ITINERARY I DID (Recommended changes in parentheses)
November 5-8 Santiago (should have stayed 5 nights)
Bus to Valparaiso, stay Nov 8-11
Bus back to Santiago, stay Nov 11-12 (I did this because of an early morning flight out of Santiago. If you fly out of Santiago, make sure your flight is late enough to catch a bus from Valpo on the morning of).
Fly to Puerto Natales, stay Nov 12-16 (need about 7 nights if you travel in November due to weather variations)
Fly to Puerto Montt , Uber to Puerto Varas, stay Nov 16-20 (it’s amazing — stay longer if possible)
Cruce Andino: cross the Andes by bus and ferry from Puerto Varas, Chile to Bariloche, Argentina Nov 20-21 (slept in Puerto Blest). (I don’t recommend the overnight.)
Stay in Bariloche Nov 21-25 (it’s amazing — stay longer if possible)
Fly to Mendoza, stay Nov 25-29 (3 nights max or just skip it unless you’re into Malbec wine)
Fly to Mar del Plata, stay Nov 29-Dec 1 (Should have flown to Buenos Aires, then taken the bus to and from Mar del Plata. Plus, I needed 5 nights to deal with changing weather in late November. It was freezing my 3 days; the day I left it became sunny.)
Fly to Buenos Aires, stay in Palermo Dec 1-5
Uber to San Telmo area, stay Dec 5-9 (just stay in San Telmo the whole time and visit the other areas on a Hop On Hop Off bus.)
Overnight layover Panama City, Panama Dec 10, then fly to SFO and home (I liked this because it’s 7 hours from Buenos Aires to Panama City, and 7 more hours from Panama City to SFO.)
ROUTE CHANGE: ITINERARY I WOULD DO INSTEAD
In my planning, I had been agonizing over whether to do Calafate or Torres del Paine (TDP). If and only if you are an avid hiker, do TDP if you have to choose. Otherwise, do Calafate. I didn’t get to see Glacier Petit Moreno and wish I would’ve. I tried to see Grey Glacier in TDP but gusty winds and rain caused the trip to be cancelled so I didn’t get to see a glacier at all.
Also, I would have flown Santiago to Temuco, then take the bus down to the Lake District’s different towns like Pucon, Villareal, Puerto Varas and others. This area was my favorite part of both countries. From there (Puerto Montt), fly to Calafate. Skip Mendoza unless you want to do the wine tours. Don’t fly into Mar del Plata. Fly into Buenos Aires and take the train or bus to Mar del Plata each way (5 hours by bus)
OVERVIEW OF CHILE AND ARGENTINA IN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025
Chile and Argentina are similar in many ways, but there are many differences.
For one, the language is similar in that many words are chopped off or different. In Chile, the final S is not spoken (seis (6) is say), there’s a lot of different words, and the speech is rapid-fire. In Argentina, the /ll/ is pronounced as /sh/. For example, calle which is normally pronounced /cay yay:, (means street) is /ca shay/. There are also different words, and speech is fast.
Both countries super size their food. I have never seen such ginormous portions of food except for in the US.
Toilet seats are very low in both countries, and I don’t know why. It’s not as if people are short here.
Neither country puts pepper on the table; only salt.
Salad dressing choices are nil. You get a bottle of oil and a bottle of vinegar. I did not see ranch dressing or any other dressings in either country. 
It’s super cheap to get tostadas which are grilled sandwiches, (like a panini) in both countries. I got 4 halves for breakfast one day and it lasted me 3 meals. With coffee it was $6. Pizza is also cheap, around $12 for a medium.
Nicer hotels in Argentina have bidets; there are no bidets in Chile.
Chileans are more conservative in general than Argentinians. Chileans admit that they are not very friendly. I find this to be true, although they’re not unfriendly. Argentinians are also not friendly, but they would never admit it. They are outspoken, and they get annoyed if your Spanish isn’t Argentinian, fluent, and fast. And if you smile at someone on the sidewalk, they give you a hostile look, like you’re a maniac.
Although all the guidebooks and blogs said that Argentina was far cheaper, I didn’t find this to be true. In fact, Chile was slightly cheaper. This could be due to Argentina’s ongoing currency fluctuations.
