellanic deciduous forest and the vast Patagonian steppe dominated by the wind and aridity. On the way, it's possible to find two species of the local fauna: the Patagonian guanaco, South American camel and relative of Llama, and the endemic lesser Rhea (Nandu), relative of the African Ostrich. Once you arrive at the park, which is a biosphere reserve with a surface over 242,000 hectares, the landscape changes drastically becoming unforgettable. Turquoise lakes, waterfalls and mountains covered by ice are the predominant landscape inside the park. After lunch the trip continues with a walk on the shores of Grey Lake, where blue icebergs can be seen, and in the background the vast Grey glacier. (Breakfast, Lunch, Accommodations, Puerto Natales) PUERTO NATALES: Shared Serrano and Balmaceda Tour With Lunch This voyage starts from Puerto Natales Pier at 8:00 a.m. Once passengers are on board, enjoy a snack served by the crew as the vessel sails through Puerto Bories. This port is a National Historical Monument. For more than 60 years, it was the most important cold-store in the area. Its brickwork and industrial post English Victorian architecture stand-out within the area. The trip continues to Guanaco Island, where small and wonderful Tonina dolphins and sea lions will be spotted. Through Estancia Margot, the trip continues to Pared de Cormoranes (Wall of Cormorants), where hundreds of cormorants can be seen spreading their wings at the wind. You will then continue to Punta de Lobos, where Agunsa-Tonina stops to visit Cascada de Cóndores (Condor Cascade).
The trip continues to Balmaceda s Glacier. In Puerto Toro, passengers disembark to start a one-hour walk by the lake shore and through a native forest of coigües, towards Serrano Glacier, where they can enjoy the amazing vegetation with the contrast of clean sky and sea ice, all of this with the unique flavor of a whisky with millenary glacier ice and a second snack. Finally, depart from Puerto Toro, to Eberhard Fjord. Here, passengers enjoy a short walk through Puerto Consuelo ranch. You can enjoy a delicious barbecue on a big skewer/magellan lamb barbecue at a quincho (special area where barbecues are prepared) at the Eberhard ranch. Departure to Puerto Natales and passengers disembark at 05:00 p.m approx. (Breakfast, Lunch, Accommodations, Puerto Natales) DEPARTURE: After breakfast, transfer to Punta Arenas before continuing on to your next Avanti destination. (Breakfast, Puerto Natales)