Top Sights
1. Torres del Paine National Park
Torres del Paine National Park, in Chile’s Patagonia region, is known for its soaring mountains, bright blue icebergs that cleave from glaciers and golden pampas (grasslands) that shelter rare wildlife such as llama-like guanacos. Some of its most iconic sites are the 3 granite towers from which the park takes its name and the horn-shaped peaks called Cuernos del Paine.
2. Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,000-km strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is one of the driest places in the world, as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than the polar deserts.
3. Laguna Verde
Laguna Verde is a high-altitude salt lake in southwest Bolivia, known for its green color. It sits at the foot of 2 volcanoes, Licancabur and Juriques, which straddle the border with Chile. Laguna Blanca, white in color, is separated from Laguna Verde by a narrow isthmus. The surrounding Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve of Andean Fauna features hot springs plus vicuñas, condors and several species of flamingo.
4. Easter Island
Easter Island, a Chilean territory, is a remote volcanic island in Polynesia. Its native name is Rapa Nui. It’s famed for archaeological sites, including nearly 900 monumental statues called moai, created by inhabitants during the 13th–16th centuries. The moai are carved human figures with oversize heads, often resting on massive stone pedestals called ahus. Ahu Tongariki has the largest group of upright moai.
5. Santiago
Santiago, Chile’s capital and largest city, sits in a valley surrounded by the snow-capped Andes and the Chilean Coast Range. Plaza de Armas, the grand heart of the city’s old colonial core, is home to 2 neoclassical landmarks: the 1808 Palacio de la Real Audiencia, housing the National History Museum, and the 18th-century Metropolitan Cathedral. La Chascona is the home-turned-museum of poet Pablo Neruda.
6. Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a port city on Chile’s coast. It's known for its steep funiculars and colorful, clifftop homes. La Sebastiana, the quirky former residence of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is now a museum with far-reaching Pacific views. During the 19th century, an influx of European immigrants left their mark on the city’s architecture and cultural institutions, many of which congregate around downtown’s Plaza Sotomayor.
7. Lauca National Park
Lauca National Park is in the Andes mountains in the far north of Chile. In the northeast are the snow-capped volcanoes Pomerape and Parinacota. Nearby are the vast Chungará Lake and the wetlands of the Cotacotani Lagoon. West of the lagoon is the tiny town of Parinacota, with a 17th-century church. Jurasi Hot Springs are in the far west. The park is rich in wildlife including flamingos, rheas, llamas and alpacas.
8. Chiloé Island
Chiloé Island, the main island in the archipelago of the same name, is in southern Chile. It’s home to pastoral landscapes and known for its iconic wooden churches built by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as the Church of Chonchi. The northwest coast, where blue whales gather, also has the 3 islets Islotes de Puñihuil, Natural Heritage Site, a Magellanic and Humboldt penguin breeding ground.
9. Pumalín Park
Pumalín Park is a 400,000 ha nature reserve in the Palena Province of Chile, created by the United States environmental foundation The Conservation Land Trust, which was endowed and led by the American business magnate Douglas Tompkins.
10. Los Pingüinos Natural Monument
Los Pingüinos Natural Monument is located 35 km northeast of Punta Arenas, Chile. Magdalena Island and the Marta Island, situated in the middle of the Strait of Magellan, is the main part of this natural monument.
11. San Rafael Glacier
The San Rafael Glacier is one of the major outlet glaciers of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile and is the tidewater glacier nearest the equator. It calves into the Laguna San Rafael and is contained within Laguna San Rafael National Park.
12. Villarrica volcano
Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes, rising above the lake and town of the same name, 750 km south of Santiago. It is also known as Rucapillán, a Mapuche word meaning "devil's house". Great for trekking.
13. Fitz Roy
Monte Fitz Roy is a mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. It is located in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, near El Chaltén village and Viedma lake. It was first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone.
14. Aysén
The Aysén Region is a sparsely populated area of southern Chile with vast glaciers, fjords and snow-capped mountains. The Laguna San Rafael National Park encompasses the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, which has numerous glaciers running off to inland lakes and rivers. Mountain peaks include the jagged, 2,675m-high Cerro Castillo, located within a nature reserve of the same name.
15. Juan Fernandez Archipelago
The Juan Fernández Islands are a remote archipelago and national park off the coast of Chile. The protected area comprises Alejandro Selkirk Island, Santa Clara Island, islets and most of Robinson Crusoe Island. The rugged volcanic landscapes are rich in plants and wildlife, including Juan Fernández fur seals and firecrown hummingbirds. Mountainous Robinson Crusoe is home to San Juan Bautista town and El Yunque peak.
16. Tierra del Fuego
split between Chile and Argentina, Tierra del Fuego (“Land of Fire”) holds nearly as much fascination for travellers as Patagonia, from which it is separated by the Magellan Strait. Trek the densely forested 2000m peaks of the Cordillera Darwin, visit the lakes of Isla Grande. South of Isla Grande, across the Beagle Channel, lies Isla Navarino, home to the tiny Puerto Williams, the southernmost permanently inhabited settlement in the world, plus one of the most challenging hiking trails in South America, the Los Dientes Circuit.
