GTCT-535 – CHILE

SANTIAGO & SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
Seven days / Six Nights

Valid for travel thru November 30, 2018

ITINERARY:

DAY 1: Arrival in Santiago

Meeting, assistance and transfer from airport to hotel. Rest of day at leisure.
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel.

DAY 2: Santiago (B)

Half day Panoramic City Tour
Departure from your hotel. The tour begins with a visit to the historic city center, with the central plaza as a highlight (Plaza de Armas), kilometer zero and crucial center of the capital, where the construction of Santiago began during the colonial era, with old buildings, such as the Metropolitan Cathedral, a beautiful building that combines Bavarian and neoclassical styles of that time. In this context, a tour through the civic district, with the ministerial building surrounding the government’s house, the Palacio de la Moneda, a silent witness of the most relevant event in our republican history. To conclude the historical area, a tour by the old and stately neighborhoods of the old “high society”, a place full of an exquisite architectonic variety brought by immigrants, mainly European, in a time of great mining exploitation and high-born families. Later, a magnificent panoramic view from one of our hills in the city (Cerro Santa Lucía or Parque Metropolitano), where it is possible to appreciate a part of the mountain-chain slopes that surround the city to, afterwards, go to the western area to see the great architectonic contrast. A thriving and contemporary city that proves its best with impressive buildings of daring architectonic styles that represent a seal of modernity to this big city
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel

DAY 3: Santiago (B)

Full day Viña del Mar & Valparaíso Tour
Valparaíso, main port in Chile, considered World Heritage Site by its rare architecture and narrow-street display, passages, and stairs that go up to the top of the hills. Viña del Mar, the most visited tourist seaside resort in our country, also known as the Ciudad Jardín (Garden City), because of all the green areas that surround it, wide sidewalks, beautiful plazas, and bloomed gardens. They are the gates to the Pacific Ocean. Discover the contrast of both cities next to the sea, located only at 120 km from Santiago.
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel

DAY 4: Santiago / San Pedro de Atacama / Half Day Moon Valley (B)

Transfer from hotel to airport for your flight to Calama Airport. Upon arrival there assistance and transfer to your hotel. In the afternoon enjoy a half day tour to Moon Valley.

Half Day Moon Valley (Valle de la Luna)
Valle de la Luna is an interesting area with stone and sand formations. Declared Sanctuary of Nature, it is also a part of the National Reserve Los Flamencos. Located in the Cordillera de la Sal, 13 kilometers West of San Pedro de Atacama, the valley receives this name due to the great similarity with the lunar landscapes. There is no life nor humidity in this valley, making it the most inhospitable place in the planet.

Sunsets are a MUST-SEE, they are unforgettable! As the sun sets, with pastels it brushes the edges of the hills and gorges, while the wind blows between rocks, and the sky changes color from pink to purple and finally to black. Without a doubt, this is one of the main attractions of San Pedro de Atacama, visited by hundreds of tourists year after year who are amazed by its singular and unique beauty, incomparable with any other place.
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel

DAY 5: Atacama (B/Box Lunch)

Full day Atacama Salt Bed – Altiplanic Lagoons – Toconao
Tour through the most extensive plain in the area that leads to the great Salar de Atacama, coarse and white surface, where shallow water are home to a great amount of flamingos that choose this water for nesting. Geologic studies consider this salt flat is one of the most important lithium deposits on Earth, about the 40%. Near weak water streams are located a few small towns, being Toconao one od the most picturesque, with its original architecture in pumice, highlighted by its old church. It is a town that invites people to walk around its streets, and know the locals, who dedicate their lives to handicrafts of fine wool.

After Toconao, a tour on Laguna Caxa, part of Los Flamencos National Reservation. Located at 2,300 m (7,545 ft.) AMSL, this lagoon is a scenery of astonishing beauty seen in a lagoon divided in several water mirrors, where the salt crusts are especially abundant and where several flamingo communities live.

Visit to the gorgeous Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons, at 4,500 m (14,763 ft.) AMSL. In its landscapes, it is possible to see different colors on the mountain chain. Besides, its flora and fauna are unique, since they can only be found in these protected areas. The height allows the proximity to mountains and volcanoes, some of which are sacred and have inspired beautiful legends about the Desierto de Atacama.

Socaire town will also be visited, a place in which the ancestral traditions have lasted through time thanks to its inhabitants – shepherds or agricultures that farm the Pachamama, using the ancient system of Andean terraces. Return to the hotel.
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel

DAY 6: Atacama (B)

Full day Tatio Geysers
Includes: Proper transportation for excursion, specialized guide driver and breakfast.
Recommendations: Bring warm clothing, sunscreen and sunglasses.

Not allowed on this tour: People with high blood pressure without medicine, over 75 years old, with a heart condition, nor pregnant women.

Exploration of the highest geothermic field, located at 4,300 m (14,107 ft.) AMSL in the Andes mountain chain. Steam fumaroles, which reach up to 50 m (164 ft.) high, combine with the breathtaking beauty of the Andes, of multiple colors and diverse fauna, like the vicuñas, American camelid with a graceful walk that has adapted to live under extreme geographic and weather conditions. Since the geothermic field has its origin in the Earth’s magma, when the snow in the Andes melts to become water, it goes through the cracks of the crust and makes it to hot and deep zones, and this way, by making contact to the magma, it comes explosively back up in the shape of steam and boiling water, which produces fumaroles and streams that go upwards do to the great difference of temperatures. On the way back, nature offers a moving landscape of mountains and volcanoes over the 5,500 m (18,044 ft.) AMSL and an important bird life on small rivers that make their way to flow into the great Salar de Atacama.
Overnight accommodations at selected hotel

DAY 7: Depart Atacama (B)

Assistance and transfer to airport for your flight to Santiago and home or your next destination.

RATES PER PERSON BASED ON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY

A SAVINGS OF $150.00 PER PERSON

PLEASE CHECK WITH US FOR INTERNATIONAL AIR FARES
FROM USA TO CHILE ON OUR AIR PARTNERS:
AMERICAN AIRLINES, LATAM AND AVIANCA

TOUR RATE INCLUDES:

Three night accommodations in Santiago at selected hotels with daily breakfast.
Three night accommodations in Atacama at selected hotels with daily breakfast.
Tours in Santiago: Santiago panoramic & full day tour of Viña del Mar & Valparaiso
Tours in Atacama: Moon Valley tour. Full day Atacama Salt bed, Altiplanic Lagoons & Toconao. Full day Tatio Geysers.
Round trip transfers between airports & selected hotels in Santiago and Calama Airport.

NOT INCLUDED:

International air between USA and Santiago. Local round trip air between Santiago and Calama. Land services, tours and meals not indicated in itinerary. Tips and gratuities to tour guides and drivers. Travel insurance (highly recommended).