If you’re planning a trip to Chile, you may be wondering how much you should budget. How much are hotels? What should you expect to pay for tours? How much should you budget for food? This article will answer all of those questions so you can create a realistic Chile travel budget.
About My Travel Style
Before we get started, I want to give a little insight to my travel style. I think this is important as travel styles can vary wildly. Your travel style will dramatically affect your budget. My hope is that you can take my travel style as a base and adjust your budget accordingly.
I traveled to Chile in October 2023 and spent nine days (eight nights) exploring the country. I arrived in Santiago, spent some time in Viña del Mar, and finished in Puerto Varas. During that time, I traveled solo so all costs were up to me. While I could have saved money by staying in hostels, I prefer private rooms. Every night, I had a private room (and private bathroom). I did some self exploring, but I also took a handful of tours to visit places that would be difficult to see on my own.
A Note
This article will use US Dollars (USD) as a base. Chile uses the Chilean Peso (CLP), but I always find it easier to generate a travel budget with my own currency.
How Much Did I Spend in Chile?
Excluding my international flights, I spent $857.59 USD across my nine days in Chile. That works out to about $95 USD per day. Let’s look at how that breaks down.
| Category | Total Spent | Daily Average |
| Hotels | $360.48 | $40.05 |
| Intercity Transport (Buses, Flights) | $126.06 | $14.01 |
| Subways, City Buses | $28.26 | $3.14 |
| Food | $194.73 | $21.64 |
| Activities | $146.87 | $16.32 |
| Miscellaneous | $1.20 | $0.13 |
| Total | $857.59 | $95.29 |
A Further Breakdown
Sure, numbers are fine, but lets break down my Chile travel budget further by giving more detail for each category. I’ll also give some ideas for ways you can adjust the budget, either to save money or to travel more luxuriously.
Hotels
I spent $360 on hotels for eight nights in Chile. While $360 may seem like a lot of money at first glance, that’s a bargain when you’re used to hotel prices in the United States. So what did $360 really get me?
In Santiago, I stayed at a big name hotel chain. I searched on booking.com for hotels in my budget and there weren’t a lot of options. But, I found a Best Western that averaged $56 per night. Since I’ve stayed in so many Best Western hotels in the last few years, I have status with the hotel chain and it was a no brainer for me to stay there, even if it was slightly over my budget.
In Viña del Mar, I found a hotel for $36 per night. The room was small and basic, but had a private bathroom and a good location. The only downside is that there was no one on staff who spoke English, so I had to use a mixture of my broken Spanish and Google Translate to get by. For that price, it was worth it.
In Puerto Varas, I was right in the middle. I spent $46 per night on a private room in a hostel.
Adjustments to the Travel Budget
If you are comfortable with hostel dorm beds, the amount spent on accommodation will drastically decrease. Personally, I value my own comfort and privacy, so dorm rooms aren’t necessarily an option for me. But for those who don’t mind, you could get away with a budget of $15 to $20 USD per night.
For more luxurious travelers, you’ll find nicer hotels in every city. If you have the budget, don’t feel like you need to limit yourself. The really nice hotels do exist and the sky is the limit.
The bottom line: for basic travelers, I’d suggest about $50 USD per night for a private room. You may find options less than that, but this can be a good starting point for your Chile travel budget.
Intercity Transport
This budget includes my bus journey from Santiago to Viña del Mar (and back), my flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt, and my shuttle from the Puerto Montt airport to Puerto Varas (and back). So while $126 may look high, I got a lot out of that.
The bus from Santiago to Viña del Mar cost me about $6 USD (technically 6,000 CLP), each way. I did not book in advance (there was no need) and just bought it from a counter in the bus station.
My shuttle from the Puerto Montt airport to Puerto Varas (and back) was a fixed price. There is no city bus connecting Puerto Varas to the Puerto Montt airport, but there is a fixed price of 22,000 CLP, or about $22, for the journey. This was a private transfer that I arranged through my hostel, but any taxi from the airport would give you the same price.
Finally, there’s my flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt. I booked early, but still paid $61 for the flight on Sky Airlines. This included the cost of the flight as well as the cost of my carry on bag.
Adjustments to the Travel Budget
The biggest adjustment to this budget is from Santiago to Puerto Varas. For budget travelers, you can take an overnight bus from Santiago to Puerto Varas. This will cost less than the flight, plus you’ll save the cost of a hotel night.
And if you’re really trying to squeeze every last penny out of your budget, you can save a little bit of money in Puerto Montt. Instead of taking a shuttle/taxi directly to your hotel in Puerto Varas, you could take a bus from the airport to Puerto Montt and then another bus from Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas. There are no direct buses between the Puerto Montt airport and Puerto Varas. While using local buses can definitely save a few dollars, I think the convenience was worth the extra cost.
Subway/City Buses
For my transportation within cities, I stuck to buses and the metro in Santiago. Admittedly, most of this cost came from Viña del Mar.
In Santiago, the metro is cheap and convenient. I spent $14 on the subway across my 48 hours in Santiago. This includes the cost of the Bip! card (a 2,000 CLP, or $2 USD cost), plus the cost of the actual metro rides.
