Where is La Parva Ski Resort?
La Parva has great proximity to Santiago de Chile, being only 56km/35 miles east of the city centre, so it’s often referred to as one of the
Santiago ski resorts.
La Parva Chile is one of the
Tres Valles ski resorts and the lower parts of the ski resort sit next to El Colorado whilst the upper reaches of La Parva are interconnected with Valle Nevado. From La Parva:
Flying into Santiago
The Santiago Benitez International Airport is the gateway airport for La Parva ski resort. Latam of Chile is the major international carrier with flights from USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. There are also other airlines that fly into Santiago from other cities in South America.
You can use
Skyscanner or google flights to find the best flight to Chile.
Private Transport to La Parva from Santiago Airport
Driving to the Tres Valles can be a little tricky (see below) and car rental is somewhat expensive, so many international visitors find it much easier to get private transport from the city of Santiago or the airport. This can be organised as part of a
Tres Valles package or your lodging can arrange an airport transfer to La Parva.
The other option is to try to negotiate a fixed price for a taxi to La Parva.
Private Transport from Santiago City
There are various transport companies that provide inexpensive daily shuttles from Santiago to La Parva. These leave from their ski rental shop, or the transport can include a hotel pick-up that goes via the shop in the hope that you’ll rent ski or snowboard equipment from them. These shuttle buses are very cheap, but they are not a quick way to get to and from the mountain. Hotel pick-ups can start as early as 7am, and for those who don’t need to rent ski or board equipment, the wait at the ski shop for everyone else to rent or take back their equipment can be excruciatingly long. If you want a quicker trip, private transport options are possible.
The other option is to catch a taxi from Santiago. If you’ve got well developed bartering skills, you could just hail one off the street, but your hotel will probably be able to negotiate a better fixed fare.
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Ski Total Tres Valle Day Trips
Same-day return scheduled bus service from Santiago to Vale Nevado, La Parva and El Colorado. Departs Santiago 8:00am 7-days during ski season. Also Portillo on Wednesdays & Saturdays. Private group transfers also available for 1 - 14 guests. |
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KL Adventures Tres Valles Day Trips
Offer a same-day return scheduled bus service from Santiago to Vale Nevado, La Parva & El Colorado. Regular hotel pick-ups from 6:30am to 7:45am, 7-days during ski season. They pass by their ski rental shop on the way to the mountain to get you kitted out. |
Driving from Santiago to La Parva
The drive from Santiago to La Parva takes just over an hour in good conditions, but there are many variables that can affect the drive time. On weekends in particular, the drive time can be significantly longer.
The drive goes via Farellones – see the
travel to Farellones page for information on this portion of the trip. In particular take note that on Saturday, Sunday and holidays the road is one-way for drivers heading uphill between 8am and 2pm. The road is only open to downhill traffic from 3pm to 8pm. Two-way traffic is possible at other times.
Once in Farellones the turn off to El Colorado and La Parva is well sign-posted. The road is paved and a relatively easy drive. The road is wide enough for 2-way traffic in most places, although occasionally in narrow places some reversing might be required. If there’s a lot of traffic, travel times can significantly increase as people try to figure out the logistics of who should reverse!
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Rental Cars - Booking Engine
The Rentals Cars booking engine searches for and compares thousands of cars from all of the major car rentals services. This is a very time efficient way to find the best price for the right car for you. |
Getting Around Tres Valles
Even though there are three interconnected ski resorts at Tres Valles (and four ski areas when you include
Farellones), getting between the areas is not as easy as one would first think.
From La Parva it’s possible to ski to and from Valle Nevado and El Colorado (and Farellones), but this is only for strong intermediate skiers and boarders and up. The other limitation is that these connections may be closed if the access lifts are shut due to limited visibility, windy conditions or avalanche risk. Another limitation is the extortionate costs of the dual lift tickets.
Unlike world class resorts, there are no public shuttles to get between the resorts via road.
It’s possible to drive between the resorts, as long as the roads are open. The Valle Nevado road in particular is prone to closure during and after a snow storm. The trip from La Parva to Valle Nevado takes about 45 minutes when the road conditions are good.
Staying in Farellones provides some flexibility to get between the resorts via road, and some of the accommodations provide shuttle transport between the areas.
Getting Around La Parva
The village of La Parva is set on a hill so it can be rather taxing to walk about (particularly considering the altitude). If you want to save your energy for skiing, there's a little “zoo train” shuttle that runs around the village.