- 6 months ago
Chile is one of the best countries to visit in South America. Enjoy this travel guide featuring my favorite places & destinations. From the wonders of Patagonia, to the otherworldly landscapes of the Atacama Desert, Chile has so much to offer. Where is your favorite place in Chile?
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00:00What's up guys!
00:01My name is Ryan and I recently turned from exploring the country of Chile and I want
00:05to share with you my favorite places and experiences so here is my Chile Top 10.
00:15Located in South America, Chile is a massive country offering some of the most diverse
00:19landscapes on the continent.
00:20From the scenery of Patagonia to the other rural landscapes of the Atacama Desert, Chile
00:25is waiting to be experienced.
00:27Let's start this video off at the capital of Chile, Santiago.
00:31Located in the center of the country, Santiago is a massive city.
00:34It was founded in 1541 and today it's a large city in the country with about 40% of the population
00:39living there.
00:40One of the highlights of Santiago is the Gran Torre Cosa Nera.
00:43It's the tallest building in South America with a height of 984 feet and was completed
00:48in 2013.
00:49A fun thing that you can do in Santiago is visit the Cerro San Cristobal.
00:54It's this hill that overlooks the capital and you can take up a gondola to reach the top
00:57of it.
00:58What I like about Santiago is that it's close to the Andes Mountains.
01:01They overlook the city and you can visit some really cool places nearby.
01:05One interesting spot is El Yeso Dam.
01:07It's about a 2 hour drive from Santiago and it's this huge reservoir nestled in the Andes
01:12Mountains.
01:13Afterwards we're going to venture to one of Chile's most unique places, Easter Island.
01:17Also known as Rapa Nui, Easter Island is located 3,000 kilometers off the coast of Chile,
01:22making it one of the most remote places on earth.
01:24Now to get there, it can only be accessed by taking a 5 and a half hour flight from Santiago.
01:29Now it's believed that the island was settled around the year 1200 AD by Polynesians who
01:33sailed from French Polynesia.
01:34What makes the island so mysterious and famous is the Moai statues.
01:37There are about 900 Moai on the island with the tallest reaching over 10 meters high and
01:42weighing over 80 tons.
01:43It's a mystery how the statues were transported but it's believed that logs were used to move
01:47the Moai across the island.
01:48One of my favorite places to see the Moai is at Ahutongariki, there's 15 statues perfectly
01:54lined up with a dramatic view of the coast.
01:56Another interesting place on the island is Ranucoa, it's this massive volcanic crater
02:00on the southeastern side of the island and this place is just so fascinating.
02:04After Easter Island, we're going to head back to Chile's mainland to visit the Atacama
02:08Desert.
02:09Located in northern Chile, the Atacama Desert is the driest place on earth.
02:12There are some places that are believed to not have received rain for over 400 years.
02:16Now to get to Atacama Desert, there's a few options.
02:19You can fly into the Calama airport and then head to the town of San Pedro de Atacama which
02:24has a lot of attractions.
02:25The Valley of the Moon is one of the most popular places in Atacama.
02:28It's located just a few minutes outside of San Pedro and the Valley of the Moon is home
02:32to these incredible geological formations that look amazing especially during sunrise or sunset.
02:37Another interesting place is Piedras Rojas.
02:40It's located about a 2 hours drive from San Pedro and it's this really cool body of water
02:43with the unique rocks and the elevation here is over 12,000 feet which is pretty crazy.
02:48Another fascinating place in the Atacama Desert is the Lauca National Park.
02:52It's located in the very northern part of Chile and to get there you can fly into the
02:56town of Arica and then from there make about a 3 hour drive.
02:59Lauca is situated at an elevation around 15,000 feet and there's a few lakes and the scenery
03:04here is just so bizarre especially with the Parina Cota Volcano as a backdrop.
03:08After it we're going to visit one of the most extreme places in the Atacama Desert,
03:12Ojos del Salado.
03:14With an elevation of 22,615 feet, Ojos del Salado is the highest volcano on earth and also
03:20the highest point in Chile.
03:21It is possible to climb the volcano and it takes anywhere from 8 to 15 days to summit the
03:26mountain due to harsh weather and acclimatization.
03:28Now to get there you can fly into the Copiapo Airport and it's about a 3 hour drive.
