Packing List for Chile in August and September – Winter in Chile

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Packing List for Chile in the Winter – August and September

Chile is a wonderful country and I can only highly recommend a visit. Travel Chile in the winter, not summer. But careful – winter is from July to September and summer from December to February!

  • February is peak season in Chile and I heard horror stories of sold out or even over-booked accommodations and super busy tourist attractions.
  • I visited Chile in August/September and it was absolutely perfect. I only met very few travellers, it was super easy to find accommodation and last minute bus tickets.
  • I still bought my bus tickets the day before because I wanted to make sure I had a good/comfortable seat. #TeamWindowSeat.

Here’s my packing list for four weeks in Chile – my big backpack weighed 10,4kg and in hindsight – I could have taken even less.

I travelled from Arica down to Chiloé and temperatures ranged between -6°C and +30°C. I was glad to have packed my Long Johns for the South and also the Atacama desert.

Packliste Chile Winter
-6°C in the Atacama desert

Clothes

I always use packing cubes to pack my clothes (and save space!)

  • Rain jacket – I was really glad to have brought it when visiting the Easer Island as well as the South of Chile, and I also used it as a wind breaker in the Atacama desert
  • Fleece jacket
  • Softshell jacket (I often wore all three jackets at the same time and still felt cold)
  • Scarf
  • Beanie
  • Gloves
  • Long Johns (top and bottoms!)
  • Long trousers
  • Long hiking trousers 
  • Comfortable 3/4 training pants – to wear on long bus rides
  • Short trousers
  • 6 t-shirts (4 would have been enough)
  • 1 denim blouse
  • Long, WARM pyjamas (or wear your fleece jacket to bed like me)
  • Thick socks
  • Normal socks
  • Underwear
  • Swimwear (diving, thermal baths, …)
  • My Dirndl
Packliste Chile Winter
I would have spent most of my time in the hostel if I hadn’t brought my rain jacket

Shoes

I only had two pairs of shoes with me which was perfect. I only wore my flip flops in the hostels to avoid dirty bathroom tiles.

  • Shoes like runners, or trekking boots (water resistant)
  • Flip flops
Packliste Chile Winter
Colourful – Alpaca socks for cold feet

Toiletries

  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Lush shampoo bar
  • Lush body soap
  • Hair brush
  • Sunscreen (!!!) especially for day trips in the Atacama desert or on hikes
  • DivaCup
  • Razor
  • Tweezer
  • Band-aids
  • Tiger Balm
  • First-aid kit (brought it back unused)
Packliste Chile Winter
Improvised hat for protection against the wind

Misc

  • Sleeping bag or fleece cover – I used my sleeping bag in all but one hostel. I also used my sleeping bag on bus rides. We were given fleece throws but I still felt really cold.
    I’ve had my High Peak sleeping bag for years and absolutely love it. I need to be able to stretch out my legs and also use my sleeping bag as a duvet. My sleeping bag is an indoor-sleeping-bag and suitable for temperatures around 15°C. It folds up really well (20 cm long with a diameter of 13cm and a weight of 700grams!)
  • Eye mask: a life saver on night buses as well as in hostels!
  • Natural sedative tablets: help me sleep better on planes
  • Day-pack (I use my Black Diamond Nitro 26 in petrol blue a lot)
  • Backpack Deuter Quantum 70 (I use an older version – and it was almost too big for this trip)
  • Dive computer
  • Travel towel
  • Kindle filled with books – unfortunately mine broke after just four days so I had to make do with books I found in hostels
  • Cameras: Olympus OM-D EM-5 II and GoPro Hero 4 plus extra batteries
  • Laptop
Packliste Chile Winter
A sunny day visiting Salto del Laja

What did you pack on your winter trip to Chile?

Keep on travelling

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Viktoria Urbanek Travel Blog Chronic Wanderlust

Grüß dich, I'm Viki!

At Chronic Wanderlust, I write about my two great passions: travelling and diving – and have been doing so since 2013.

I usually spend a solid majority of the year travelling to experience extraordinary underwater adventures, taking road trips through countries I don’t know (yet) or exploring my home country of Austria.

As a certified divemaster, passionate underwater & travel photographer, road trip enthusiast and individual traveller, I collect unique moments all over the world.

I don’t believe that severe cases of wanderlust – aka chronic wanderlust – can be cured, only treated. On this blog, I want to show you how this can best be realised.

Curious to get to know me better?