Restaurants in Chile play a lot of classic rock from the US, whereas in Argentina it’s more local music.
Restaurants (not cafes) really don’t open till 8 PM in Argentina. They open earlier in Chile.
In Argentina there are no coins, only bills. The biggest bill is 10,000 pesos which equals $7. Chile has larger denominations and still has coins. Don’t use ATMs. Wire yourself Argentinian pesos with Western Union before you leave home and be sure to get different codes for each withdrawal; otherwise they make you take the whole thing at once.
When you order pasta in Argentina, you order the type of pasta, then the sauce. (Two orders) which makes it expensive, about $12 -15 US for basic Bolognese spaghetti.
Mate (tea they drink with straws in those round cups) is huge in Argentina, but there is no place for tourists to try it. It’s not available in cafés for purchase. I did see a mate tour which cost $50. This is a new tourism convept that hasn’t been fully developed yet. You don’t see very much mate in Chile unless Argentianians are in town.
Chileans are very efficient. After whizzing through the Chilean migration line, the Argentinian migration process was a comparative nightmare. It was very confusing, and there was no communication. We stood still in line for 30 minutes before anyone was served. We later found out that that they had been having technical problems.
In restaurants and stores, Chileans are also very fast and efficient. In two different restaurants, I saw waiters literally running. The process of dining takes quite a bit more time in Argentina.
Chileans don’t use plastic bags or plastic straws. Argentinians usually do.
Dishes are beautifully presented in both countries.
Argentinians are more Spanish/European looking than Chileans. I think this is because Argentina had so many European immigrants. They’re tall and thin and lighter-skinned. So if a tall blonde walks in, she’s not automatically American or European; she’s most likely Argentinian.
When you come into or out of Buenos Aires or Santiago, try not to arrive during rush hour. There’s lots of traffic. Keep this in mind for Hop of Hop off as well. If you’re in the loop around 4-7 pm it takes forever to get back to your starting point. The Hop On Hop Off bus route in Buenos Aires really needs to be split up into two separate routes. Even with a 24 hour ticket, you can’t get it all in.
If you take a long distance bus in Argentina, you have to tip the luggage guy loading and unloading one thousand pesos on each end. Have exact change for a quick hand-off.
People at most hostels aren’t particularly helpful in either country. If you ask where restaurants are or what is nearby they’ll just tell you to look around. And both countries, hostels I saw don’t do tours or even guided walks.
Tour companies are dependable in both countries. They update in real time on WhatsAp, and usually pick you up early. Tours are non inclusive. Park entrances, ferries, and lunch is never included unless specified. Bring money, water and snacks.
Credit cards are very easy to use in both countries. In fact, they are surprised if you pull out cash.
Most hostel common areas in Argentina are not air conditioned and don’t have elevators. (Not sure about Chile, as it was on the colder side when I was there in November.)
Nobody uses fans in Argentina when it’s hot.
In Chile, cars always stop for you at crosswalks. Not so in Argentina.
If you need to use the bathroom in both countries, cafes and restaurants will gladly let you use their bathroom without expecting you to buy anything. Evidently, it’s the law.
Overall, I preferred Chile over Argentina. This surprises me because I wasn’t even going to go to Chile at first.
HOTELS
Santiago
Hostal Forestal
I had a private room downstairs with bath for three nights and on the way back from Valparaiso, a different private room upstairs with shared bath. I really preferred the room with the shared bath upstairs. It was much cleaner than the downstairs room. Pros of hostel: very social, chill vibe, happy hours, offers tours, close to Lastarria and Bellas Artes. Cons: Downstairs room was dirty and old.
Valparaiso
Maki Hostel
Very cool looking hostel with a rooftop terrace. Big dining area and small kitchen. The dorm beds looked like they had high clearance, although the rooms looked small. The private room was amazing and at a great price. Pros: on Cerro Alegre, not too far up the hill, beautiful private room; Cons: not social, no tours offered, bathrooms and kitchen very dirty.
