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Spectacular dusk over Santiago's skyline with Andes mountains backdrop.

South America

Backpacking Chile

Chile is a long, narrow country that backpackers cover from north to south, from the Atacama Desert to Santiago, Valparaíso and Patagonia.

Photo: Alexis Leandro Jeria Bocca / Pexels

Hostel destinations in Chile

Spectacular dusk over Santiago's skyline with Andes mountains backdrop.

Santiago

Chile's capital between the Andes and the coast, with a strong café and wine sceneA beautiful view of Valparaíso's colorful houses and sea under a clear sky, capturing the city's charm.

Valparaíso

A hillside port city of street art, funiculars and colourful housesScenic landscape of the Atacama Desert under a clear blue sky in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

San Pedro de Atacama

An adobe desert town for salt lakes, geysers, volcanoes and star-filled skiesExplore the breathtaking Andes mountains in Torres del Paine, Chile, with dramatic skies and untouched nature.

Puerto Natales

The waterfront gateway town to Torres del Paine

Hostels and backpacking in Chile

Chile stretches along the Pacific for more than 4,000 kilometres, so backpackers usually pick a region rather than trying to see everything. The north has San Pedro de Atacama and the desert, the centre has Santiago and the hillside port of Valparaíso, and the far south opens onto Patagonia, with Puerto Natales as the gateway to Torres del Paine.

Hostels are well established in all of those places. Santiago and Valparaíso offer social dorms in converted houses, while San Pedro de Atacama and Puerto Natales have hostels geared towards tour bookings and trekking logistics. Because distances are long, many people combine overnight buses with domestic flights.