Wonderful Chilean Cities To Visit This Summer

With easy access to beautiful landscapes and fascinating urban attractions, there are numerous cities across Chile that are well worth a visit. The following wonderful Chilean cities to visit this summer, combine the very best of the country’s diverse natural beauty and metropolitan appeal.

Pucón

A nine-hour drive south from Santiago, Pucón is the ideal city for adventure tourism. Located on the Villarica Lake with the active Villarrica volcano nearby, Pucón has numerous trekking and water sports opportunities for tourists. Miles of hike and bike paths surround the hilly terrain around the lake, ripe for exploration. In the city, you can easily rent bikes, kayaks or other equipment, or arrange activities like zipline rides and skydiving. In the area, there are also waterfalls, hot springs and caves accessible through local buses or tourism companies.

Santiago

Almost half of Chileans call Santiago and its surrounding area home. It’s easily Chile’s most metropolitan city, highly developed and home to Latin America’s tallest skyscraper, Costanera Center. Santiago presents diverse tourism opportunities, thanks to its many hills and parks, artisan fairs, unique neighborhoods, emerging foodie scene and vibrant nightlife. It’s also conveniently located next to the Andes mountains, Chilean wine country, with the coast just an 90-minute drive away.

Coyhaique

Set in the beautiful landscape of the Northern Chilean Patagonia, Coyhaique is the largest city in the area and is the urban center for the region. As such there are various malls, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs for visitors to check out. While the setting of the city is stunning with the impressive mountains rearing up all around it, most visitors use it as a base from which to explore the nearby natural wonders. With fantastic trekking, fly-fishing and mountaineering on offer, the surrounding delights of Patagonian ice caps and the lovely sights that line the winding Carretera Austral road make Coyhaique worth stopping by.

Valdivia

As the most important university town in the south of the country, Valdivia has a lot of cheap bars, restaurants and cafes as well as a thriving arts scene which gives the city a youthful feel to it. Lying at the spot where the Calle and Cruces rivers join, it is a picturesque place surrounded by waters and wetlands and old colonial buildings are interspersed among more modern edifices. Following Chile´s independence, German settlers flocked to the area and as such there are some great local beers and atmospheric bars. Every year the local brewery puts on a bierfest with German music and performances by folk bands.

Castro

A scenic city, Castro lies at the head of a fjord on Chiloe Island and its brightly colored wooden houses that sit on stilts above the water give a distinctive feel to the place. Modern buildings mix seamlessly in with its older buildings and churches and thanks to its range of fantastic trendy restaurants it is considered a gastronomic destination. Castro is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city for its location although the local Chilote culture still shines through. Many visitors to the city use it as a base to explore the island and the nearby archipelago.

Vina del Mar

Situated just outside of Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar couldn´t be more different. Clean and uncluttered, leafy avenues cut through the city before palaces and parks give way to the tower blocks that look out over the expansive beach. Nicknamed Garden City, there are some fantastic botanical gardens on offer and although various parts of the city have retained their elegance and charm, large parts of Vina Del Mar look just like any other beach resort around the world with the usual casino, restaurants and bars. It is very popular however for its lovely beaches and every year hordes of people visit for its amazing music festival.

Iquique

Spectacularly located at the foot of a desolate coastal mountain range with a gigantic sand dune overlooking it, Iquique is a bustling cosmopolitan city with a fantastic beachfront. As it borders the Pacific Ocean and is in a duty-free shopping zone, an eclectic mix of people descend on the city with surfers and casino goers, paragliders and shoppers all equally at ease in Iquique. One of the best beach resorts in Chile, its lovely oceanfront promenade makes for a peaceful and scenic walk as wooden walkways add to its charm. As well as lounging on the perfect beaches, surfing in its waters or paragliding above the dunes, Iquique is also a great place from which to explore the northern part of Chile.

Valparaiso

Charming yet messy, colorful but falling apart; Valparaiso´s stunning setting overlooking the ocean only adds to its uniqueness. With winding streets and stairways dripping down the hillsides of the city to the water down below and vibrant street art and brightly painted decaying buildings, Valparaiso is a delight to explore and has long drawn artists and thinkers to its shores. Despite its bohemian feel, the city is quite grimy and edgy as sailors and prostitutes dot its streets and there are a couple of crime-riddled areas which tourists should avoid. Having said that, Valparaiso is one of the most popular cities to visit in the country and when you see its old town full of atmospheric cafes and bars around the port area; you´ll surely fall in love with this idiosyncratic place.

Use XcelTrip to travel to the above wonderful Chilean cities to visit this summer and make memories that last a lifetime.