Chile Forum

I am going to be picking up a rental car and driving south from Santiago to Panguipulli and would like to break the journey up. Can anyone recommend some places to stay in between? Preferably not too far from the highway. Just looking at the maps, i would say anywhere between Curico and Los Angeles would be best. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Alex

How many hours do you like to drive each day? Do you mean Chillan and Los Angeles, because Curicó is no distance at all.

Some seventh region accommodation in this wiki article:
http://www.allchile.net/chilewiki/index ... s_Province

Check this wiki article for data on other areas:
http://www.allchile.net/chilewiki/index ... s_in_Chile

Thanks for all you suggestions, much appreciated. I checked out another post and they recommended The Malaga in Linares. I know it's not quite halfway,but i don't pick the car up until mid-day Saturday, then i have to get out of Santiago, so maybe Linares will be far enough and i will crack on to Panguipulli the following morning.

Alex

You really should stop at the Chillan mercado on your way south. It was brilliant and this is coming from a family who was generally totally unimpressed with Chile.......sorry about that all of you. Chillan and our trip south to Valdivia and the Pucon/Villarica area rate as tourist highlights of our time in Chile.

zannder wrote:Thanks for all you suggestions, much appreciated. I checked out another post and they recommended The Malaga in Linares. I know it's not quite halfway,but i don't pick the car up until mid-day Saturday, then i have to get out of Santiago, so maybe Linares will be far enough and i will crack on to Panguipulli the following morning.

Alex

That was me. You can get to Linares in an easy 4 hours. You might find it better to go a bit further than that in order to divide your driving time over the two days. Eight hours will take you to Victoria (Hostería El Bosque or Flamingo Inn). Chillan does make a good stopping place though if you want more equal driving days. We used to do Victoria for the first night but had to stop before that this summer because of my husband's health. But if you are only starting in the afternoon it might be a good idea to aim for Linares. There is another place near there, more off the main highway, called El Bosque which friends recommended when we were looking. Call and book because a lot of people doing business in the area use both of them. Take ear plugs if you are staying near the highway.

Quick update. We did indeed stay at The Malaga In Linares. We were the only people staying and it was fine for the price. Ask for cabin 13. Oh and if you do find yourself going there, don't book it through any English speaking websites as they were asking $110 US when in actual fact if you called direct the charge was $27,000CHL...quite a difference.
Alex

zannder wrote:Quick update. We did indeed stay at The Malaga In Linares. We were the only people staying and it was fine for the price. Ask for cabin 13. Oh and if you do find yourself going there, don't book it through any English speaking websites as they were asking $110 US when in actual fact if you called direct the charge was $27,000CHL...quite a difference.
Alex

Was the cabin warm? The air conditioning was bliss in February and I wondered if the heating was as good.

Yes the cabin was fine, very spacious. No probs whatsoever. It's not the Ritz, but for a stop over it was ideal and the staff were really friendly. On the second visit heading North the restaurant was closed but there is a good one located near the garage, approx 200 metres away.

zannder wrote:Yes the cabin was fine, very spacious. No probs whatsoever. It's not the Ritz, but for a stop over it was ideal and the staff were really friendly. On the second visit heading North the restaurant was closed but there is a good one located near the garage, approx 200 metres away.

Thanks. We might pop down soon. We ate in the motel dining room. Plain fare, nothing brilliant. We did wonder about the Petrobras restaurant. It somehow looked more promising but we only ate there one night

Yes, it is definitely a pit stop and not somewhere you want to settle in, but as pit stops go it is not a bad one.