Private Valparaiso tours put your party alone in the vehicle for the whole day, with a guide who answers to you rather than to a group of eighteen. Two of them are timed to a ship and end at a Santiago hotel or the airport; the third runs north up the coast road.
A licensed guide-driver meets the ship and finishes the day in Santiago, with two and a half hours in Valparaiso, the ascensores, the paseos and the open-air museum below Neruda's house on the way. Only your party travels.
From $284 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Nine hours from the cruise pier to a Santiago hotel or the airport, with a guide and a separate driver, La Sebastiana, Plaza Sotomayor, the Flower Clock, the Moai and a Veramonte winery. Two travellers minimum, and the driver stays with the luggage.
From $289 per person (min. 2)
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A private coast day north of the city with spotting scopes and binoculars aboard, watching the Humboldt penguin colony on Isla Cachagua from the shore at Cachagua. Zapallar, Maitencillo and the Concón dunes fill the rest, with an empanada lunch.
From $259 per person (min. 2)
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Each of these carries only the party that books it, and two of them are timed to a ship. Check the day and pick your date.
Check AvailabilityA vehicle, a guide and a day that belongs to whoever booked it. Each of these listings states in its own terms that only your party travels, which is what separates them from the shared days: no other passengers, no fixed stops, and a car that waits while you finish a photograph.
They are priced per person rather than per vehicle, which is worth knowing before you compare them with a shared fare. Two travellers is the minimum on two of them, and the fare runs from $284 to $289 a head.
All three are built around a real constraint rather than around luxury. Two are timed to a ship and end in Santiago or at its airport, with luggage aboard all day. The third runs north up the coast road to a wildlife site no shared city tour reaches.
A sailing time or a flight time is not negotiable, and a private vehicle is the only product here that can absorb a late berthing without losing the day.
On a disembarkation day the cases have to go somewhere. On these, they go in the vehicle and a driver stays with them while you walk.
Steep streets and worn cobbles are hard work at somebody else's speed. A private day stops where you want and waits while you catch up.
The coast day runs north to Zapallar, Maitencillo and the Concón dunes, and watches the Humboldt penguin colony on Isla Cachagua through a spotting scope from the shore.
On a shared day the commentary is pitched at the group, and sometimes in two languages. On a private day, it is a conversation.
The honest comparison is against the shared days that cover similar ground, because that is what you are choosing between.
| A private day | A shared day | |
|---|---|---|
| Who travels | Only your party | Twelve to eighteen travellers |
| Fare | $284 to $289 per person | $100 to $89 per person |
| Luggage | Carried, with a driver on it all day | Not carried on the day-call tour |
| Length | Six to nine hours | Five to eight hours |
| Route changes | Yours to make on the day | Fixed |
| Minimum | Two travellers on two of the three | One |
| Best for | Flights, luggage, mobility, a party of four | Couples and solo travellers watching the fare |
For two people on an ordinary morning, the shared day is better value and the difference buys nothing you will remember. For four people with cases and a flight, the private day is not a luxury, it is the only product that works.
In the fare: private transport and an air-conditioned vehicle on all three. A professional guide, and on one of them a separate driver as well, so the guide walks with you while the vehicle moves. Bottled water and all fees and taxes on two. The coast day adds a high-powered spotting scope, professional binoculars, wi-fi aboard and an empanada lunch, with a vegetarian version.
Not in the fare: lunch, on the two cruise-timed days. Gratuities, on one. Nothing here is wheelchair accessible, and the Valparaiso hours are spent on foot on uneven ground.
Worth knowing: one day sold under a private title is deliberately not in this set. Its own inclusions say the winery tour and the tasting are shared, so it sits with the Valparaiso wine tours instead.
Price band: $284 to $289 a person, each one per person rather than per vehicle. Length: six to nine hours. Minimum: two travellers on the shore excursion and the coast day.
Booking window: as far ahead as your ship or flight is fixed, because these are the listings that sell out on a double-ship date. All three refund in full up to 24 hours ahead.
What to tell the operator: your ship name and its docking time, your all-aboard or flight time, and how many bags you are carrying. Where the pier sits in relation to the road out is covered in the arrivals page. Everything these days do well depends on knowing those three things in advance.
Pick the day that matches your sailing or your flight, and check what each one covers before you book.
Check AvailabilityIf you are two people with a free morning, a private day is an expensive way to see what a $40 guided walk shows you. Take the walk, and spend the difference on lunch with a view.
If you want company, these are the wrong products. Several travellers say the best part of a shared coastal day was the other people in the van, and a private car is quiet by design.
If you need step-free access, none of these is described as wheelchair accessible. A shared panoramic city tour built around riding the funiculars carries that description instead, and the gradients behind it are set out in the hill-by-hill breakdown.
If your ship is in for the day only, a nine-hour private day that ends in Santiago is the wrong shape entirely. Book a walk that starts minutes from the terminal gate and returns you to it.
That is every day here that carries only your own party. Every other way to spend a day here is compared with Valparaiso guided tours, fare beside fare, on Valparaiso Tours.