Santiago Travel Forum

I'm arriving in Santiago in a party of four by air from out of the country on Saturday March 1 2008.

We will be returning to Santiago eventually from Valparaiso but wish to leave the next day Sunday March 2 with 1-way bus tickets to Mendoza Argentina. I have been unable to reserve any tickets and I wonder what difficulties we may have if we arrive in Santiago with nothing reserved the day before we need the tickets.

I'd appreciate any practical advice. I've written a government communication which has gone unanswered to date.

Are their legal constraints which are behind the difficulty of obtaining reservations from outside of Chile?

You need a Chilean issued credit card to book online. It has to do with how the financial system works here. Usually there is no problem booking your tickets the day before or even the same day, unless it is the start of a long weekend, Easter or similar. There other sales points for buying TurBus tickets but none that I know of open on a weekend, so you'll have to get them at the TurBus station. The other lines leave from a much more chaotic station in the next block, so try TurBus first. The easiest would be for one of you to take the TurBus airport bus to their bus station and buy the tickets on the Saturday. You will be on the metro line there and can then join the others. Important: this is an international trip and you need everyone's passport to book the tickets.

You should be OK purchasing that Saturday for the next day as I believe most chilenos will be back from their vacations (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) and the big Vendimia event in Mendoza occurs on the 8th.

Thanks to all of you for your helpful information. It is a concern to be CERTAIN of what will be practical in advance because it could be very disruptive to our plans if things did not work out. We need to be able to honor other reservations.

I'm wondering if there are good hotels near the Tur-Bus terminal? I'm thinking it might make sense for all 4 of us to travel from the airport to the Tur-bus terminal to purchase our tickets when we arrive. That way we'd all be able to discuss the resolution of any difficulty or surprise which might arise. If the terminal is near the metro we'd still be well situated to get to the downtown for tourism.

The Universidad de Santiago metro station is connected to the TurBus station. That is line 1 which will cut through the whole downtown area. There is luggage storage there. Please be careful in the bus station with your belongings. Like most bus stations everywhere, it attracts pickpockets etc.

There is a Turbus Hotel (I'd say between a three and four stars by Chile standards) on the third floor of the Turbus terminal. A double room costs $65 if you pay in US dollars (taking advantage of the tourist 19% IVA tax exemption). It is clean, comfortable, well insulated from the street noise from Alameda and the terminal, of contemporary design, has sat TV, a fridge and includes breakfast.

The terminal is not in a tourist appealing location but the convenient connection to the Metro to visit other parts of Santiago and the ability to book the earliest bus to Mendoza are good considerations. There is a Lider hypermarket a couple of blocks to the west on Alameda.

I believe the first bus to Mendoza is 8 am-ish which would be impossible to make via the Metro on a Sunday. Even if you do the taxi route, there is still the early morning personal rush factor when you could be enjoying a leisurely breakfast and fresh cafe granado or capuccino at the Turbus hotel. The first bus gets you to Mendoza with 5 or so daylight hours to spare.

Happy traveling.

Thanks again for most helpful information. It is appreciated.