Santiago Getting There & Away

Getting There & Away

By plane Santiago (SCEL or SCL) is the main gateway from travellers around the world. All major airline alliances include Santiago in their network, i.e. Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam Qantas and LAN operate a code-sharing flight from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland, New Zealand every week. It's at least 12 hours each way, with a stop in Auckland, but the cabin crew is attentive to a fault. Air Canada operates a daily flight from Toronto American Airlines and LAN operate flights from Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Washington (D.C.) and Dallas. Some of them will have layovers in Guayaquil or Lima. Air France, Iberia (code-sharing with LAN), LAN and Lufthansa (code-sharing with SWISS) operate daily flights into Santiago from their hubs via Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires or directly. Air Madrid is the only charter airline which serves Santiago on a regular basis. Flight originate from Madrid, Barcelona and Tenerife Norte. Prices start at €500 (US$600) per round-trip. (note: meal is excluded!) Please note that flight times from Europe vary between 18 hours from Frankfurt (due to stop-over in Sao Paulo) to 12 hours from Madrid and is considerably tiring! Routes to Europe are used with the Airbus 340 on this night flight route. Airlines serving North America mainly opt for the Boeing 767 on their routes to Chile. The airport in Santiago is a considerable distance from the city center. It can be an expensive taxi ride. Tur-bus is a nice alternative, you´ll find them in a kiosk in the center of the baggage claim in the airport, they charge $7 USD for door-to-door shuttle service, or $3 USD for a bus service. By car Entering Santiago by car, you'll probably find yourself on the Autopista Central. To use this freeway you need a "TAG", which you can buy from service stations. One day passes are Ch$3500. With a bit of planning and consulting your map before you head into the capital, you can avoid using the freeway altogether. This is best done by not entering from Ruta 5. By bus There are bus connections to all major destinations on the continent. From Mendoza in Argentina it's a beautiful eight hour bus ride crossing the Andes. The border crossing is at about 4000m. Be aware that it is not allowed to bring fruit, vegetables or animal products into Chile, and all luggage will get checked at the border.