Lima and Santiago ideas?

[fosterscik]

DW and I are planning a 3-week trip to South America in early April. We can get great (cheap and fast) flights from Houston, TX to Lima, Peru. Once in S. America it's cheap to fly onto Santiago, Chile.

We've spent time in Peru before on a Road Scholar trip to Machu Picchu (so have seen Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca etc.). We missed Lima on that trip and have heard it's a great place to visit. So far we are intrigued by this helicopter tour of the Nazca lines and Ballestas islands https://www.viator.com/tours/Lima/N...Lima/d928-5243LIMNAZ?eap=touropia-auto3-15260

No planes booked yet, so can distribute our time between the two places as needed.

On a related note, has anyone driven a rental car in Peru or Chile? What are road conditions like?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I live in Lima and have driven all over Peru. I would not recommend it unless all driving is done during daytime hours. The roads are fine heading south to Chile, but the drivers are the problem. Lot's of big rigs and buses full of tourists that will pass each other around blind curves. A few hours south of Lima it goes from super highway to two lane roads. Going up into the Andes can be a different story and you have weather factors to deal with. In Lima traffic is horrendous, drivers are CRAZY, no one has insurance and you can easily find yourself in a very bad area. If you do rent a car do not head south from Friday to Sunday as everybody leaves Lima to go to their beach houses for the weekend and head back north on Sunday evening. Paracas is a nice place to stay and you can take a boat out to the Ballestras or visit the Nazca lines or the Oasis out in the desert. You can easily get there by bus, but avoid the one day trips from Lima.

 

[fosterscik]

I live in Lima and have driven all over Peru. I would not recommend it unless all driving is done during daytime hours. The roads are fine heading south to Chile, but the drivers are the problem. Lot's of big rigs and buses full of tourists that will pass each other around blind curves. A few hours south of Lima it goes from super highway to two lane roads. Going up into the Andes can be a different story and you have weather factors to deal with. In Lima traffic is horrendous, drivers are CRAZY, no one has insurance and you can easily find yourself in a very bad area. If you do rent a car do not head south from Friday to Sunday as everybody leaves Lima to go to their beach houses for the weekend and head back north on Sunday evening. Paracas is a nice place to stay and you can take a boat out to the Ballestras or visit the Nazca lines or the Oasis out in the desert. You can easily get there by bus, but avoid the one day trips from Lima.

Thanks Expat - that's very helpful

 

[Souschef]

Our highlights of Peru were a flight over the Nazca Lines and an all day culinary tour of Lima.
I tried to attach a copy of our South American cruise story to give you some ideas, but the file is too large.
I would be more than happy to e-mail it to you. My e-mail address is: highlandpark@mindspring.com
We are always happy to answer questions.

 

[PO579]

I have been to Chile a couple times. The second time we flew to Santiago then Puerto Mont and explored the island of Chiloe
Off the Coast of Chile, an Island Getaway - The New York Times
and the worked our way back up to Santiago in a rental car stopping along the way. Pucon is a nice area as well.

The main road along the way is fine like a European or US interstate. Main roads between cities are paved, but most anything off that is gravel.

I think were gone for two weeks and. Spend few day or two in Santiago at the end and 3 days at a cooking school/B&B in the wine country outside of Santiago as well. Our Home | Mapuyampay Lodge Gastronómico

I really liked Chile. The first time we flew into Santiago, took an over night bus to Pucon area and stayed there several days. Then back to Santiago and took several wine tours and visited Valparaiso.

 

[sengsational]

Don't they have package tours to Easter Island out of there? Maybe if you booked it as a local, you would not get the inflated American price.

 

[Gumby]

In 2004, the young wife and I went to Lima. We stayed in the Country Club Hotel, which was very nice. https://www.lhw.com/hotel/Country-Club-Lima-Hotel-Lima-Peru We had a very nice lunch at a restaurant called La Rosa Nautica, which is built on a pier out over the ocean. La Rosa Nautica Restaurante It is in the Miraflores section of Lima, which we found to be very pleasant. The National Archaeological Museum was fun. Museo nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e historia del Perú, colecciones, publicaciones,museo, Pueblo Libre, Ministerio de cultura | Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú

Way back in 1983, when I was a young sailor, I went all around South America. Chile was my very favorite country on that trip. Although I did spend a little time in Santiago, my favorite city was Valparaiso, on the coast. And particularly the Viña del Mar section of that city.