Puerto Natales:
Hostal Patagonico (not to be confused with Hostal Patagonia)
There is a dining area right in front of reception as you walk in, then it’s a long hallway with doors to the left and the right. I think they’re all private room. Pros – quiet, very clean; Cons – mother/son duo: mom is anxiously concerned with everything (in a grandmotherly way); son can have an attitude. It was hard to communicate due to dialect. The thermostat is set at 25.9°C. It is so unbearably hot that you have to strip down when you come out to eat breakfast. They absolutely refuse to turn it down. Update: As of today, I would definitely not recommend this hostel, as I just received a response from my booking.com review, and the owner had the nerve to yell at me in his response. Don’t go here.
Puerto Varas
Hostel MaPatagonia
This was by far the best hostel yet. It’s an old house from the 1930s, and it feels very homey. Pros- immaculate; great kitchen with nice plates and espresso machine full of coffee beans that you can grind and use anytime for free; also iIve never seen such an organized kitchen for guests items: you have a cubby for your dry food and half a shelf in the refrigerator for your food storage with your key’s name on it. Bathrooms and showers are clean; there’s a huge yard outback with two hammocks and a hot tub. The hot tub costs and has to be booked. Cons:. None
Bariloche.
LosTroncos Boutique Hostel
The entry and downstairs of the hostel is very nice as you walk in. There is a giant eating area for the included (good) free breakfast. Pros: At breakfast, coffee is served with hot milk, homemade bread, and homemade medialunas with jam choices. Nice kitchens (2), can grill outside, code to buzz in door. Cons: Private room is small, it’s loud in the hallway outside of the room, up three flights of stairs.
Mendoza
Gorilla Hostel
Although I didn’t stay here because I had just tested positive for Covid, it looks like it would be very social. There are nice people at the desk. They let me cancel last-minute due to being sick and not wanting to infect my dormmates. Regrettingly, I moved to Sin Fin Hostel.
Sin Fin Hostel
I was disappointed when I walked up to this hostel that looks like a jail from the outside. I was sick with Covid, had a fever, it was 90 degrees outside and I was dripping sweat and not happy. The hostel is on a very busy corner on Plaza Independencia. Pros: clean room, good A/C in the room that had it; Cons: one of the ladies at the front desk was RUDE. She told me my room’s A/C was broken and that I would need to upgrade if I wanted A/C. She made me pay extra for a “suite” so I could have A/C. There’s lots of loud street noise. Kitchen very small and hot, instant coffee, powder creamer, and store-bought medialunas. Hostel is not social, rooms do not get cleaned. You have to ask the front desk for extra toilet paper and bags for toilet tissues.
Mar del Plata
Hotel Syrenuse
I LOVED this beautiful hotel. It’s in a very affluent neighborhood with excellent amenities. Pros: two-story room with king size bed, full bathroom, bidet, breakfast with eggs on request. Cons: a little way out of town, not a lot of restaurants close by.
Buenos Aires, Palermo
Meridiano Boutique Hostel
Fairly well located hostel on the streets of Palermo. Pros: quiet, rooms have air conditioner that you are free to control. Dorm beds have curtains. Kitchen provides nice social area with big dining room table at which to sit. Cons: you sink way down on your mattress; bathrooms on the top floor are dirty and gross. People drip water all over the floor so there’s always a big puddle in the bathroom. (There are two bathrooms on the bottom floor that are beautiful.)
Buenos Aires, San Telmo
Viajero Hostel
Very modern, upscale party hostel that caters to people in their 20’s with tons of amenities. Pros: my private room had a Jacuzzi tub, bidet, air conditioning and a kingsized bed. Common areas are air conditioned. There are elevators, there is a bar with limited food choices. There is a pool with a giant very social pool area. There are places to sit around the hostel to hang out and chat with people as well. Cons: this is a party hostel full of young people. On weekends they’re allowed to make as much noise as they want outside until 1 AM. Mattresses are covered in plastic to prevent urinating guests from ruining the mattress, which gives It a very cold, hard feel. Rooms do not get cleaned.
Panama City
Viajero Hostal
This is a member of the same hotel group as the Buenos Aires Viajero. The whole chain is very well run. This hostel was in Casco Viejo. Pros: Fully air conditioned common areas, elevators, private room was very large. The tour desk had lots of walking and other tours sponsored by the hostel. Cons: Floor was dirty (socks turned grey).
RESTAURANTS
Valparaiso
Cafeina progressive coffee shop down the hill. They even have oat milk!
