Tour from Valpraiso port to Santiago

Following disembarkation (1/18/14), what is the best plan for the two of us to tour Valparaiso (we'll have our luggage w/ us) & Santiago w/ transport between the cities? We are also looking for an affordable, clean, safe Santiago hotel within walking distance of the historic center. We do not opt to tour the wineries since we live near many. TY - Pat B.

Following disembarkation (1/18/14), what is the best plan for the two of us to tour Valparaiso (we'll have our luggage w/ us) & Santiago w/ transport between the cities? We are also looking for an affordable, clean, safe Santiago hotel within walking distance of the historic center. We do not opt to tour the wineries since we live near many. TY - Pat B.

A few years ago we did this in reverse--since we boarded in Valparaiso we had no free time and, in fact we were a day late boarding the ship because of rough seas going around the horn and we had to stay in Santiago for an extra day.

Nancy:D:D

I have commented previously -- http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=39626198#post39626198 -- about our good experience with AboutChile tours for exactly the tour and transfer that you asked about (and for other tours in the Santiago area).

Regarding a hotel, I cannot comment on hotels in "downtown" Santiago. However, the Orly Hotel in the Providencia district is a nice, smaller hotel (affordable, clean, safe, and near many restaurants) that we and many other cruise passengers have used and have recommended. The Orly is close to a subway stop via which one can get to downtown Santiago in just a few minutes.

John

I have commented previously -- http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=39626198#post39626198 -- about our good experience with AboutChile tours for exactly the tour and transfer that you asked about (and for other tours in the Santiago area).

 

Regarding a hotel, I cannot comment on hotels in "downtown" Santiago. However, the Orly Hotel in the Providencia district is a nice, smaller hotel (affordable, clean, safe, and near many restaurants) that we and many other cruise passengers have used and have recommended. The Orly is close to a subway stop via which one can get to downtown Santiago in just a few minutes.

 

John

When we were last in Santiago, the Orly's elevator was broken. The hotel did not look as nice as the photos on the internet.

Hi pebullard,

We stayed in the Orly apartments across the road from the hotel where we had a modern, comfortable and well appointed one bedroom apartment with separate living room/kitchen. Breakfast in the hotel was included & we also ate lunch one day in the hotel bar. The public areas of the hotel are good & the staff were helpful. Our apartment wasn't quite ready on arrival so we were given vouchers for free drinks!

If you do book, ask for a higher floor to the rear.

Enjoy Santiago!

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You can enjoy 1.30 hours in Valparaiso for to see only interesting places; “La Plaza Sotomayor” it is the important one by the constructions that surround and the monuments of navy. The funicular ”Paseo 21 de mayo” is another attractive place, you can see the city from the heights and to walk by craftsman commerce. In the “La Caleta Membrillo” you can see the work of the fishermen, is very animated.

Soon you can have 2 hrs Viña del Mar visiting the more attractive places, I recommend to have lunch in Reñaca or Concon is cheaper that Viña del Mar.

Only my husband and I were, we did not quote by more passengers. We had correspondence with several companies. I can say that others were more economic than www.enaturchile.com but finally we decided with them because were very well recommended by other passengers, answered our questions quickly and seemed to us very professional. All the excursions were made according to the programmed, our experience has taught to us not always to choose the economic thing..

Following disembarkation (1/18/14), what is the best plan for the two of us to tour Valparaiso (we'll have our luggage w/ us) & Santiago w/ transport between the cities? We are also looking for an affordable, clean, safe Santiago hotel within walking distance of the historic center. We do not opt to tour the wineries since we live near many. TY - Pat B.

Southexcursions.com has one you can delete the winery if you don't want to go to one. Contact them give them a name for your group, then postit in a thread for your. Raise. The prices are great and you. And you decide on how many people. The prices goes lower with additional people on your tour. We only are having 6 people, we are dropped off at the airport in Santiago or a hotel there. They have great reviews and do all sorts of tours.

Following disembarkation (1/18/14), what is the best plan for the two of us to tour Valparaiso (we'll have our luggage w/ us) & Santiago w/ transport between the cities? We are also looking for an affordable, clean, safe Santiago hotel within walking distance of the historic center. We do not opt to tour the wineries since we live near many. TY - Pat B.

We used in Chile enaturchile. info@enaturchile.com They picked us up promptly at port with a sign with our names. Our guide was Carlos and he was extremely informative and a very nice man. He showed us all around Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, which may be the most beautiful cities in Chile. We stopped at many lovely local places along the way. He made us reservations at a seaside castle for lunch which was so lovely with great seafood and wine! We then drove towards Santiago, stopping for two tours of wineries on the way. Those who have never been to wineries will be very surprised by how modern and grand the wineries are. In total he was with us for 8+ hours for a very reasonalbe fee. The next day he gave us a lovely 1/2 day tour of Santiago. I would highly recommend this company for a tour or a transfer.

Following disembarkation (1/18/14), what is the best plan for the two of us to tour Valparaiso (we'll have our luggage w/ us) & Santiago w/ transport between the cities? We are also looking for an affordable, clean, safe Santiago hotel within walking distance of the historic center. We do not opt to tour the wineries since we live near many. TY - Pat B.

We also booked a private tour with Victor..

