Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

My husband and I spent two weeks in Argentina and loved it. The people and beauty of the country are exceptional. We fly-fished, hiked, and spent time wine tasting, and each were memorable and amazing experiences.

While in San Martin de los Andes, we stayed at Tipiliuke Lodge for fishing. The lodge staff were incredible, and we have never caught so many fish! The area around the lodge was beautiful and we enjoyed the yoga and massages available onsite and hiking in the area. We spent 4 days in Bariloche hiking, fishing and kayaking. Again, amazing people and beautiful area. We had a wonderful lunch at a local brewery and made our own empanadas. The hotel we stayed at, I would not recommend as it was extremely remote and made it challenging to get dinner options, but we made do.

Our final 3 days were in Mendoza at Cavas Wine Lodge. Again, the staff, accommodations and food were amazing and we enjoyed a tango showcase and Argentinian BBQ our final night. We definitely want to come back and would highly recommend this beautiful lodge.

Katherine Yancey and Barry Blechman at Torres del Paine National park in Patagonia, Chile.

Kitty Bean Yancey’s guided hike in Torres del Paine National Park included a picnic buffet.

Imagine hotel rooms with drop-dead views of lakes, mountains and volcanoes and interacting with some of the warmest people we’ve ever encountered. That made our amazingly well-planned trip to Patagonia and Argentina Lake Country one of the more memorable trips in decades of travel. Krista and Jordan steered us to fantastic hotels and lodges (most off the beaten tourist track as we requested) and secured us exceptional rooms and activities, including dinner at a chef’s home and a private horseback ride.

Our WOW Moment was the best we’ve had. We initially thought it was the visit to Torres del Paine National Park with a guide, featuring a two-hour hike to see snow-covered peaks up close and a picnic buffet. But no, that was just the appetizer. Next day, we were taken to an historic estancia and entered the ranch house to find a locally famed musician and his daughter and son ready to give us a private concert of his songs about Patagonia. We’ll remember it always, as well as the four-course lunch including perfectly roasted guanaco and homemade matcha tea/fig ice cream.

I’m a semi-retired travel writer, but use Wendy’s WOW List experts to explore new territory because they can ensure a special trip with insider experiences.

Shadows of three people in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Without a shadow of a doubt: The travelers embracing their time in Chile and the Atacama desert.

We just returned from a splendid three-week trip to Chile, including stops in Santiago, Rapi Nui (Easter Island), Patagonia National Park, Torres del Paine, Valparaiso, and the Atacama desert. Jordan and Olivia planned the trip.

They listened to our desires and put us in nature-oriented, history- and culture-oriented lodges that offer daily excursions suitable for our ages and fitness levels. (One of us is about to be 80 and the other 69, and we’re relatively fit.)

They recommended places to visit and stay, coordinated flights (getting around long-and-skinny Chile requires many airplane rides) and transfers to and from airports. Their attention to detail made for easy traveling. We stayed at Explora Rapi Nui, Explora Patagonia in the new national park (where we crossed paths with a puma about 30 feet away), and Tierra Patagonia in Torres del Paine.

Our favorite lodge was Awasi Atacama. It gave us beautiful architecture, great food and table service, personal attention in general, one excellent guide for our entire stay, and warm and dry weather!

Salena and Allen Kern in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Salena and Allen Kern enjoyed being busy “almost every minute” in the Atacama Desert.

Jordan, Renee, and Carmen planned our trip to Chile. This was one of our “easy” trips: All we had to do was choose our dates (in this case, dependent on friends in Santiago) and choose the properties. We knew we wanted to visit the Atacama Desert and then probably spend a few days relaxing at a winery.
Could we have done this all by ourselves, on the internet? Most likely, but the benefit of expert advice was invaluable.

We compared and contrasted the properties for a bit and I finally decided to splurge on Awasi Atacama. I think that that was in retrospect a fortuitous decision: The weather was not as we expected and at Awasi every activity was designed for us as we went along, day by day, hour by hour. We lucked out with the most wonderful guide, Leo (perhaps all the guides are as wonderful), who “got” us and made sure we were happy. The food and wine at Awasi was wonderful; the service was top-notch. I can’t tell you how the staff picks up on every nuance to make sure you are pleased. I would definitely do another Awasi property if traveling to this region.

Everything on this trip went without a hitch. We were picked up on time (we take transfers for granted until the driver doesn’t show up or is an hour late, which has happened to me). After our 5-day trip to the desert, where we were busy almost every minute, we spent a couple of nights at Clos Apalta in the Colchagua Valley doing almost nothing. We did not want to come home.

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