Kapura near the top of the colored stairs—beautiful terrace with a view…and blankets!
Santiago
CHPE Libre in Lastarria
Mulatto (good happy hour) in Lastarria
Vive la Vida in Bellevista
Antigua Fuente for their GIANT sandwiches. It’s a throwback to the past where you sit around a huge square of barstools. The quantity of food and ladle of mayo will blow your diet. The locals know the staff and it feels like 1950 Chile.
Puerto Natales
Wild cafe — COOL coffee shop with big long tables and board games
Rest el Bote- magnificent! A little pricey but not as much as others. Local salmon was amazing
Briskit gourmet, good wine by the glass; expensive food, gorgeous bakery items
Puerto Varas
Mesa Tropera surrounded by water on 3 sides, basic food, normal prices
Cafe Haussmann food, coffee and kuchen which is pastries
Mostro excellent wine by the glass list; pinxos (Spanish tapas), lake view (used to be called Vinoteca. )
Bariloche
Blest restaurant or Manush Restaurant on lake road to Puerto Panuelos (km 3.5 walk from Bariloche with the lake to your right). There are more very nice outdooe restaurants on the road nearer to Puerto Panuelos. It would be good to have a car here.
Berkana overlooking the lake, lawn patio
Kilometre 1 restobar on lakefront – very cool restaurant all the way down many stairs right on the lake on a lawn
Stradibar has outside patio all wood
Mendoza
Nothing at all stood out
Mar del Plata
Tío Curzio overlooking the ocean. I had delicious langostinos and an excellent glass of Malbec there.
Buenos Aires Palermo
I wish I’d have gone to Don Julio. They look like they were probably the classiest place in town, and their reviews are top notch. They give champagne to people who are waiting outside. They have tasting menus. The steak place I actually went to was not memorable at all.
Moshu Treehouse Cafe was where I went for breakfast every day. It was the cutest café I think I have ever seen in my life.
Buenos Aires San Telmo
Lomond wine bar on outside edge.of San Telmo market Carlos Calvo 463. Great wines by the glass, a true wine bar with a very friendly Scottish owner.
TRIPS
See individual blog posts for pictures of tours.
Santiago Underraga Winery Trip About $50 half day+
This was a very good tour. You sample small appetizers and about 5 wines.
Puerto Natales Torres del Paine bus tour, about $80 full day.
You are picked up by a bus at your hotel. It takes 2 hours to get to the national park. You have to also buy a park permit the day before you leave (important) which costs about $30. Once inside the park, you check in at the gate and show your permit. The tour consists of stops for photos and two very short walks to waterfalls. There is no hiking on this tour. On the way back, you stop at the Milodon Cave, where the remains of a prehistoric relative of the sloth, the Milodon, were found. I loved this. Overall, it was a long day. Bring snacks and water. Dress for all seasons, as weather changes constantly. What I wish I’d have known is that you can take the bus from the bus station in Puerto Natales to the base and do your own short hikes. I would recommend doing that instead of this bus tour. And if you’re not sure if you should do Calafate or Puerto Natales (and you’re not a serious hiker), I would’ve chosen Calafate instead.
Puerto Natales Grey Glacier tour “Navigation” $160
(Anything with a boat is called “navigation”.). This is expensive. $50 of it is for the ride to the park; $110 is for the ferry. It takes two hours to get to Hotel Grey which is inside Torres del Paine National Park. At 12:00 the captain of the ferry decides whether or not the trip is a go depending on weather. On the day I went, there were wind gusts of 60 mph, and the captain cancelled the boat. We turned around and went the two hour busride back to our hotels. It was a wasted day, but I was later thankful because two days later, five hikers died while doing the O trek in the park about ten miles from Hotel Grey due to a freak ice and snowstorm with winds of 120 mph. Weather in this park and Mother Nature are nothing to mess with.
Puerto Varas Termas de Sol trip, $70
It costs $28 for the trip there, plus $38 to get into the hot springs. It takes an hour and a half to get to the car ferry. The ferry ride is 40 minutes and costs $6. Then it takes another 45 min to get to the resort, which has ten pools with different temperatures listed at each. You get five hours to play. There is a cafeteria with very good soup, sandwiches, and coffees that are normally priced.
