I will be traveling to Santiago, Chile in a few weeks just for fun! Any advice from fellow wine loving traveling Gurus?

A few questions:

1. Are there many accessible (accomodating) wineries in the Santiago area?
2. Can one drive across the mountains easily to Mendoza (Argentina)?
3. Is it easy to drive around there?
4. Other than chasing wine, what else is there to do?
5. Any suggestions for "can't miss" opportunities?


Thanks in advance for any information you can share!

What's more fun- the pursuit or the consumption?

There are a few wineries near Santiago...but I would head either West (to the coast, to Casablanca) or SOuth. Both regions are cooler than Santiago, and the wines are more interesting. Santa Carolina has some wonderful old cellars in Santiago...but their grapes mainly come from other regions.

Driving isn't hard---particularly OUTSIDE Santiago. Roads are reasonably good, and the major routes are clearly marked. You could drive to Mendoza, but it's about a six or seven hour drive, as I recall, right over the top of the Andes. Stunning scenery, and the pass is about 11,000 feet or so. The mountains go up another 5-10000 feet above that!

Near Santiago, I wouldn't say there are great tourist destinations. Vina del Mar, on the coast, is nice. But I would head to the Andes or south to the Lake District==great scenery, great hiking and fishing. And you can always go North to the Atacama--the world's driest desert.

Chile's tourism is more on the natural beauty side than the historic/cultural and most of that is a far drive from Santiago.

PW