Santiago Travel Forum

I am planning to pick up a car at the airport in Santiago and drive to Vina del Mar. The man at the hostel (Che Lagarto) told me it is not a problem and no cost and safe to park on the street out front of his place. Does this sound right and are any opinons on drving in and around Santiago?
Also, I am planning on bringing a lap top and converter. I have been told that I need a small watt converter of 50W or else it may burn out my lap top. Anyone have experience with this?
One finally question: Is there a $100 fee charged at the airport when I land?
Thanks for any and all help.

I see at http://www.international-electrical-supplies.com/electricguide.html that Chile's electrical specs are 220v and 50Hz (I haven't been there myself).

The power supply for your laptop (I assume that you have an AC cord with a black box on it?) is 99% likely to be able to handle this specification...I would expect your power supply (the black box) to say something like "100v-240v" and "50/60Hz". 99%+ of power supplies for electronics sold in the US in the last 20 years have supported multiple electrical configurations.

That being said (and you should check to make sure this is true for your device), normally, the only thing you need is a plug adaptor, to connect your US plug to the Chilean plug format.

Thus, you DON'T need any sort of converter or transformer; it's better to let your own power supply handle the conversion. The only exception would be if you were going someplace that had particularly "dirty" power, but I wouldn't expect that in any major urban area.

Make sense?

Bill

If you are from the US (cannot see this as you have not added any profile) the info on the official airport website says that you would have to pay US$ 131 upon arrival:

http://www.aeropuertosantiago.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=51

If you only want to drive from Santiago to Vina del Mar I would surely not rent a car at all. Public transportation (subway, buses) is perfect for this trip.

Otherwise I would say driving is no problem in Santiago, just parking.

The Vina I have experienced some years ago was a safe place, so if this has not changed dramatically I would believe what the hostel manager told you. But local VT members will surely be able to tell you more.

Hi there,

I live in Santiago and travel to the coast frequently. Personally I donīt like to drive in Santiago as the people drive a little crazy but on the highways it isnīt so bad. Parking on the street is usually fine although finding a park may be difficult. If the owner of the hostel seems to think there will be street parking available nearby then that is the best advice you can get. Will your car be safe?.... well that really comes down to the luck of the draw. It is not unknown in Chile to have cars parked on streets broken into or stolen.

I agree though that if you are planning to only drive between Santiago and Viņa then hiring a car seems a bit of a waste of money. The Tur Bus or Pullman bus services between Santiago and Viņa del Mar are quick and cheap. When you arrive in Viņa you would be within walking distance of your hostal from the bus terminal too. All the sites around Viņa and Valpo are easily accessible by public transport.

Regarding your laptop... you shouldn't need a converter. As has been mentioned most laptops have their own converters. What you may need however is an adaptor plug. I donīt know where you are from to know what kind of plug you use but in Chile the plugs consist of two or three round pins in a row (the middle pin being the earth). Adaptor plugs usually have just two round pins.

The airport fee is a reciprocity fee that is charged to all citizens travelling on US, Mexico, Canada, Australia and Albania passports. If you are travelling on one of these passports then you would have to pay the charges:
Australia US$ 61
Albania US$ 30
Canada US$ 132
USA US$ 131
Mexico US$ 23

Cheers,
Rhianon

Just don't leave things of value inside the car, just in case. If the hostel guy says it's safe, it should be, but try no to leave anything at sight anyway (wherever you park).

But Rhianon is right - depending on what you plan to do, you might not need to rent a car. In some places in Santiago is more difficult to find a parking spot (or you have to use a paid parking). For downtown Santiago is much better to use the metro (even for the locals). And it's true that driving in Santiago could be quite stressing, specially at rush hour...
Although on February Santiago's streets are less crowded because everybody's on vacations... and Viņa is crowded instead! So it may be difficult to find a parking spot there (probably not out front the hostel, but at the beach or downtown, etc. You will probably have to pay to park at the beach).

On the other hand, the highways are good, and if you want to visit some wineries on the road or go along the coast (North of Viņa, for example), you could use a car and visit more places.

You got some pretty good info on the other topics.

I want to recommend
http://www.visitchile.cl/aprathotelsantiago1_eng.htm