What is the ideal travel itinerary in Chile with kids? Chile is a beautiful country with beautiful nature as well. The country’s landscapes are very diverse. You have the beautiful snow-capped mountains in the south of the country and the desert area in the north of the country. Although Chile is not that big, the distance between the north and the south is still 4,500 kilometers. In this blog, we will give you the ideal travel itinerary through the country and provide much more family-friendly information for families.
Best travel time Chile with kids
Because Chile is such an elongated country, you don’t have a best travel time for the entire country. If you have to choose a best travel time for a tour of Chile with kids then it is from November through February. Then, however, it is high season in Chile and thus it can be a lot busier in terms of tourists in the country.
It is summer in Chile then, and especially in the south of the country it is the ideal travel time to explore this part of the country.
Transportation in Chile
The distances between different sights in Chile are very long. If you want to drive by car from north to south, you will soon be more than 50 hours on the road. You have luxury buses running around the country connecting the various sights, but even then, of course, you will be on the bus for a long time (even longer than the 50 hours by car).
Therefore, you almost cannot escape flying between the various sights. This, of course, gets you to your destination a lot faster. In the area itself, then, in some places it is definitely a consideration to rent a car and then explore the area around the sight.
Itinerary Chile 2 weeks
If you have 2 weeks to explore Chile with kids, you can visit about 3 different destinations. Then you are at each destination for 4 to 5 days and especially with kids, it is nice not to travel too fast. Especially if you also have to deal with altitude in some destinations, you should definitely take it easy. We list these destinations below.
Santiago de Chile
Most families with kids start their itinerary through Chile in the country’s capital, Santiago de Chile. This is where most flights arrive from around the world. To explore the city of Santiago, you can take a fun bike tour with kids through the city center.
This guided bike tour takes about 3 hours and you will pass by the highlights of the city. We have done this bike tour with this company in other cities and always find it a nice introduction to the city. For more information on this organized bike tour of Santiago de Chile, take a look here.
Santiago de Chile is also the place where you can do several real children’s activities with kids, before going mostly into nature. For example, you can visit an amusement park in this great city, and there is also a branch of Kidzania in the city, where kids can reenact all kinds of professions.
You can also go to the zoo here with kids and there is a fun science museum in town. We wrote the blog Santiago de Chile with kids, in which we listed all the fun kids’ activities. You can have a great time here for 4 days or so with the family. If you’re looking for a place to stay in Santiago de Chile for the first few days, these are very family-friendly options.
Budget accommodation: Hostal Forestal
Mid-range accommodation: VR Suite Santiago
Luxury accommodation: Radisson Blu Plaza El Bosque Santiago
For the entire list of family-friendly accommodations in Santiago de Chile, take a look here.
San Pedro de Atacama
From Santiago, you then take a flight to Calama airport, and from there drive to San Pedro de Atacama. This is the base for exploring the desert of Chile. You can choose to rent a car at the Calama airport and explore the area that way with the family or have the hotel pick you up and book various day trips from the hotel.
From San Pedro de Atacama you can take very nice day trips to the desert, where it seems like you are walking through a desert landscape. You also have several lakes there, including one in which you can swim in a salt lake and stay afloat. If you like it, you also have a kind of spa with all kinds of hot baths that you can go to in San Pedro de Atacama.
It is also possible to view several geysers in the area. The El Tatio Geysers are mostly active in the early morning, which means you will have to get out of bed early to admire these geysers. We wrote the blog San Pedro de Atacama with kids about this area, for more information.
Keep in mind that you are at altitude here and, especially with kids, take it easy the first day(s) because of possible altitude sickness. If you are looking for a place to spend the night here with the family, these are some good options to stay.
Budget accommodation: HOSTAL SAIRI
Middle Class Accommodation: Ckoi Atacama Lodge
Luxury Accommodation: Casa Solcor Boutique Bed & Breakfast
For a list of all family-friendly accommodations, take a look here.
