Santiago airport to Valparaiso Guide
Valparaiso is a coloful city located 115km from Santiago. The one and only way to get there is either by taxi or by bus. We will detail in today’s post the bus option from the city of Santiago and the airport.
From the city, you will need to reach the Pajareos or Alamada metro station where bus stations are located.
From the airport Turbus has daily departure from the airport to Valparaiso at 10:30am and 2:30pm. If you cannot make it in time, there is still the option to first to the metro station.
in the airport
If you are landing in Santiago and want to catch the bus directly, you have Turbus ticket office at the exit of the luggage area. We recommend buying right away a ticket for “Pajareos” metro station with Turbus. And then go to door 4 where the bus station is.
Another option is to take the bus to “Alameda” station, this one is further than Pajareos but may have more departure. You can check directly on Turbus website. (https://www.turbus.cl/wtbus/indexCompra.jsf) it is Spanish but quite logical.
If you already out of the luggage area, go to the door 4 on arrival level. Cross the first road and you will find a ticket office next to the bus station.
The seats are not attributed, so try to keep your bag with you and seat with it. The bus are leaving every 30min or once there are full.
The bus we had was a double decker and we seat in the lower deck which was spacious and were we had enough room for our bagpacks.
The cost of our ticket was 3 800 CLP
Going to the bus terminal
We caught the 7pm bus for Pajareos metro station. It took approx. 40min to arrive at Pajareos metro station. It should be faster but the traffic in Santiago is crazy and the bus makes a few stops on the way. So, no need to be too much in a hurry, it can not be any faster.
Pajareos Metro station
Once you arrive, get out of the bus and walk in the station where you will find many bus company counters. Locate and go to Turbus counter to buy your ticket to Valparaiso. You can either buy one way or go and return. Sometimes they have discount. So, if you can speak Spanish that would come handy now. Be careful not to line-up for Turbus Aeroporto.
Once your ticket in hands, turn back and walk out of the station. In front of it you will find the bus station. There are many screens, find your bus and wait until its platform appear.
We caught the 7:50pm bus that left around 8:00pm
If you want to buy snacks or foods for the bus, the metro station has a few shops and restaurants, so now is the time to get supplied up.
The ticket cost was 10 000 CLP go and 6 000 CLP return.
Arrival
The bus we had wasn’t new, but it was fine. We kept our bagbacks with us and went on the upper deck.
We arrived at 9:25pm after 1h25 on the bus.
As it was late, we took a meter taxi in front of the bus station to Dimalow where our hotel was. It was a 5min ride and cost 3500 CLP
If you have an internet connection, you can get an uber which would be cheaper. Around 2000 CLP. We tried both and in the end, Uber is a great choice for most of taxi travel in South America.
“The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” – Anna Quindlen
