Guided Chile Tours

Accommodations Review

Explora at Rapa Nui was perfect.

Meals Review

Fabulous food. Great service.

Crew & Guides Review

Informed, interested, and knowledgeable. The hikes were gorgeous and led well.

Transportation Review

Does't really apply. We arranged our own flights

Traveler Advice

Make sure you know about the form to enter Easter Island. And have it filled out with on phone or print before you depart. Also, if you can afford Explora, it is really the best way to do this trip as the hikes are not available to others. The town was fine but not that interesting, except for Sunday mass which was such a great thing to do.

Meals Review

Unbelievably top-quality service and amazing food, both at the EcoCamp and on board Quark's Sea Adventurer. In fact, all of us guests spontaneously cheered the chef during one of our EcoCamp dinners, and the service on board the Sea Adventurer was on par with any Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City (where I live). Both venues did an excellent job managing my dietary restrictions (pescatarian).

Crew & Guides Review

Franco, Sebastien, and Pablo were simply extraordinary, with a passion for Patagonia and a genuine desire to make every guest's experience extra-special. Franco even dived after my backpack as it was rolling off a cliff; Sebastien made time to get to know each guest over dinner and drinks deep into the evenings; Pablo has an encyclopedic knowledge of local flora and fauna that turned every day trek into an unforgettable experience.  

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Andrew was great at providing advanced reading materials, packing lists, and answering all manner of pre-trip questions quickly and accurately. He had great advice and I consider Andrew to be primarily responsible for ensuring that this 2-in-1 trip combo worked so beautifully.

Traveler Advice

Bring twice as much camera film as you think you'll need. Prepare to be stunned by your fabulous surroundings.

Accommodations Review

The Hotel Orly is excellent. EcoCamp is a bit rough (even in the "suites") but that is to be expected. This would not pull down our rating from excellent.

Meals Review

Plainly, the chef at EcoCamp takes great pride in his or her work.

Crew & Guides Review

Our guides in Santiago were extraordinary. The first day of our safari was beyond our physical abilities, but our guide had assured us that it would not be. Your materials had made the difficulty fairly clear, and we had decided to take the "easy" routes, but there was fairly strong pressure from our guides (and others in our group) to do this "hard" trek on our first day, when we really had no reference point to know how hard "hard" would be. We (now) understand that "trekking" is serious exercise, but that was not explained to us (I think everyone just assumed that we knew what "trekking" means; but for folks over 50, that is a relatively new concept of which many of us are not really aware). Otherwise, the rest of the safari was absolutely fabulous! (We went "easy" after that first day!) Claudio was an outstanding guide on our third day.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Clothing requirements for EcoCamp could have been clearer due to the stark changes from cold to hot (and vice versa), even within a few hours. Transportation was very smooth.

This was a trip of a lifetime (particularly because we tacked it onto the a cruise around Cape Horn, which is equally wonderful). But we are being candid about the problems mentioned above simply to offer what we hope is constructive criticism to help you improve a truly wonderful adventure even more for folks like us.

Itinerary Review

Amazing trip. I normally do a lot of research and planning but since Arielle helped to identify amazing options with a lot of structure baked into the itinerary, I was able to just tell my buddy we could show up and figure things out for the day. It reduced a lot of the typical planning burden.

Traveler Advice

Have fun!

Crew & Guides Review

Explora guides were knowledgeable and engaging. They did a better job to speak a combination of English and Spanish than guides on other parts of our trip.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

I really appreciate AdventureSmith/Arielle with all the suggestions and support.

Accommodations Review

Accommodations on the Sylvia Earle and Explora were great.

Meals Review

Food on the Sylvia Earle was great. The food at the Explora lodge in Patagonia was underwhelming, especially for the price. Too much repetition and the entrees had no vegetables and way to much puree. We wanted to take away the chef's Vitamix. Proteins were properly cooked but lack sauces and flavour. They were too bland.

Crew & Guides Review

Roger on the Sylvia Earle was a professional, safe and knowledgeable expedition leader...The others with Aurora were all fantastic. The Explora guides were uniformly awesome.

Itinerary Review

Antarctica and Patagonia were both fantastic, in different and unique ways...We liked all of the places we visited. Not a single dud...Both places were on the bucket list. We love nature and active vacations in unique places.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Great communication...Super experience with Leslie.

Traveler Advice

The fly/fly journey to Antarctica is stressful because you aren't guaranteed to get there. The voyage before ours was cancelled after 3 attempts to get to land at King George Island. This would be soul crushing. Next time I would sail/fly because you are at least going to get to complete the voyage.

Accommodations Review

No complaints.

Meals Review

Not used to three course meals for lunch and dinner. I prefer simpler cuisine but overall, it was very good at both Australis and Explora. I had no food issues concerning my celiac disease.

Itinerary Review

Torres del Paine was the place I enjoyed the most. The Australis cruise was a close second with the trip to Cape Horn and visits to the various glaciers. The visits to Buenos Aires and Santiago and the corresponding tours were very good. I was just more excited about the “nature” part of the trip than the “city” part.

Transportation Review

There were no issues with the arrangements. All connections with drivers and tours went off without a hitch...it all fit perfectly.

Crew & Guides Review

At both Australis and Explora, the guides were excellent in all aspects mentioned above. For the Australis cruise I had Valentina, Sophia, and Gabro as guides for excursions. At Explora I had Papo, Ignacio, and Cata for excursions. The guides for the city tours were excellent as well. Federico Vega in Buenos Aires, Luis in Santiago, and Tomas in Valparaiso. Very professional and eager to provide information and answer questions.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

We have worked with Andrew Browning before and his advice was essential for designing this trip and his final instructions email had everything we needed. I plan to contact you guys for the next trip.

Traveler Advice

Follow the packing instructions provided - there is a very wide range of weather conditions possible. If you are going to Buenos Aires and Santiago on the same trip, be prepared for much warmer weather than you will experience “down south.”

Accommodations Review

The rooms and service at Explora were excellent!

Itinerary Review

Explora Patagonia was our favorite. Numerous choices for excursions. Groups were kept to a small size. Days were active, whether one all day excursion or two half day excursions. My husband is an avid hiker.

Crew & Guides Review

All trip leaders at Explora were excellent.

Transportation Review

Wish we had spent Saturday night at Explora and traveled to Punta Arenas Sunday morning, as our flight was late afternoon. Everything is shut down in Punta Arenas on Sunday so it was a very long day of waiting for a 6:00pm embarkment.

Traveler Advice

Prepare clothing/accessories as recommended. We needed all the layers, gloves, etc. and could have been very uncomfortable with them.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Appreciate all of Leslie's help! Flawless execution.