On the way back, you stop at Cochomo which has super cheap souvenirs. It took two more hours driving timer to get back. Total time was 10 to 11 hours.
Puerto Varas Osorno Volcano Tour, $50
First you stop at the Petrohue Falls waterfall, which costs $7 to get into. It’s an hour from there to the volcano.
Once you get about 2/3 of the way up the volcano (in the bus), you get out at a tiny ski resort. If the ski lift is working, it’s $15-$28 to ride it. It wasn’t working the day we were there. There were paths in the reddish black volcanic dirt you could walk up. From the ski resort, you could see the sides of the volcano. Unfortunately, the top was covered in clouds.
After hanging out up there for awhile, we came back down the volcano and went to the small town of Ensenada for a lunch buffet, which they hard sell you on. It costs $16-20, not including beverages. But I had trout, salmon, another fish, wild boar, and others. It was good but not fantastic. Total trip time: 8 hours.
Puerto Varas to Bariloche: Cruce Andino: Cross the lakes of the Andes from Puerto Varas, Chile to Bariloche, Argentina. $350 one way; $450 for overnight.
The communication from this company is very good, with email and WhatsApp updates. They have lots of rules regarding time to be ready, passport check, confirmations, luggage weight, number of suitcases allowed (one — it was $25 for the additional). You had to pre-check in 48 hours before and be at your pickup spot at 7:30 am the morning of.
Luggage gets tagged and stored, and you get all of it when you get to your hotel. (If you do the overnight, you DO get all of your luggage at the overnight hotel. This was not clear and nobody was able to answer my questions regarding this.)
The trip includes (another for me) stop at Petrohué Falls, $7, the same place the volcano trip takes you on. Afterwards, the ferry takes you to to the town of Peulla via Lago Todos Santos. This takes an hour and a half. The scenery is fantastic! You have lunch at the gorgeous Hotel Natura. Note:. Lunch is a set menu and costs about $30. So bring your own if you’re not up for the pricetag. After a short bus ride you go through Chilean Customs, which only took any 10 minutes.
Next was the border crossing to Argentina (this was slow and confusing), then onto another ferry and across a small lake for about 10 minutes. Travel this day took 8.5 hours. If you opt to stay in Puerto Blest, which I did, you check into the hotel while the rest continue on to Bariloche.
The hotel was beautiful, the rooms warm and with a bidet and towel warmer. There’s an enclosed pool on the top floor that’s about 90 degrees.
The cafeteria was supposed to be open at 6:30 but it wasn’t because there were onlly about 10 people in the hotel. The restaurant didn’t open until 8:00 for dinner. I was starving. Make sure you bring lunch, snacks and water. I had to fill my water bottle from the bathroom tap because there was nowhere to buy any.
In the morning, a good full-service breakfast is included. I saved some of the toast, cheese, and ham and stashed a mini sandwich into my bag for lunch later.
Good thing I did because we had to wait until 3:30 pm for the boat to take us the rest of the way to the bus to Bariloche. There are nice trails around the lake but beware of the very insistent. bees and horseflies.
The cafeteria opened for lunch the second day, but sandwiches are $20 and water is $6.
I don’t recommend staying overnight on this crossing because of the food situation and also the long wait the next day until 3:30pm. You get to Bariloche around 4:30 pm so the whole stayover meant to break up the trip only saves you 1-2 hours of travel on Day One. It’s really a waste of a day.
Buenos Aires
Hop on hop off bus tour — there’s a lot to see. Do it early so you can get your bearings of what is where and places you want to return to. For example, you can see the Recoleta cemetery on this route rather than booking a separate tour.
Buenos Aires is famous for their tango shows. They are all in the San Telmo area so plan to see the San Telmo market at the same time. There are thousands of Tango shows to choose from, and I spent hours agonizing over my choice. I think they’re all basically all the same, though. Check the reviews for the food and choose that way. I chose Michelangelo ($80) and really liked it.
La Boca is an amazing suberb not far from San Telmo. It’s beautiful, it’s funky, it’s happening, and there’s free tango in many of the restaurants. You can get cheap crafts at the vendor stands near the waterfront. Don’t bother with the boat ride from La Boca to Puerto Maduro.
I hope this guide helps anyone in their planning a trip of this magnitude.
