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Wondering what it would cost to take a trip to the South American nation of Chile? Perhaps you’d like to road trip through the Atacama Desert or sip wine in the Colchagua Valley?
Having just returned from a ten-day trip exploring this gorgeous country with my husband, I am sharing all the financial tips you need to know for planning your own budget. For each expense category, I will first share what we actually paid. Then I will explain if we overpaid or any hacks to make it cheaper (like when we missed our flight to Calama and had to buy another one).
As a numbers gal who just completed their 11th tax season as a CPA, I love digging into and analyzing our expenses after a trip. With that spirit, let’s go ahead and review the breakdown of our expenses so you can estimate the cost of your own Chile trip!
Here is our actual Chile Trip Cost (in USD):
The above shows our actual expenses paid for a ten-day trip to Chile broken down as follows:
- 3 days in the Atacama Desert
- 4 days in the Central Valley (mostly the Colchagua Valley wine region)
- 3 days in Santiago
We were supposed to have spent 4 days in the Atacama Desert and 2 days in Santiago. However, the missed flight mentioned in the intro delayed us overnight in Santiago.
I would consider this to be a moderate budget with some splurges, particularly on food and wine. Many factors will make our actual expenses higher or lower than yours will be, which I am discussing below. I’ve also broken out some other miscellaneous Chile-related expenses we had in a separate box, since they weren’t necessarily travel-related and you may not have them.
Now we’ll dive into each category for explanations of our Chile costs, money-saving tips, and suggestions for worthwhile splurges.
Travel Savvy Tip
Don’t look at this budget as a lump sum! That’s the quickest way to get intimidated and assume Chile is unattainable. The truth is, you won’t pay the full amount at once. You’ll buy your flight and lodging right away, and then likely pay nothing for a few months.
Once it gets closer to your trip, you’ll start looking at tours you may want to do, as well as make restaurant reservations. When you get back home from your trip, you’ll pay off any remaining vacay expenses you’ve incurred.
Breaking it into chunks like this is a much more approachable way to afford the cost of a trip to Chile!
Chile Trip Cost Breakdown:
Flights
$1,646.76 ($388.51 relates to a flight we had to repurchase)
The above amount reflects amounts paid for flights for both myself and Aaron for a fall trip to Chile during shoulder season. This number contains several components:
- Cleveland to Santiago on Delta (round trip with layover in Atlanta): $714.25. This is an overall good price for a flight to Chile, possibly due to booking it outside of high season and over ten months in advance. On top of that, we only paid for my flight and used credit card points to cover Aaron’s.
- Santiago to Calama on LATAM (round trip): $394. This is a domestic flight within Chile to visit the Atacama Desert.
- Santiago to Calama on LATAM (round trip): $388.51. We sadly missed our flight out of Santiago due to a delay in Atlanta. Since we booked our Delta and LATAM flights separately (it is possible to put them on one itinerary), we had to rebook and pay for another flight.
- Switched to an earlier flight time from Atlanta back to Cleveland on Delta: $150. This helped us avoid a five-hour layover and allowed us to arrive back home on time to pick up our dog.
Solo travelers can expect to pay around $1,000 (factoring in seasonality + no missed flights or changes!). All travelers should read these tips to avoid overpaying for flights:
- Be flexible with your travel days. Weekend flights can be crazy expensive. Play around with searching different departure and arrival days on Google Flights, and you’ll be amazed what a difference that can make.
- Travel during the low season (March through November – remember that seasons are opposite in South America), when there is an overall drop in prices.
- Last but not least, the tip that has helped us the most: Sign up for a credit card with travel rewards points. We’ve gotten countless free flights thanks to our cards, simply due to points earned on every day purchases. We’ve had great experiences using both the Capital One Venture and the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Transportation
$873.84
If you are looking to explore Chile outside of just Santiago (and you’d be crazy not to), plan on utilizing public buses and guided tours or renting a car. My husband and I opted for the latter to reach sights around San Pedro de Atacama and the Colchagua Valley wine region.
We also spent a couple days wandering Santiago, which was very walkable with a good metro system. Here is a breakdown of our expenses:
- Rental Cars: $464.31. We rented a car for three days in San Pedro de Atacama and for four days in the Colchagua wine region.
- Gas: $192.95. You can expect a lot of driving in the sprawling Atacama Desert if you don’t choose to sightsee via guided tours. We also drove all over the Central Valley since we stayed in Rengo and had to commute about an hour to reach the best Colchagua Valley wineries.
- Parking: $0. Everywhere we went had free parking, including at our hotel in Santiago.
- Metro: $24.36. Aaron and I each bought a pass with 10 metro rides. This was the perfect amount for two days of exploring.
- Taxi/Uber/Lyft: $156.02. We paid going to and from our home airport, as well as to and from the Santiago airport twice. My husband also took an additional Uber trip to drop off the rental car, since we didn’t need it while exploring Santiago.
- International Driver’s License: $36.20. Having one is a legal requirement to drive in Chile, but don’t be surprised if no one asks you for it. Since Aaron was the only driver during this trip, he got his international driver’s license at our local AAA.
Solo travelers with similar plans can expect to pay a similar amount, except they would only need one metro pass. However, a solo trip is likely to have different plans. For example, I don’t like to go to wineries alone, so probably would have skipped this part of the trip or taken a day trip to the Maipo Valley (the Napa of Chile) from Santiago instead.
