Chile's main airline is LAN (LA) (www.lan.com), which deals with international flights.

From Miami to Santiago is 8 hours 30 minutes and from Madrid is 13 hours 45 minutes.

Santiago (SCL) (Arturo Merino Benitez) (www.aeropuertosantiago.cl). The airport is 21km (11 miles) northwest of Santiago (journey time - 30 minutes). To/from the airport: Bus services to the city centre operate from 0530 to 2400 every day. TurBus and Centropuerto both have cheap shuttle services, which take new arrivals to Pajaritos metro station or to Los Heroes in the city centre. There are a lot of taxis to the city available at the airport. Facilities: Bar, ATM, bureaux de change, restaurants, shops, car hire, post office and tourist office.

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.

None.

Main port: 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.

Unless you're wildly curious about rail travel, there's no point in trying to enter Chile by train. A sporadic service did exist between Chile and Bolivia, and there is talk of reviving that line. However, if you want practical travel by land, stick to the bus.

The Pan American Highway enters Chile through Arica. There are frequent, reliable and comfortable buses that can come from as far north as Ecuador. There are also services from Argentina and Brazil to Santiago.