How to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile by land
I want to get from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago de Chile by land. What is the recommended route and what are the alternatives? Aprox. how much it costs and how long does it takes? Where can I book tickets and find schedules? What are the main problems that can be encountered?
Best Answer
There are several bus companies that will take you. The easiest solution, once in Buenos Aires, is to head to Retiro bus station. Go up to the second floor, and to the section for 'west bound' buses.
There will be several companies. El Rapido, Andesmar, Cata, Tur Bus, and many more - it's an extremely popular route.
As Jonik mentioned, the Plataforma 10 website is easy to use, but note that it doesn't cover all the bus companies.
If you have the time, I highly recommend stopping in Mendoza, for two reasons. One - it's my favourite town in Argentina, with the best wine around. Can recommend the All in Monkey Mendoza Hostel, and they run wine tours, or you can use Mr Hugo's bike tours. The steak is also the best I've ever tasted - El Fuego's restaurant is cheap, and better than any high class restaurant steak I've ever had.
The second reason is that it allows you to get a morning bus out of Mendoza. You want to be travelling to Santiago during the day - one, because the border crossing at 3am in the snow is VERY COLD (Depending on time of year), and two, the scenery is spectacular. Seriously, spectacular. It takes 8 hours (I've done the crossing three times), and is amazing - a great day trip.
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How do I get from Buenos Aires to Chile?
The best way to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago is to fly which takes 5h 22m and costs $8500 - $36000. Alternatively, you can bus via Mendoza, which costs $4600 - $14000 and takes 21h 58m.How do you get from Argentina to Chile?
The best way to get from Argentina to Chile is to fly which takes 1h 45m and costs $10000 - $37000. Alternatively, you can bus, which costs $3700 - $16000 and takes 24h 2m.Is there a train between Santiago and Buenos Aires?
The best way to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago without a car is to train and bus which takes 25h 9m and costs $3800 - $17000.Can you get to Chile by boat?
Getting to Chile by boat Shipping lines such as Compa\xf1\xeda Chilena de Navegaci\xf3n Interoce\xe1nica (CCNI) (www.ccni.cl) and Compa\xf1\xeda Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) (from New York and European ports) (www.csav.com) operate in Chile. The country's biggest port is San Antonio.BUENOS AIRES TO SANTIAGO DE CHILE: Travel Argentina to Chile by land (Winter in South America)
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Answer 2
Sorry about being brief on my last post - a tad more info here now. After going Retiro teminal in B.A. on Friday I was told that there would be no coaches until Monday due to disruption in the high passes around Mendoza.
The good thing is I get a couple more days in the wonderful city of Buenos Aires however I have found this page:
http://www.mendozasun.com/mendoza/37/896-tunel-cristo-redentor-mendoza-argentina-status
It gives a current status of the main pass in English and Spanish.... There is a Tunnel Open-Closed icon just above the twitter icon on the right and current info in the main content.
Hope this is of use....
Andrew
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