Puerto Montt
You can then drive back by car from San Pedro de Atacama to the Calama airport and take the plane again from there. You can then fly to Puerto Montt, where there is very different nature to admire with the family. Puerto Montt is known as the lake district of Chile. We ourselves did not visit Puerto Montt because we had already visited several lakes in Argentina in the town of Bariloche.
In Puerto Montt, however, it is advisable to rent a car at the airport and explore the area from there. To rent a car at Puerto Montt airport, find more information here. Thus, you can go to several lakes by car, including Lago LLanquihue. It is also possible to go up to a volcano by cable car.
If you are in this area with kids 10 and older, it is also fun to go rafting with the family. You can choose from half-day and full-day tours here. It is also possible to go to the Petrohue Waterfalls in this area. As you can see, here you have several attractions in a small area that you can visit. Therefore, you can easily entertain the family for about 4 to 5 days.
Itinerary Chile 3 weeks
If you are lucky enough to spend as much as 3 weeks exploring the country of Chile, you can take the above 2-week itinerary and add another destination. You can then stay an extra day at the above destinations so you can take it nice and easy. You can then, if you travel through Chile at the right time of year, visit the beautiful Torres del Paine Park.
Torres del Paine National Park
You can then take another plane to Puerto Namur which is the perfect base to visit perhaps the most beautiful national park in South America: the Torres del Paine Park.
In this national park you can mostly do a lot of hiking, and even though many of the hikes are not really very suitable for families with kids, you can still do some nice day trips in the park, where you can also do some hiking with the family.
It is convenient, then, to rent your own car so that you can explore Torres del Paine National Park by car yourself. You can rent a car at the Puerto Natales airport just fine, and for more information on renting a car at the airport, take a look here.
You have several beautiful viewpoints here that you can explore and there is also a beautiful lake, on which there is a glacier. Because of this, there are also whole chunks of ice in the lake, which makes for beautiful pictures. We wrote about this national park the blog Torres del Paine with kids, in which we provide even more family-friendly information about this area.
Itinerary Chile 4 weeks
And if you have a total of 4 weeks to explore Chile with kids, you’ll be able to see most of the country’s sights. We give below some more options, which you can use to extend your itinerary through Chile with kids.
Carretera Austral
The Carretera Austral is one of the most beautiful routes in the world, and you will pass several national parks to visit during this 1240-kilometer journey. Therefore, you can do a week-long road trip with the family here just fine. The road starts in Puerto Montt, making it easy to combine these two sights. Of course then it is nice if you have a rental car to drive this route with kids.
For example, during this road trip you will pass by Pumalin National Park, where you can take beautiful hikes in the park and see glaciers, volcanoes and waterfalls with the family. It is also possible to go kayaking here with kids or take a relaxing boat trip on the water.
Another national park you can visit during this road trip with kids is Queulat National Park. This park is all about the glacier and you can also view this glacier in several ways (by boat or on foot). Also, during this route you will pass Laguna Cerro Castillo, where you can also have a nice walk with the kids.
In that regard, you can really spend a whole week with the family in nature if you go on this road trip. Because you then also get further and further south in Chile, it is advisable to do this road trip during the summer months of Chile.
Easter Island
Another cool trip you can take if you have a little longer time in Chile with kids is to fly to Chilean Easter Island. This island is, of course, quite a bit away from mainland Chile, but this island is obviously very special with all the big statues you find here across the island.
The island is very different from the rest of Chile and also this island is best visited during the summer months (December through February). You can visit a beautiful white beach on this island (Anakena beach) and also very good snorkeling with kids on the island. You can also rent a car here and then take a tour around the island.
The island is not super big, so you can see most of the island’s sights in 2 days. If you then also relax on the beach for a few days, you can visit this island for about 5 days. It can be a nice ending to your tour of Chile.
So there are several options for planning your itinerary through Chile with kids. However, you must especially love nature a lot if you take a tour of Chile, otherwise other countries might be more suitable.
