One Week in South America: Santiago, Chile and Mendoza Argentina- This itinerary is best for the traveler that likes to be on the move. It will have some great food stops, art, markets, and the best wineries in Mendoza. The best food and restaurants of Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina, all self guided.
Overview
When To Go
We went on this trip during the winter holidays, overlapping with Christmas and New Years to use those extra vacation days. December to March is the prime season to go to Santiago and Mendoza especially for the warmest weather. December and January may be the most crowded months as many people have time off for the holidays. We went in December/January and never felt like it was overly crowded.
Days 1-3: Santiago
Our first two days were dedicated to the city of Santiago, Chile. I am not much of a city explorer but I do love trying affordable places to eat and drink in cities. And in Santiago there are so many options. We had less than 48 hours so we mostly ate in the Bellavista, downtown and Lastarria areas of Santiago. I made a list of all of our favorite places to eat and drink in Santiago during our two days there. Check out places we went to during our time there in my article Where to Eat and Drink in Santiago.
Some other places to visit in Santiago would be:
Where To Stay
For this itinerary we based a lot stops in the Bellavista and Lastarria areas of Santiago. There are plenty of places to choose from on AirBnb if looking for an apartment (use this link for$55 off your first stay). But we wanted to be able to schedule taxi airport pick ups and drop offs with our hotel. So we looked at booking.com to book with Apart Hotel B.
Day 1:
Arrive
From the Santiago Airport we got in our arranged taxi right away. It did take us a little bit longer than expected according to Google Maps. But our taxi was a flat rate with our hotel so we were glad about that. Ubers are not technically allowed in Chile. But people still use them, and they may be harder to get coming from the airport, that is why we decided to arrange a taxi with our hotel. Ubers might ask you to sit in the front seat if you choose to get one. We arrived just in time to get settled in at ApartHotelB, get cleaned up and head out to dinner.
Peumayén Ancestral Food
If I could suggest one place to eat in Santiago I would choose Peumayén Ancestral Food. This was such a unique experience. Peumayén Ancestral Food is known for creating traditional Chile cuisine with a modern twist. When making reservations you can choose between a few different dining options. We chose the Interior Patio room as it gave us the option to the set menus or ordering a la carte. We both ended up ordering the set menus, a red meat course (all red meat main course) for my husband and a mixed meats course (red, fish and veggie main course) for me, both a 23 bite meal. My favorite was the bread course, they gave us bites of different styles of how bread used to be made in different regions of Chile.
Siete Negronis
Not quite ready to head in for the night we stopped at Siete Negronis. We had the perfect night caps. I would suggest ordering the ‘Smoky’, we both loved the presentation and the smoky flavor.
Day 2:
Our full day in Santiago was dedicated to finding all the best places to eat and drink in Santiago, Chile. I think we were quite successful as I would suggest to visit all of these places if planning to go to Santiago.
Breakfast At The Hotel
Our hotel at Apart Hotel B provided a breakfast. We ate a small breakfast there and started pretty early in the day, meeting a friend to explore our first few stops.
Plaza de Armas
Plaza de Armas is a square located downtown. It showcases many statues, park benches and government buildings such at the National History Museum and Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral. On weekends and holidays you may even find some outdoor markets pop up around here.
Paseo Bandera
This was one of my favorite sites in Santiago. I am sucker for some colorful murals and fun playful art in cities. Bandera Street was created in 2017 by artist Dasic Fernández. The paintings on the street walking paths have faded but I still loved the pedestrian bridge to bring some bright colors to the city. To find more street art in Santiago check out this article on Discovering the Colorful Side to Santiago.
Constitution Plaza
Another architectural site would be the Constitution Plaza. Here, if interested in museums, you could visit the Cultural Museum.
Emporio Zunino
I was so excited to try Emporio Zunino as it is known to make some of the best empanadas in Santiago. It has been open since 1930. Just be careful to carry cash, we made that mistake of not having cash yet, but we were lucky our friend did and spotted us. These were not typical empanadas, they were more of a layered pastry, we ordered a cheese and a meat. The meat was more of a stew, great but surprising.
Mercado Central
I will say I had higher hopes for this market as I believed it was more like a fresh food market. But inside was more of a business vibe, with restaurants and souvenir like shops. We killed time walking around here before our next eating and drinking stops, I believe this could be easily missed.
Ópera Catedral
My hope for this place was to check out their rooftop bar. But for some reason it was closed when we showed up during the day. This does seem like a great place if looking to sit outside. But we were hot, thirsty and ready for some A/C so we tried out first local beer at Ópera Catedral.
