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Travel - International
AIR: Chile has one privately owned national airline: LAN-Chile (LA), which deals with international flights. Its subsidary, LADECO (UC), deals with domestic flights.
Approximate flight times: From Santiago to London is 16 hours 30 minutes.
International airports: Santiago (SCL) (Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez). The airport is 21km (13 miles) from Santiago (travel time – 30 minutes). Bus services to the city centre operate 24 hours a day. Return is from the underground stations Los Héroes, Estación Central and Las Rejas or Moneda/corner of San Martín. Taxis to the city are also available. Airport facilities include bar, bureaux de change, restaurants, car hire, post office and tourist office.
Air passes: The Mercosur Airpass: Valid within Argentina, Brazil, Chile (except Easter Island), Paraguay and Uruguay. Participating airlines include Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) (however, flights on this airline cannot be combined with any others, as it has no agreements and its tickets are not accepted by other airlines), Austral (AU), LAN-Chile (LA), LAPA (MJ), Pluna (PU), Transbrasil Airlines (TR) and VARIG (RG) with the subsidiary airlines of Nordeste (JH) and Rio Sul (SL). The pass can only be purchased by passengers who live outside South America, who have a return ticket. Only eight flight coupons are allowed with a maximum of four coupons for each country and is valid for seven to a maximum of 30 days. At least two countries must be visited (to a maximum of five) and the flight route cannot be changed. A maximum of two stopovers is allowed per country.
The Visit South America Pass: Must be bought outside South America in country of residence and allows unlimited travel to 36 cities in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile (except Easter Island), Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Participating airlines include LAN-Chile (LA), Aer Lingus (EI), American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Finnair (AY), IBERIA (IB) and Qantas (QF). A minimum of three flights must be booked, with no maximum; the maximum stay is 60 days, with no minimum, and prices depend on the amount of flight zones covered. For both air passes children under 12 years of age are entitled to a 33 per cent discount and infants (under two years old) only pay ten per cent of the adult fare. For further details contact one of the participating airlines.
Departure tax: US$18 for distances over 500km.
SEA: The principal port is Empremar in Valparaíso. Important shipping lines are Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica (CCNI), Compañía Argentina de Navegacion Dodero (CADND) (from Buenos Aires); Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) (from New York and European ports); Delta Line Cruises (from the USA via the Panama Canal) and Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Silversea Cruises.
RAIL: Some rail connections with neighbouring countries use buses for part of the journey. There are trains running between Arica and Tacna in Peru and La Paz in Bolivia.
ROAD: The Pan American Highway enters Chile through Arica. TEPSA buses come to Chile from as far north as Ecuador. There are also services from Argentina and Brazil to Santiago.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
Terms and Conditions apply.
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