Chile October Holidays

For city slickers, Santiago – Chile’s dynamic capital – is at its peak during October. Discover the distinct flavour of each individual neighbourhood or admire the entirety of the city from Cerro San Cristóbal, reached via the teleférico (cable car). Valparaíso presents its own unexpected charms, in the form of eclectic street art, sinuous alleyways and pastel-hued houses. Combine Santiago or Valparaíso with the wine-growing region, where you’ll find that the vineyards of Chile in October are particularly fruitful, offering the chance to sample outstanding Sauvignon Blancs, Malbecs and Cabernet Sauvignons.

If adventure is your raison d'être, head for the lofty heights of the Andes mountain range, along Chile’s eastern border, where you’ll find myriad hiking paths fringed by blooming wildflowers. The Atacama Desert also boasts landscapes worth writing home about with its swathes of sand and rock inhabited by intriguing bird species. If it’s festivities you’re after, don some lederhosen and join revellers in the Lake District’s Puerto Varas and Valdivia for Germanic folk music, steins of beer and Chilean-German street food fare. Chile in October also sees the arrival of Columbus Day (known as El Dia de la Raza), a celebration of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in Chile on the 12th of October 1492.