Visiting Chile in winter
Replies: 11 - Last Post: Jul 17, 2012 6:52 AM Last Post By: zararock
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Visiting Chile in winter
Hey, I'm thinking of visiting Chile this August, but will it be really cold? I was hoping to travel to the South from Santiago however I'm not sure if maybe the weather will make it really difficult. I would love any opinions or advice from anyone who's traveled to Chile during the winter before. Thanks!1
At the end of August the weather will begin turning in central Chile but the south will still be wet and pretty cold. Patagonia is beautiful in winter but you will have to deal with the cold. It depends a bit on what you want to do and how much the weather bothers you. Skiing should still be available around Pucon and further south.2
south from Santiago means more than 2000 kms and there are big differences3
Patagonia (I think that's what you consider south) will be cold and wet on the coast and snowy in the mountains.Avoid the coast as it will be miserable there, if you are not skiing or not planning other winter activities it's really little sense going there....
4
Here in Chile we call anything down to Puerto Montt south. It is only after PM that we refer to Patagonia. But there are no rules and you can call it whatever you want.7
Thanks, and sorry about the confusion, I am not sure yet how far south I would be able to go. I know I'd be spending some time in Santiago and then a day or two in some of the cities (maybe Rancagua, Concepcion, Temuco) working my way south to hopefully Patagonia, but if it doesn't seem likely i'd get that far then to Puerto Montt.(How many days would it take to get to Puerto Montt from Santiago by car or bus?) I was hoping to spend most of my time exploring villages/cities as opposed to skiing, and I plan on going the last two weeks of August. The cold doesn't really bother me, but if is it likely that it will be constantly raining or difficult to walk many places at this time? Thanks again for the help!8
Puerto Montt will be miserable, grey, cold and rainy, not really fun at this time of the year. Taking into account that Patagonia is generally expensive destination I would really leave it for another time, you have plenty of fantastic places in nearby countries to enjoy in that time of the year.11
I am in South Chile right now (Punta Arenas) and have been around for the past 2 weeks. yes, it's chilly, yes it's snowy and all that... But incredibly beautiful. I think it's very worth it even in winter. I understand summer has a differrent appeal but the snowy landscapes are very pretty this time of year too. And there is activities you can do: we visited glaciers, torres del paine (tour in a van with small treks only, cause it is very cold indeed), etc..This is what Puerto Natales looked like 2 days ago