Hogs
We have this weird love to try a hot dog in each city we go to. It seems most countries have their own version of how to serve a hot dog. A lot of places in Santiago seemed to be very mayonnaise heavy, so Hogs was a perfect balance as they had many different options. This was a great lunch stop as we shared one with fries. But I will say I still haven’t found a hot dog that beats the Icelandic one.
Open Market
Not sure if this is something that happens every weekend or not. But we did get the chance to walk through a outdoor vendor market along our walk from Hogs to Chipe Libre along José Victorino Lastarria street. Lots of local vendors and a great place to buy survivors, such as handmade jewelry, prints and paintings. Make sure you have cash!
Chipe Libre
Not hungry but ready to try more cuisine in Santiago we stopped at Chipe Libre. They are best known for their Pisco Sours. And we were on a mission to try all of the different types of Pisco Sours while in Chile. We first started out with some more refreshing drinks as we were not used to the summer heat being that it was December. Then moved on to their famous Pisco Sours. I loved the frothy egg whites on top of these, I am a sucker for cocktails with egg whites.
Bocanaraz
Dinner at Bocanaraz is another must in Santiago. Endless options of dishes to choose from, but we went with oysters, oxtail, and pork rounds to share. We also each ordered a flight of wine to enjoy with our meal. Every bite was delicious and we couldn’t believe what we were eating for the price. We were constantly shocked of the quality of our meals in all of South America, and Santiago especially.
Jose Ramon 227
To cap our night off we found some craft brews at Jose Ramon 227. If we were not so stuffed from the meals before this also seemed like a great place to eat. The sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked great, and shareable as they were HUGE!
Day 3:
Flight to Mendoza
Our next area in South America to explore was Mendoza, Argentina. We had an early morning flight so we just stayed in the Hotel Airport Holiday Inn. I was so glad we did this as when we went to Santiago in the first part of this trip, traffic was really bad to get downtown from the airport. Didn’t want to risk missing our flight.
Depending on your flight time you may be able to add an activity on this day either in Santiago or Mendoza.
Days 4-8: Mendoza
An early morning flight landed us in Mendoza to stay for 4 nights.
We spent 4 days and 3 full days in the Mendoza wine region of Argentina. This was something I was looking forward to for a long time. I wanted to make an itinerary in which we could explore all the different wine regions; we got to see the Lujan de Cuyo Valley, Maipu Valley, and Uco Valley. I felt like this highlighted the best regions and wineries in Mendoza. Not only did we make a great winery schedule for our 3 days there, but we got to taste some of the best food we have ever had as well. Read about our entire time in wine country on my 3-4 Day Guide to Mendoza.
This itinerary is best for those with a rental car or a car for hire. This will take you to 3 different wine regions in Mendoza. Highlighting ones with great mountain views and architecture. Some wineries we only went to the tasting, some we went on the full tour, and a few we had meals at (which I highly suggest).
We Stayed At: Posada Borravino (they had included breakfast, dinner and lunch available for purchase, bike rental and a pool)
Day 4: (Lujan de Cuyo Wineries)
Archaval Ferrer
Since most of the wineries have a set time schedule, plan on only fitting about 3-4 wineries per day, and book ahead of time! We started at Archaval Ferrer at 9:30am, not too early to start drinking wine per Mendoza standards. The wine tasting was available in both English and Spanish. The tasting took about 1 hour, and I loved being able to complete our tasting on the outdoor porch.
Cruzat
We found it hard to find an open time slot of mid-day as many were booked, so we changed it up with touring a sparkling wine facility, Cruzat. Our tour was scheduled at 11:30am here. And it was just us two for the English tour, so we got a private tour and tasting. I am glad we changed it up with sparkling wines, we got to learn a lot about sparkling wines that gave me a new appreciation for them.
Trez Wines
We actually canceled this as we thought it would overlap with Cruzat, and we were going to need to find lunch. But we learned this day there are not many local places around to eat, so Cruzat suggested Trez Wines for lunch at 1:00pm, and called over for us to book a small lunch. They have a full 5 course lunch available but the ‘snack’ lunch was plenty for us as we planned for a large dinner.
I am so glad we stopped here, my favorite stop of the day. I loved eating empanadas, cheese, and drinking wine under their weeping willow. Such a peaceful setting, and such kind employees.
Bodega Vistalba
Our last stop of the day was at Bodega Vistalba. We wish we booked this earlier than our 4:30pm slot. But I really enjoyed this stop as we got to see all of this winery, the vineyard, cellar, tasting rooms and roaming around the property.