03:33I really like the area around the volcano.
03:35The surrounding landscapes are stunning, there's high altitude lakes and lots of wildlife such
03:39as flamingos and llamas.
03:40Aside from the desert, Atacama and northern Chile have a really beautiful coastline.
03:44The stark contrast of the arid mountains against the Pacific Ocean is very unique.
03:48Now there's some big cities along the coast such as Antofagasta and Aquique.
03:52I think the sand dunes that are around Aquique are so cool you can climb with them and get
03:56a great view of the area.
03:58Afterwards we're going to leave the desert to visit the Lake District.
04:01Located in southern Chile above Patagonia, the Lake District offers some of the country's
04:05most beautiful scenery.
04:06It's a landfill of pristine rivers, snow-capped volcanoes, and amazing lakes.
04:10One of my favorite places in the Lake District is Congaillo National Park.
04:15Located about a 2 hours drive from Temuco, I think Congaillo is one of the most beautiful
04:19and unique places in Chile.
04:20The crowning feature of the park is the Yajima Volcano.
04:22It's one of the most active volcanoes in Chile and has a height of 10,253 feet.
04:28It's erupted many times in the previous centuries with it's most recent in 2009.
04:32My favorite feature of the area is the arucaria trees, also known as the monkey puzzle tree.
04:37I think they are some of the most peculiar shaped trees in the world.
04:40It's the official tree of Chile and I think they just look so cool.
04:43It's one of the most scenic backdrops with the arucaria trees and the volcano in the distance.
04:48Another really cool town in the Lake District is Pucon.
04:50Located about an hour and a half from Temuco, Pucon is this picturesque town on Lago Villarica
04:54and it's a perfect place to base yourself as you explore the Lake District.
04:58There's so many attractions nearby and I love the backdrop of the Villarico Volcano,
05:02which is one of the most active volcanoes in the country, last erupting in 2015.
05:06Another incredible volcano in the Lake District is Osorno.
05:09Located about an hour and a half outside of Puerto Montt, Osorno is one of the most iconic
05:13volcanoes in the region with its distinctive shape.
05:15It has a height of 8,701 feet and what I like about it is that you can see it from all
05:20over the region.
05:21I really like the view of the Osorno volcano across the nearby lake.
05:24I also like that you can drive up Osorno and there's a ski lift that can take you even
05:28higher up the mountain.
05:29After it we're going to go on a drive on the Carretera Austral.
05:32Also known as Chile's Route 7, the Carretera Austral is one of the most scenic drives in
05:36South America.
05:37The route starts in Puerto Montt and drives through rural Patagonia and ends in Villa O'Higgins.
05:43According to Google maps, it's at least a 26 hour drive and you'll pass through some
05:47of the most incredible places in Chile.
05:48Be aware that a lot of the sections of the road remains unpaved but there's hundreds
05:52of places to explore.
05:53An amazing place you'll pass on the route is the Caolat National Park.
05:57It's located about 11 hours from Puerto Montt and the park is home to the Hanging Glacier
06:01Falls and it's a fairly easy walk to get to the viewpoint.
06:04Another stop along the way is the Marble Caves.
06:07Located on the turquoise waters of Lago General Carrera.
06:10The marble caves are some of the most fascinating geological features of Patagonia.
06:13It's these massive rocks of marble that have been sculpted by the wind and waves the lake
06:17for thousands of years.
06:18The best way to experience the caves is by boat and you can also take a kayak tour from
06:22the nearby town of Puerto Rio Tranquilo.
06:24There's so many rural places along the Carretera Austral.
06:27While we're in the Patagonia, we're going to head to my favorite place in Chile, Torres
06:31del Paine.
06:32I'd say Torres del Paine is one of the most famous places in the country and with reason.
06:36Now to get there, we first flew into Punta Arenas and from there is a 4 hour drive.
06:40When we arrived, I couldn't believe the beauty of this place.
06:43We checked into our hotel just outside the park and we had an incredible view of the
06:47Los Cuernos Mountains.
06:48They are seriously some of the most incredible mountains I've ever came across.
06:52The next day we drove up inside the National Park.
06:54It was $55 a person for a 3 day pass.
06:57My favorite place was the area around Lake Pehoe and it has this striking blue color.
07:01The day we were there, the wind was blowing so hard it was creating waves along the lake.
07:06As you're driving along, there are a few places you could stop.
07:08There was this one lookout we hiked up to and it gave an incredible view of Los Cuernos Mountains.
07:13The wind here was just unbelievable.
07:15As you keep driving down the road, there's this island that is connected by a bridge that
07:18you could also walk on and it offers amazing views of the lake in Los Cuernos.
07:23This area is just absolutely amazing.
07:25One of the main reasons people come to the area is to do the hike to Mirador Basse Las Torres.
07:30It's one of the most popular hikes in all of Patagonia.
07:32It's about a 12.5 mile round trip trek with about 3,000 feet of elevation gain.
07:37We started around 8 am and I definitely recommend starting this hike no later than 11 because
07:41the last section to the lake closes at 3 and it takes about 4 hours to get there.
07:45Anyways the first pit was a flat walk until we reached the incline of the mountain.
07:49Once we got to the top of that section, it was a beautiful view into the valley.
07:52About halfway we came to the Chilean Refugio.
07:55This is where people can get something to eat or spend the night.
07:58We kept going and after about 3 hours we got to the hardest section of the trek.
08:02It's an uphill scramble and it was a challenge but once you reached the top you were rewarded
08:06with one of the most incredible views of the Torres Mountains.
08:09We spent a good hour just enjoying the view and also recovering from the hard hike.
08:12I mean there's very few places as epic as this.
08:15After we headed back down and the whole trek took us 8 hours to do, I have to say it was
08:19one of the hardest day hikes I've ever done in my life but well worth it.
08:23After we're going to search for Patagonia's most elusive animal, the puma.
08:27One thing special about this area in Chile is that it's one of the best places in the
08:30road to see pumas.
08:32If you're lucky you might see one in the Torres del Paine National Park but we did an
08:35expedition with Le贸n Amarga which takes place on the private land right outside of Torres
08:40del Paine and it was one of the craziest wildlife experiences I've ever had.
08:44We started at 5am and headed off to find the pumas.
08:47A guide had spotted one so once we got close we started hiking in that direction and after
08:51a few minutes we came across this puma just perfectly perched on a hill.
08:55As I was filming it, it started walking towards us and the guide told us not to move and it
09:00just walked right past us.
09:01I mean it was an absolute adrenaline rush.
09:04We filmed the grey puma for a bit and then this other brown one came out of nowhere and
09:08they got in a little fight.
09:11After it found a nice place to rest out of the rock.
09:14We came across some more pumas and got some incredible shots of them with the surrounding
09:18landscapes.
09:19The main prey of the puma is the guanacos which are these large llama like creatures which
09:23we also saw a good amount of.
09:25Towards the end we got really lucky and found a mother mountain lion with our cub and were able
09:28to film them for a few minutes until they headed off.
09:31I mean it was an absolutely incredible experience and our guide said that we were extremely lucky
09:35that day because sometimes you might only see one or none at all so I'm super thankful
09:39we saw a bunch of pumas.
09:40I will say it was very expensive but it's 100% worth it to see pumas in the wild.
09:44For our final destination we're going to visit the fjords of Patagonia.
09:48If you look at Patagonia from space you can see this huge uninhabited region on Chile's
09:52side and it's home to some of the most unbelievable and untouched scenery on earth.
09:57The Chilean fjords are extremely remote and there are no roads or airports and the only
10:00way to reach the fjords is by taking a boat.
10:03Special thanks to my buddy Viktor Poznav, he spent a good amount of time sailing throughout
10:06Chile's fjords and captured some of the most incredible footage.
10:09I'll link a video of his adventure in the description below.
10:12One of my favorite features of Patagonia's fjords is the glaciers.
10:15There are so many named and unnamed glaciers that very few have seen.
10:18I'd say the best way to experience the fjords is by taking a expedition cruise that is specialized
10:23in exploring this region of the world.
10:25There are very few places that are as raw and as beautiful as the fjords of Patagonia.
10:29Well that is it for my Chile Top 10, there are so many incredible places in this country
10:33so I'll have to make a part 2.
10:34Let me know what your favorite place is in Chile in the comments below.
10:37You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at chile.films.
10:40It's Ryan and we will see you later.
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