Ocean, Street Art & Vineyard In a Day :: BookMundi Tour

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Chile really does cater to all of your travel desires. You can experience almost every type of landscape in this incredibly long country.

Despite it’s length, it’s also very, very thin! Which means you can have breakfast in the mountains and lunch by the ocean, before going back to the mountains again!

This weekend, thanks to BookMundi, Carlos and I got to fit a whole lot into a Saturday. We woke up in bustling Santiago before walking along the beach and dipping our toes into the Pacific in Viña del Mar, then we ate fresh fish on the top of Valparaíso’s famous hills, before working it all off with a walk around the city. Not to forget, our final stop at a stunning vineyard. Phew!

Writing that all down sounds like a whirlwind, but thanks to the well organised 9-hour long tour, we got plenty of time to soak up all of these different parts of Chile’s central region.

Carlos and I woke up at 7:30am ready for our 8:30am departure in style. We were picked up by our guide for the day, Frank in a comfortable van with aircon, which was definitely necessary considering the sweltering temperatures in the city at the moment. Summer really is in full swing (although it’s technically still Spring!  How?!)After picking up a few other passengers, we headed in the direction of the coast. Soon to stop off for our first Chilean treat in Curacaví: a sample of Chicha, a delicious start to the action packed day!Before long, we had arrived in Viña del Mar, a modern coastal city, where we were greeted by fresh sea air and beautiful, blue water, not to mention the lovely soft sand too.

It’s been a little while since we’ve been to the beach and nothing beats walking bare foot while admiring this view, does it? It made us think that we need to plan a beach visit soon!!  As it was before the peak season, there were only a few people enjoying what Viña del Mar has to offer, which made it even better!We also got to see a few of Viña del Mar’s other top picks, places that even after living in Chile for two years, I haven’t seen.  We stopped off by a Moái, which you may recognise from the world famous Easter Island, unlike many of the Moái’s that can be found in other parts of Chile, Frank told us that this one was the real deal!We saw the flower clock up close and learnt about the history of it, something I knew nothing about!  When you learn about the history of something, it definitely makes you appreciate it more!  Thanks Frank!And, we watched a natural sea lion show.  We saw these guys playing around and sunbathing, while admiring a pretty stunning ocean and Valparaíso view at the same time!After working up an appetite, we sat down to the most delicious fish and seafood lunch (not included in the tour price) at the top of one of Valparaíso’s famous hills.  Not only was everything so very tasty, but this was the perfect chance to get to know everyone on the tour that little bit more. It’s also fun to talk to other travellers and get an injection of travel inspiration too!  The tour was made up of a great group of all different ages from a variety of countries.  Carlos and I also got to tell them lots about Chile too!

Carlos’ hake and seafood dish served with chips.My perfectly cooked salmon and prawn dish served with a side salad.Not to mention the view that we got to eat too, probably one of Valpo’s very best!  It was hard not to spend the whole meal admiring it!  Frank had booked our table for 12 ahead of time, so despite the restaurant being very busy, we had our long table waiting for us.After devouring the delicious lunch, we set off on a walking tour of the city. Despite having been to Valpo lots of times before, you learn so much more when you go on a tour. Frank told us about the history of the city and some of the street art murals, too.

And as usual, I got to see some pieces and buildings that I had never seen before – I love how Valparaíso always manages to surprise you!As if we weren’t already satisfied with everything the tour offered, we had one more stop, and it was a beautiful one!

We went to Vineyard Indómita, which is set up high with the most stunning lush green views. It was the perfect way to end the day before heading back to Santiago. I just couldn’t get enough of these views.  Having never been to a vineyard before, I got to learn lots about the different types of wine and the landscape too.

What a day! Carlos and I had a fantastic time exploring some of Chile’s central region on this tour with BookMundi.  Our guide Frank was extremely knowledgable (and not to mention his trilingual abilities), and we managed to squeeze in so much without it feeling rushed.

BookMundi is a company that offers tours all around the world!  They have a wide and varied range of tours, trips and holidays in Chile, which allow you explore the very best of what Chile has to offer.  You’ll find mountain trips, desert trips and everything in between as they actually offer 104 tours and holidays in this amazingly thin and long country!  So there is something for everyone to enjoy.

We were guests of BookMundi but of course, all opinions are my own.

Where have you recently explored?

Marcella xx