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Valle de la Luna, Chile

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Travel to Chile

Flying to Chile

Chile's main airline is LAN (LA) (www.lan.com), which undertakes with international flights. British Airways also flies to Santiago via Sao Paulo in Brazil (www.ba.com).

Flight times:

From Miami to Santiago is 8 hours 30 minutes and from London is 18 hours 40 minutes.

Air passes:

Mercosur Airpass: valid within Argentina, Brazil, Chile (except Easter Island), Paraguay and Uruguay. Participating airlines include Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR), Aerolíneas Del Sur (AS), Pluna (PU) and VARIG Airlines (RG). The pass can only be purchased by passengers who live outside South America and must be booked in conjunction with an international ticket. It is valid for a minimum of seven to a maximum of 45 days. At least two countries must be visited; dates can be changed but the flight route cannot. A maximum of three stopovers is allowed per country.

oneworld Visit South America Pass: valid within Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile (except Easter Island), Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Participating airlines are Aer Lingus (EI), American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Iberia (IB), JAL Japan Airlines, LAN (LA) and Qantas (QF). The pass must be bought outside South America in the country of residence. It allows unlimited travel to 34 cities. A minimum of three flights must be booked; prices depend on the amount of flight zones. For further details, contact one of the participating airlines.

Departure tax:

None.

Travel by rail

Unless you're wildly curious about rail travel, there's no point in trying to enter Chile by train. A sporadic service used to exist between Chile and Bolivia, and there is talk of reviving that line. There is a good network which heads south, however. Stick to coaches for practical travel by land, which are luxurious and far superior to any European-style bus.

Getting to Chile by boat

Several towns on the coast are now regular stops in cruise company itineraries. Valparaíso (www.portvalparaiso.cl) is the best known. Shipping lines such as Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica (CCNI) (www.ccni.cl) and Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) (from New York and European ports) (www.csav.cl) operate there. The country's biggest port is San Antonio.

Ferry operators:

Navimag Ferries operates two routes for passengers and vehicles between Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales and from Puerto Montt to Puerto Chacabuco (tel: 02-442 3120 www.navimag.com). Transbordadora Austral Broom (www.tabsa.cl) connects Tierra del Fuego, Navarino Island and Cape Horn in the south.

Recommended Sites:

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