In Viña del Mar, this number increases. I attempted to visit La Campana National Park, which requires taking the train all the way to Limache. Then, I had to transfer to a local bus for the rest of the journey. I also visited Valparaíso from Viña del Mar via train, and headed north to the Concón Dunes via local bus. All of these journeys cost $14, but it should have been less. Something got messed up with my Bip! card in Limache and I’m pretty sure I ended up paying more than I should have (although it was only a few extra dollars).
In Puerto Varas, I never felt the need to use the local buses, so I didn’t have any costs here.
Adjustments to the Travel Budget
Aside from my card issues in Limache, there really isn’t much to do to save money. This averaged just $3 per day during my trip, or $5.60 for the days I actually used public transportation, so I don’t think this is a budget breaker. The only way to save money is to limit your journeys on public transportation. That said, I don’t think this area of your Chile travel budget will be a deal breaker.
Food
This is the one area where I spent more than normal while traveling. I averaged nearly $22 per day on food. This number could have been lower, but I had extra pesos that I needed to use up.
My travel philosophy is to eat one big meal out per day. For breakfast, I will either eat included breakfast at the hotel or will get some basic groceries (fruit and cereal). I’ll then eat my big meal for lunch. If I was still hungry for dinner, I would grab snacks from the grocery store. Oh, and I had a scoop of ice cream every day.
In Santiago, my food costs were normal (for me) and I averaged about $13 per day. In Viña del Mar and Puerto Varas, I treated myself and my food costs jumped to $25 per day. That said, I was very happy with nearly meal I ate in these cities. And sometimes, you just have to treat yourself.
The high food costs came from treating myself to nice lunches nearly everyday. They were delicious and filled me up, but it was definitely more expensive than it needed to be.
Adjustments to the Travel Budget
I believe my food costs in Santiago for more in line with my typical travel style. So for the average person, I’d recommend budgeting $15 to $20 USD per day. This assumes that you’ll either have breakfast included at your hotel or will be doing grocery store breakfasts. It also allows one good meal per day (although it doesn’t have to be fancy) as well as a little bit extra for some snacks late in the day. And for your good meal, make it lunch. You’ll find lunch specials in every city in Chile which will definitely help your travel budget.
Activities
Activity costs vary dramatically based on what you do.
In Santiago, I spent money on the cable car to San Cristobal. It cost me about $5 USD and it was the only activity I spent money on in both Santiago and Viña del Mar. If you’re self exploring, you’ll find plenty of free, or cheap, activities. Your budget can be very low here.
So how did I get to $146 when I only spent $5 in Santiago? The answer is simple: guided tours.
I took three tours during my time in Chile so I could visit places that were very difficult, or even impossible, to do on my own. Of these three tours, I did one in Santiago (to El Cajon del Maipo) and two in Puerto Varas (to Osorno Volcano and Petrohué Falls and to Chiloé Island). On average, each tour cost about $35 at the time of booking.
However, that wasn’t the final price. For both of my tours in Puerto Varas, I had to pay additional fees. For the Osorno Volcano and Petrohué Falls, I paid an extra 13,000 CLP ($13 USD) in fees (7,000 for a national park entrance fee and another 6,000 to our boat captain). Then on Chiloé Island, I had to pay an additional 9,000 CLP ($9 USD) for our tour at Piñuhuil.
So, after all of that, what is my advice for your Chile travel budget? For days when you are self exploring, $5 USD per day is a good starting point. For guided tours, I’d recommend budgeting about $45 per person, per tour. Your tour may be less than this, but this helps to budget for some of those extra add ons (that are mandatory).
Adjustments to the Travel Budget
The biggest budget breaker were the guided tours. But even still, I’d recommend them, especially if you pair them with very low costs on activities elsewhere in your itinerary. As a solo traveler, I found the guided tours to be comparable with the cost of doing it solo.
That said, if you’re traveling with at least one other person, it may be more cost effective to rent a car rather than paying for multiple people to take the tour. The larger the group, the larger the savings.
Miscellaneous
This category is so small, it barely counts. But I did spend $1.20 on a sim card, so I’m including it in my total for my Chile travel budget.
A Reminder About Inflation
Naturally, prices tend to go up as time goes on. All of these numbers were from my trip in October 2023.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post gave you some insight into how much a trip to Chile should cost. While it may be more expensive than some of its South American neighbors, I found Chile to be a very affordable destination. While I certainly didn’t live my most luxurious life, I wasn’t a broke backpacker either. For $100 per day, I had a great balance.
Continue Your Adventure
Santiago: So many trips to Chile start or end in its capital city, so it seems a shame to not spend at least one day exploring Santiago. Or if you have more than one day in Santiago, consider a visit to El Cajon del Maipo.
Valparaíso and Viña del Mar: Two cities that routinely get added to Chilean Itineraries are Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. They are great but don’t miss out on some of the region’s day trips, including a visit to La Campana National Park.
Puerto Varas: Visit the charming town of Puerto Varas, but also take advantage of some of the day trips, including the Osorno Volcano and Petrohué Falls and a visit to the island of Chiloé.
Chile Itinerary: For first time visitors, I recommend my 9 Day Chile Itinerary. Visit the capital city of Santiago, the beaches in Viña del Mar, and head south to Puerto Varas.
Chile Travel Guide: Check out my Chile Travel Guide for everything you need to start planning your trip, including itineraries, city guides, travel tips, and a detailed budget.