Lodging
$1,630.02
Aaron and I stayed in an array of hotels during our time in Chile. This includes two different hotels in Santiago, since we missed our flight to Calama on day one and couldn’t get a flight out until the next morning. The places where we stayed were moderately priced and overall really nice, well-located, and comfortable!
The Airbnb we booked in the Central Valley was slightly more splurgy because we opted for a unique winery stay. Otherwise, we generally spent well under $200 USD a night. Here is the breakdown:
- Casa Solcor in San Pedro de Atacama: $673.52
- Airbnb in Rengo: $798.82
- Hotels in Santiago: $157.68 for Casa Bueros (we used Marriott rewards for the other).
Solo travelers can expect to pay the same amount for similar sized rooms at the same hotels. However, one person typically requires less space and could opt for a smaller room. There are also plenty of hostels throughout Chile for thrifty travelers to enjoy.
Groceries
$36.30
Eating in during your travels can help keep costs down; especially if you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen. We took advantage of this at our Airbnb in Rengo, as the winery was a super atmospheric setting for home-cooked meals like burgers and steak. We even paired our dinners with wines we’d purchased during the day’s explorations!
This is the only instance where we grocery shopped in Chile. We mostly ate out in San Pedro de Atacama and Santiago, besides when our hotel provided us with sandwiches for our early morning desert adventures.
Solo travelers can expect to pay $30 or less. Personally, I almost never eat in when I solo travel.
Food & Drink
$1,123.43
Aaron and I consider ourselves to be foodies and never hesitate to try all the local cuisine when we travel. There were a lot of days where we were pretty budget conscience, but also times where we splurged on awesome eating experiences.
Here is the breakdown of what we spent dining out based on where we were staying. You’ll see we spent the most while enthusiastically trying all the food in Santiago.
- Airport Food: $50.76. This is after applying $50 from our Priority Pass.
- San Pedro de Atacama: $173.80. We relied on Cliff Bars from home for breakfast, sandwiches provided by the hotel for lunch, and avoided alcohol while adjusting to the altitude.
- Central Valley: $364.25. Although our Airbnb provided breakfast each morning, we had a few splurgy dining experiences in this wine region. The first was at El Encuentro in Rengo and the second was at Fuegos de Apalta at the Montes winery.
- Santiago: $534.62. If you are a foodie, your wallet will be in danger while exploring Santiago because you’ll want to try everything. There are cafes galore, breweries, funky neighborhoods like Bellavista, and upscale Peruvian joints with incredible seafood.
Solo travelers visiting similar restaurants can expect to pay half of what we did as a couple, or around $550. However, I find that I usually spend much less than this while traveling alone because I forgo high-end eateries and cocktails.
Activities
$779.61
Now for the most memorable part of your trip: the activities! These can really drive up costs, depending on what you do. I won’t hide the fact that the majority of what we spent in this category was at wineries.
If you don’t share our love of wine and don’t otherwise plan to book a lot of guided tours, it’s possible to be pretty frugal in this category. Simply stick to outdoorsy activities! Also, note that many of Santiago’s museums are free to visit.
Here is a breakdown of what we spent:
- Laguna Baltinache Tour (Atacama): $95.80
- Laguna Baltinache Entrance Fee (Atacama): $22.00
- Laguna Baltinache Tip for Guide (Atacama): $4.40
- Piedras Rojas (Atacama): $22.37
- Laguna Chaxa to see Flamingos (Atacama): $17.21
- Tatio Geysers (Atacama): $17.60
- Valle de La Luna (Atacama): $22.00
- Viña Vik Winery Tour: $80.54
- Viña Tipaume Winery Tour: $80.00
- Viña Neyen Winery Tour: $71.05
- Viña Ventisquero Winery Tour: $81.68
- Viña Laura Hartwig Winery Tour: $75.36
- Viña Montes Winery Tour: $106.01
- PreColumbian Art Museum (Santiago): $22.37
- Tips for Santiago “Free” Walking Tour (Santiago): $44.00
- Funicular de Santiago Cable Car (Santiago): $17.22
Solo travelers can expect to pay $390 for the same activities.
Cell Phone
$120
You’ll probably have to pay for an international plan so your phone works in Chile. With Verizon, I pay $10 for every day I use cellular data abroad. It’s a bit pricey, but worth it for how often I rely on my phone for Google Maps and last minute restaurant searches.
When I travel with Aaron, he keeps his phone on airplane mode so that we only pay this price for one person.
Chile Trip Cost: Miscellaneous Expenses
$1,115.59
- Shopping: $271.23 This price includes three wine purchases, a locally-made wide-brimmed hat, and a souvenir Starbucks mug.
- Laundry: $12.71 This was the price for ONE LOAD of laundry at Viña Tipaume, not including the dryer since we line-dried to avoid paying another $30. Yes, I had sticker shock, as the Airbnb listing made it seem like it was included.
- Pet Boarding: $831.65 This price seems to get more exorbitant every year, but Aaron and I still find it best to board our rescue dog Bennie during our travels. There is a kennel at our vet office that he’s been staying at for years and is super comfortable at, so it doesn’t make sense to shop around. We’d love to leave him with family or friends for free, but he unfortunately picks fights with their dogs. The things we do for our pets…
• • •
While traveling to Chile certainly adds up, there are many opportunities to save money on your own trip cost. For example, not needing to rebook a missed flight will already save you close to $400! If you plan a lot of outdoorsy activities in the Atacama Desert and take advantage of free museums in Santiago, it’s possible for your money to go pretty far.