We stayed at the Sheraton in Santiago, great hotel but location not the best. We had everything organized with enaturchile. They did the transfer from the airport to the hotel, show and dinner one of the nights and the tour/transfer from out hotel to Valparaiso and vina del mar. We had a great day the guide was very funny and knew a lot about everything.

I'm sure if you contact them you will enjoy their services

Good luck!!!

Thank you. We have booked our tours/transit w/ Carola Neubauer to whom we were referred. Reservations at Hotel Orly in Santiago.

We recently stayed at the Hotel Galerias. Older hotel, but a good buffet breakfast. It is in the center of the city, only a few blocks from the Plaza Armas, and Constitution Square. One day, we took the Turistik bus, and rode it all around the route--it is $40pp USD. You can get off if you wish and reboard 30 mins. later. We enjoyed the opportunity to see more areas of Santiago. We had been transferred from Valpariso port by GuidesChile, and were quite satisfied. Cheers. hmh:)

Thank you very much for the helpful tips!

You will enjoy Santiago, it is an interesting city.

My husband and I were with enatur in 2008, they were very professional, we did everything according to the programmed. They were punctual in all our ports, Puerto Montt, Punt Arenas and Valparaiso, all our trips were paid at the end of the tour.This was very sure for us.

Ruth.

Hello everyone, my wife and I traveled in January in Silver Cloud.

We are really excited about this trip, is our second cruise and don´t want to leave anything to chance. We have been researching the ports and I think we have a lot to do.

We arrive in Santiago two days before our cruise and want to visit the mountains, we communicate with Victor, he gave us two alternatives, Valle Nevado and Portillo, both are interesting for us. Someone of you can recommend which is best for a tour.

You have. My respects

Hello everyone, my wife and I traveled in January in Silver Cloud.

We are really excited about this trip, is our second cruise and don´t want to leave anything to chance. We have been researching the ports and I think we have a lot to do.

We arrive in Santiago two days before our cruise and want to visit the mountains, we communicate with Victor, he gave us two alternatives, Valle Nevado and Portillo, both are interesting for us. Someone of you can recommend which is best for a tour.

 

You have. My respects

You should consider travel time, Valle Nevado is closer in an hour you could be there, the scenery is stunning and the hotel is open all year where you could have lunch.

We used Chris the Van Man. We had a group of 16 (put together on our roll call) and a comfortable small bus. He towed a trailer behind for all of our luggage.

We had a wonderful driving and walking tour of Valparaiso, a winery tour, with lunch on our own and drop-off at the airport or a hotel, all for a great price. Four of us (who had very late flights) added on a brief Santiago tour.

There was a driver, Christian, and another guide. We greatly enjoyed this tour.

Just returned from Santiago this week. We had a terrific guide who showed us his Valparaiso, drove us to Santiago and was our tour guide for the next two days. This is his contact information:

Vivian PROUTEAU

+56 9 77524877

vivian@abctour.org

http://www.abctour.org

He was born in France and has such passion for his adopted country. He is fluent in French, Spanish, English and plans to learn Portuguese.

My husband and I traveled to South America in 2010, we made our transference with http://www.enaturchile.com, the cost was less that portCompass, in the route we visited a vineyard, we made a trip for Valparaiso, it is an interesting city, with a harbor atmosphere and with many hills, we made one stop and we saw the city from the heights, it was a beautiful landscape. Our driver and guides gave the opportunity us to visit the house of the Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda (museum) was something of our interest. Vina del Mar; is clean, very tourist, modern and beautiful city. You cannot let visit this city. We had a pleasant lunch with food of the sea, this company was able to satisfy all our requests, and they do not require money in advance.

Cristhina

Coming from our trip, we finally decided to go Valle Nevado, we had high expectations because we knew we were out of the winter. It was a big surprise an awesome place.

One hour from Santiago, you can find amazing landscapes, be at the peak of the mountain, stillness, silence, nature and the magnitude of the Andes is a religious experience, we were watching long time in silence, enjoying such beauty while thanking this experience.

Our guide was very friendly and respectful, knew when to give us information and to let us appreciate our own, gave us time to do a long walk in a safe place full of wonders, we saw wild foxes and we also saw condors.

The Van that Victor gave us was very comfortable, clean and modern, as in the other ports. Our driver was safe something greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much to Victor and your company.

Everything was done as planned.

Hi Arthur, we will be back in South America in December onboard GOLDEN PRINCESS. We will have our stops in Cabo San Lucas Nicaragua, Peru in Lima and Pisco and disembark in Valparaiso Chile. We have made great inquiries of our ports and we believe it will be a pleasant trip.

We think making a two-day post cruise in Santiago de Chile; we would love to visit the Andes. You were able to visit Valle Nevado or Portillo?

Thank you.

We used Leo Cuzmar for sightseeing in Valparaiso, Viña del Mar and Santiago and transportation from the port to our hotel in Santiago. He has a "few" testimonials here including ours. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294305-i2020-k5194022-Leo_Cuzmar_Chile_Guide-Santiago_Santiago_Metropolitan_Region.html

We had a wonderful stay at the Radisson Plaza Santiago. Read my review here http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294305-d306864-r199675716-Radisson_Plaza_Santiago_Hotel-Santiago_Santiago_Metropolitan_Region.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT As an added bonus, the location of the hotel is opposite the Costanera Center, South America's largest shopping mall.