Chile was the third country in the ‘South America Backpacking Trip’ of 28-year-old Floris from the Netherlands. Chilean scenery is amazing, but the country can be quite expensive for backpackers. In the post below he shows how much money he needed for his short 6-day backpacking adventure in Chile.

This article is part of the Money Matters series in which we ask travelers to keep their expenses for Bunch of Backpackers. Real travelers, real expenses.  

COSTS 6-DAY CHILE TRIP: 243,00 EURO (291 USD)
DAILY TRAVEL EXPENSES CHILE*: 40,50 EURO (48,65 USD)

*These daily travel expenses are per one person per day.  Including all tours, domestic flights, souvenirs, lodging, food, drinks, entrance fees, tips etc. Excluding international flights.

Chili. ©Floris.
Amazing scenery in Chili. ©Floris.

EXAMPLES OF PRICES IN CHILE:

These prices are per person unless stated otherwise.

Standard Chile expenses

One night in a hostel dormitory: 10,85 euro (13,04 USD)
A double room in a guesthouse: N/A
A short 10-minute taxi ride: N/A
A bottle of water (0,5L) at the store: 0,70 euro (0,84 USD)
Lunch in a restaurant: 3,90 euro (4,40 USD) 
Dinner at a local restaurant: 4,70 euro (5,64 USD)

Notable Chile expenses 

Valle de la Luna half day tour: 13,56 euro (16,29 USD)
Full day bicycle hire: 4,07 euro (4,88 USD) (Tip Floris: check your bike. Getting a flat tire in the middle of the desert is no joke)
Stargazing in San Pedro: 20,34 euro (24,44 USD)

Chili. ©Floris.
Chili. ©Floris.

SOME DETAILS ON THIS TRIP:

About the backpackers: Floris, the Netherlands, 28 years
Destination and travel period: Chile in October 2014 for 6 days 
Visited places: San Pedro de Atacama
Type of trip: Solo, independently
Accommodation*: budget (mainly hostels and guesthouses)
Transportation*: budget (cheapest available mode of transportation) 
Food*: basic (cheap local places, streetfood and snacks)
Currency rate: 1 euro = 771 Chilean Peso

*4 options: basic, budget, standard and luxury

CHILE TIP BY FLORIS: San Pedro de Atacama is fun place, but quite touristy and relatively expensive. The best option is to cook in your hostel.

Floris also kept his expenses for PeruBolivia and Argentina on his backpacking trip. Find the costs of his total 58-day South America trip here. 

Obviously 6 days in Chile is too short to give a complete overview. So, if you’re traveling to Chile, please contact me (bunchofbackpackers[at]gmail[dot]com) and help future Chile travelers out by noting down your expenses. Thanks, Manouk!

7 COMMENTS

    • Hey Nina! My pleasure :)! Yes, Floris did relatively many activities in a short period of time, so I think the average costs per day are even a bit lower for the ‘average’ backpacker!

  1. Thanks for this post! We are planning a 3 or 4-month trip around SA and articles like this are really important. Some people say 1000EUR / month including transport in SA is not enough, some say 2000 EUR is not enough, etc. Really hard to figure out!

  2. Hey Illia! That sounds awesome! Next week there will be a post up about the total costs of a 2-month SA trip. However, I think it all depends on where you go and what you would like to do (e.g. Patagonia). If you go overlanding I’d say (judging by my own Peru/Bolivia experience and the other Money Matters articles) 40 euro’s a day would give you to easily backpack the countries without minding your budget too much :)

  3. Hi! Chile can be expensive BUT it is the easiest country in South America for hitchiking, you can camp basically everywhere and they have good bread so you can make the travel pretty cheap (I have cross from Punta Arenas to Arica almost everything with autostop).

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