1884
Next, we headed back to our hotel at Posada Borravino to clean up and get ready for dinner at 1884. 1884 was made famous by Chef’s Table on Netflix. This restaurant is located a little more downtown and is known for their clay oven and open fire grilling. We filled up on more empanadas, breads, and juicy steaks.
Other recommendations in this area:
Day 5: (Uco Valley Wineries)
This day was dedicated to the Uco Valley wine region, about 1 hour from where we were staying in Lujan de Cuyo.
Bodega Andeluna
First, there was Bodega Andeluna at 10:00am. I really loved our tour guide here, and the grounds were stunning. I could stay here for quite a while sipping on wine overlooking their vineyards and the Andes Mountains.
Bodega La Azul
There are thousands of wineries in Mendoza, but if I had to say one is a must it would be La Azul. La Azul was the highlight of Mendoza for us. Not only did we fall in love with their wine, enough to bring a case home, but their setting and food was incredible. I would go back here a second day if we could. We got a small tour, barrel tasting and their 5 Course lunch. The wine flows freely here and I was not complaining. Book a lunch at 12:30, it’s right down the road from Bodega Andeluna.
Salentein
Our last stop was for a Uco Valley tasting at Salentein. We snagged the last tasting at 4:00pm at their wine bar. Although a beautiful setting and well known I loved the atmosphere at others more.
Other recommendations:
Day 6: (Maipu Valley Wineries and Brewery)
On the last day we kept it low key as we needed to pack to head back home. We originally had lunch and wine tasting reservations at Casarena Bodega y Viñedos. But received an email that our reservations were cancelled due to a kitchen fire that morning. They were so kind to set us up with lunch and tasting at Trapiche.
Trapiche
Trapiche is the largest exporting winery in Mendoza. You can find their wines often in US stores. We had lunch here, and again as any food in Chile has been, it was great! I loved there Carpaccio and the Dulce de Leche dessert. After lots of steaks in Mendoza their Rellena Lemon pasta was refreshing. We didn’t do a tour here as we were ready to move on.
Holmes Brewery
If wanting a change from wineries Holmes Brewery is worth the visit. We actually went here before Day 1 but this could be added here to make a full 3rd day. Asking if they had lunch available, they said they had a meat and cheese board available. We were expecting something small, but then we had the most incredible board of meats, cheeses, bread, chutneys, and pickled items (which now has started our love for pickling in our own kitchen).
They were so friendly, great beers, and had a fun atmosphere. Check it out!
Other recommendations:
Our Favorite Winery
By far our favorite winery was La Azul. I loved the bright causal decor and chill vibe here. The views of the vineyards and mountains were the only negative here, the main dining and tasting area is near the road. But man everything here blew us away. The staff was so kind. We had a small tour where we got to taste wine right from the barrel. And the food, the food was incredible! When they say tasting with your meal they actually mean bottomless, they left the bottle right on our table.
We even bought wines to take home from here, they were affordable. We did not purchase wines from any other winery we visited, if that shows you how much we loved this place!
Transportation In Mendoza
There are a few different ways to get around Mendoza. You can tour the wineries by car, tour, bike and more. All depending on where you stay and where you want to go. Here are some options, also listed which is best for each area.
Rental Car
You can easily drive, and rental cars are affordable in Mendoza. But you can easily taste a lot of wine in one day in Mendoza. Luckily my husband drove, he sampled some wines but I did most of the tasting. If you plan ahead for someone to scale back on the tastings then you can plan to drive yourselves.
Bike
The Maipu Valley Wineries are close together and easy to complete a bike tour. Uco Valley wineries are close together too but farther from a town. Here is a great self guided plan in the Maipu Valley, Mr. Hugo Bike Rentals has lots of good reviews.
Private Driver
If I did a trip to Mendoza again I would have splurged and hired a driver for at least one day in Mendoza. Especially for the Uco Valley which was a farther drive and many of their wineries are clustered close together. Check with your hotel to help you book a driver.
Tour
You can book the wineries through a tour guide as well. We are do it yourself type of travelers. We usually end up booking everything on our own, and you can book them yourselves as well. But it can get confusing, so leave the booking and driving up to a small tour group to save you time and hassle.
Day 7: Transfer back to Santiago
Most likely you will need to transfer back to Santiago, Chile to fly back home. It is a short flight from Mendoza to Santiago so you may be able to do an activity on this day.
You May Also Want To Check Out These Posts:
Where To Eat and Drink in Santiago, Chile
FAQs, Tips and Tricks To The W Trek in Patagonia, Chile
Hiking to Mt. Fitz Roy in Argentina
What To Pack For The W Trek in Patagonia
Visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia
