Chile had been on my bucket list since I came across pictures of Torres Del Paine National Park 15 years ago. We were excited to finally be going there and a bonus was a long layover in Houston that gave us a day with my sister and her family. We enjoyed a leisurely brunch followed by games of table tennis and long talks about life 😀.

After a fairly long journey, we reached Puerto Montt and made our way to Puerto Varas in our rental car. The hotel, Cabana del Lago and our suite were stunning, overlooking the sprawling lake and snow-capped volcanoes. At the hotels recommendation, we enjoyed a leisurely seafood lunch at a restaurant that reminded us of San Sebastián (one of my favorite food places in the world)! The Carmenere wine that our server recommended was fantastic. We were instantly drawn to the wonderful and friendly Chilean people that seem relaxed and content.

The rest of the day was fairly relaxing after our 3-flight journey, spent at the hotels beautiful pools and hot tub overlooking the volcanic mountains. The kids were thrilled with the water slide and took more than 20 trips on it – it really doesn’t get old! For dinner, we opted for casual food trucks near our hotel and were blown away by an Italian man’s hand-made pizza which was followed by our favorite – churros stuffed with condensed milk!

The next morning, we drove to Volcán Osorne and took the chairlift up to the first level. From there, the beauty of the mountains and the snow beckoned and we began a spontaneous climb towards the glaciers. After some time, Ariana and Gaurav retreated back down to view the crater while Ayaan and I continued the climb toward the peak. The incline was steep but we were rewarded with stunning views of the mountain up close and cheered on by the people on the chair lift. When we rested on the black volcanic rock, it actually felt warm, contrasted by the snow which we let melt in our mouth because we hadn’t carried any water. We ultimately retreated back down and Ayaan was very upset to have left his favorite warthog stuffie up on the mountain during one of our breaks.

We then proceeded to the Petrohue waterfalls which were a really stunning sight – the blue glacial water gushing down against the backdrop of the towering peaks. After another relaxing evening at the heated pool, we enjoyed dinner at a vinoteca. Warm bread, a ribeye steak and a bottle of Carmenera were a perfect way to be rewarded after the steep climb.

The next day, we embarked on a fairly long journey to view two species of penguins, the Humboldt and the Magellanic. Ayaan was stoked to see our car aboard the ferry to Chiloe Island. Although our guide only spoke Spanish, we appreciated his effort to help us understand the different wildlife we were viewing including birds such as the oyster catcher and turkey vulture. After our short tour, we enjoyed a lunch of fresh-caught ceviche, grilled chicken and a local white fish, washed down with a glass of vino. We stopped in the town of Ancud to enjoy the Christmas festivities at Plaza de Armas and proceeded to the fort.

Since it was Christmas Eve and most restaurants were closed, we enjoyed dinner at the hotel bar and spent our last evening viewing the volcanic mountain range from our balcony as the sun retreated over the coastline.

The next day, we boarded our flight to Puerto Natales to experience the much-awaited beauty of Patagonia. The views from the flight were jaw-dropping with one side overlooking several glaciers and bright blue lakes and the other side flying right over the Torres del Paine (Towers of Blue) as we approached. After renting a car, we drove straight to the caves of Milodón, a large cave where we saw bones and other fossil from several large extinct creatures such as mammoths and others from the sloth family. We then proceeded to hike on a trail to the top of the hill where we were rewarded by fantastic 360 views. Ariana has really started to love hiking. During this trip, she displayed the desire and ability to do some pretty steep and challenging hikes which left me proud and eager to do more together. That evening, we celebrated Christmas Day at a small local restaurant near the square.

We had an early start the next morning driving 2 hours into the Torres del Paine national park. The views as we approached were absolutely stunning particularly as the Cuernos (horns) and Torres (towers) came into view. Near the glacial blue waters of Pehoe Lake, we hiked a steep trail to the very top of a hill offering panoramic views of the lake and its surrounding vistas. Wildflowers greeted us on the trail and when Gaurav and Ayaan turned back because the trail narrowed and become too steep, Ariana and I continued on. After a brief stop at the Pehoe Lake Inn to pickup a picnic lunch, we proceeded to Salte Grande, an impressive gushing waterfall. Despite very strong winds, we picnicked here but decided to skip the next trail to Cuerno due to the extremely heavy winds that were getting hard to overcome for the kids. We then saw the beautiful waters of Laguna Amarga where we spotted several Guanacos, the first one solitary perched on a hill, and a large herd shortly after.

When we reached the base camp for the Torres del Paine hike (a fairly intense 8-hour hike), the guide there recommended a family friendly hike called intertievo. It was a fairly easy 1.5 hour hike following which we drove by Lake Sarmiento and made our way back to the town or Puerto Natales. We rewarded ourselves with dinner at the towns acclaimed restaurant where I enjoyed their wood-fired BBQ lamb and Gaurav devoured reportedly the best grilled salmon he’s ever eaten, both paired with a bottle of Carmenere.

The next morning, we had an early start for an 8-hour boat cruise that Gaurav had booked to the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers. The journey was breathtaking dotted with waterfalls, glaciers, and seal and condor sightings as we glided through stunning glacial waters. Before lunch, we disembarked for a 40 minute hike to the Serrano glacier which was absolutely epic as we were able to get pretty close to it. Once back on the boat, we each wrote our goals for 2025. This time, each family member was allowed to add a goal they wanted the other family member to accomplish in the new year. We were pretty impressed with the thoughtful and aspirational goals the children took on. Lunch was a real treat at Estancia Perales where an abuela served us pisco sours, and a whole chicken on the grill, table side. After a two hour leisurely lunch, we napped on the boat ride back to the hotel.

The next day, we had a leisurely start as our primarily goal as to hike to the Lago Grey glacier. The hike included a walk through a black beach with water on both sides and then a somewhat steep incline to the viewpoint. We enjoyed lunch at the nearby Grey Glacier Hotel. After lunch we hiked up halfway to the ferrier view point to take in breathtaking views of the Rio Serrano river.

On our last day, we took a 3-hour horse riding trip atop the Cerro Dorotea mountain, where we came within striking distance of Argentina. At the very top of the mountain, the panaraomic views were a true jaw dropping sight. Ariana did particularly well on her horse and enjoyed the ride! After a quick pit stop to pickup crepes, we departed on a flight to Santiago. Torres del Paine lived up to my high expectations and more. It is truly the most picturesque and stunningly beautiful place that I have ever been to from my travels to 70+ countries!

The day in Santiago started with a ride up the Gondola to Cerro San Cristóbal. At the top, we were all amused watching a robot machine make cotton candy before it “discharged” it for consumption. We arrived down in a funicular and then explored the cool, Bellevista neighborhood. Next, we walked to the more sophisticated Lasterria neighborhood and ended up in Plaza des Armas.

The following day, we drove to Maipo Valley and enjoyed a wonderful tour and tasting experience at Vina Aquitania. At the recommendation of a couple we met at the tasting, we went to see the Bahia Lotus temple, a part of the same faith and design as the one in New Delhi.

To celebrate New Year’s Eve that evening, we decided to return to the bohemian Bellevista neighborhood. It was the first time we were bringing in the new year together as a family as the children were allowed to stay up late to watch the fireworks. We didn’t realize though that Santiago is fairly quiet during New Year’s Eve (unlike its sister cities in South America such as Buenoes Aires or Cartegena where we’d enjoyed boisterous street parties and celebrations). Nevertheless, we enjoyed bar hopping with the kids and recapped what we were grateful for in 2024 and what we were looking forward to in 2025. We brought in the New Year viewing the fireworks from the 23rd-floor lounge of our hotel.

On New Year’s Day, we set off to the artsy town of Valparaiso where we strolled around the neighborhoods appreciating the artwork and graffiti that adorned all of the buildings. We also took a boat ride from the pier in Valparaiso that gave us a great vantage point to the city on the hill. We then enjoyed the heated pool and spa at the hotel in Vina Del Mar which offered sweeping ocean views. Ayaan and Gaurav also spent time at the beach and we played ping pong in the kids club while Ariana jumped on the trampoline and tried to make friends despite her sparse Spanish vocabulary. We enjoyed an early dinner at the hotel’s terrace restaurant and Gaurav and I enjoyed a bottle of Cabarnet from our balcony overlooking the ocean once the kids went to bed.

The next morning, we took one of Valparaiso’s super steep funiculars that reminded us of the hillevator in our Sausalito home. After browsing the neighborhoods including a stop at a famous poets home (now museum) to take in sweeepint ocean views, we headed to the airport for our flight to San Pedro de Atacama.

When we landed in Atacama, we were greeted with a pretty strong earthquake at the airport. After about an hours drive from the city of Calama, we approached the town of San Pedro and I felt as if we were taken back in time about 100 years or so. The unpaved narrow streets were barely habited, the shops were tiny and had just the basic necessities, and the homes were extremely modest. Other than the sparse cars, there were no signs of modernization or technology. It was quite surreal. We arrived at our small B&B, La Casa de Jose and were greeted warmly by the hostess, Alicia. After a quick dinner, we retreated for the night.

We started the next day with the Valley of Mars. The kids were excited to climb the sand dunes and run down as we watched other “sand board” down. The sights, terrain and topography truly felt like another planet! Our next stop, and probably my favorite from our time in Atacama, was the Valley of the Moon. This place was truly incredible from the various hikes to the miradors or viewpoints – it all felt celestial! We ended our day perched on a rock as we watched the sun set over the expansive landscape below.

On our second fully day in Atacama, we first drove an hour to the salt flats at Laguna Chaxa within the Flamingo reserve national park. This was Gaurav’s favorite spot as we admired hundreds of flamingoes over the salt flats, and their reflections on the lake. During the trail, we learned about the 3 types of flamingoes and their diet, consisting primarily of brine shrimp that are the only other form of life that can survive in the saline waters predominant in this region. We then drove up to 14000 ft to see the blue Altiplanic lagoons, passing by several Vicunas (part of the Llama family) running around the unique landscape. Our last stop was Lake Tebenquiche where the water had almost completely evaporated leaving behind a snow-like salt deposits. We ended the night with a fantastic meal at restaurant Adobe in the charming downtown of San Pedro de Atacama.

We had an extremely early start the next day on a tour to see the hundreds of suphur springs and geysers of El Tatio at 13000 ft. While we’ve witnessed the eruption of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful on multiple occasions, this was different. There were geysers in every direction, with volcanoes and snow-capped mountains as their backdrop. It is necessary to arrive early to watch these geysers in full eruption, and while I typically dislike early mornings, this start was absolutely worth it. The tour included a breakfast overlooking this beautiful natural wonder followed by stops at another flamingo-dotted lake and a large gorge / canyon. That afternoon, we returned to the Valley of Mars to undertake the actual hike, which felt as if we were walking on the planet, surrounded by red rock and craters. Ariana and Gaurav enjoyed some pool time while I napped. After playing with Bella, the hotel’s pet dog, we headed to a restaurant with a live concert.

On our last day in Atacama, Gaurav and I hiked up the fort and were rewarded with panoramic views of everything we’d seen in the Atacama region over the past 4 days. We appreciated the grandeur of the volcanoes, snow-capped peaks, the town of San Pedro, sand dunes and a different vantage point of the valley of Mars. It was the perfect way to end our trip! We were blown away by the rich diversity of Chile, and all that this wonderful country has to offer while occupying just a slender strip of South America.