If you’re lucky enough to make it to the southernmost part of South America, you’re lucky indeed. But as you follow the snow-capped peaks descending from high desert to windy Patagonian moors, which side of the Andes should you stick to?
Two of our best-traveled writers have a special fondness for Chile and Argentina, respectively – which is why we’ve reached out to them to persuade you that their side offers the route most worth following.
The author of dozens of Lonely Planet books, Kerry Walker first traveled to Chile 20 years ago and was immediately smitten by its sky-high Andes, puffing volcanoes, glaciers, fjords and surf-smashed Pacific coast.
I remember drawing breath as the moon crept across the sun, blotting out all light bar a ring of fire. I had touched down in Santiago just in time for the annular solar eclipse in May 2003. I had barely touched Chilean soil by the time I was peering up at the sky as the world momentarily darkened. It was a dramatic introduction to a country that has held me in its thrall ever since.
Extending a slender leg between the Pacific Ocean and the snow-frosted Andes, Chile is the world’s longest and skinniest country from north to south. Back then, I rocked up with a backpack, a well-thumbed guidebook, an open-ended ticket and a burning desire to see everything South America could offer. A fistful of pesos bought me an empanada, a night in a bare-bones hostel and a front-row view of the Andes.
Chile gave me lots of firsts. Glacier hikes and volcano climbs. Pisco sours and penguins in the wild. Altitude sickness (in the Andes) and seasickness (in Patagonia). Chile was my first South American love – and the springboard for a lifetime of adventures.
Argentina is much hyped, a country that shouts as gustily as a boleadora-wielding gaucho about its charms: football, tango, juicy steaks and sizzling Buenos Aires. Sí, sí, we know. But Chile? Unless you’ve been there, it’s an unopened book.
Carrying itself with quiet confidence, Chile keeps its mystique intact. Its cities are as elegant as those in Argentina, its people as passionate, its nevados (snowy mountains) as entrancing, its wine as globally feted. And the Indigenous culture of the Mapuche in La Araucanía is more deeply rooted and tangible than anything you’ll find in Argentina. Chile has mummies far older than those in Egypt – in the Azapa Valley, near Arica – but you’ve probably never heard of them. Chile just isn’t a bragger.
Extending for almost 2700 miles from top to toe, Chile is wildly diverse in climate and geography. In the space of a couple of weeks, you can sand-board epic dunes in the driest place on Earth (the remote, otherworldly Atacama Desert), then eye up the highest peaks of snow-frosted mountains.
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Lepogo Lodges, situated in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, is one of Africa’s few entirely non-for-profit safari lodges. Lepogo Lodges has proudly announced the successful reintroduction of cheetahs and buffalo into the Lapalala Wilderness Reserve. Blending opulent luxury with an immersive appreciation of the African wilderness, Lepogo Lodges provides an exceptional safari encounter where the awe-inspiring "magnificent seven" freely roam.
Netflix has a new documentary series—“Predators”—with incredible cinematography of some of the world’s apex carnivores, including the polar bears of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada. Churchill is known as the polar bear capital of the world (as well as the beluga whale capital) and it’s easy to see both animals in the wild on a trip to this subarctic Canadian town.
Nature lovers will be thrilled to spend as long as possible in the Atacama Desert and Tierra Atacama is the perfect luxury outpost to begin your adventure. Guests arrive via an adobe-lined path to enter a glass-enclosed lobby with spectacular open vistas. All public areas of the hotel provide views of the Andes and the imposing Licancabur Volcano. Lush foliage welcomes guests into the outdoor area where you can lounge by the pool in the daytime and snuggle up on a couch in front of a firepit after dark.
Visitors to Chile have another reason to make a stop in wine country, to visit the freshly renovated and ultra-luxurious new casitas at Clos Apalta - one of Chile’s most highly-awarded world-class wineries.Previously, this French-inspired winery’s collection of four casitas held the title of smallest Relais & Châteaux property in the world; now with the of debut seven new ones and fully reimagined interiors for the original ones they usher in a luxurious new take on luxury and nature.
The ethos of the hotel company Our Habitas is sustainable practices in natural settings with a dose of relevant luxury mixed in. So it makes sense that its latest property is Our Habitas Atacama in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile in the pristine, unique Atacama Desert known to be the most arid non-polar landscape on earth but one also with lunar rock formations, salt flats, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs, a cornucopia of dramatic nature. The hotel opened its doors a few days ago.
I remember the day back in 2014 when I’d just settled into my new apartment in Santiago and a powerful earthquake rattled the walls. I leaped up from my couch and ran for the door, while all the Chileans in the room just sat still and laughed at me, confident in Chile’s strong building codes and unfazed by the regular tremors.
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Travelers arriving in Chile from neighboring countries often have the same first reaction: shock. It’s not the height of the Andes, the size of the glaciers or the barrenness of the desert – though those also surprise – but rather the cost of living.