Walking across the mountains of Abuna Yosef in north Ethiopia is one of the most spectacular journeys ever. Not to mention pretty hair-raising, slightly hazardous and very challenging. There was a mule involved at the start. We eyed each other, I got on, he did a 360-degree turn on a rocky ridge, I slid off and that was it. For the rest of the journey I was walking. For five hours.
Mekonnen, the boy I sponsor through children’s charity Plan International, lives in one of the most remote parts of Ethiopia. I flew for an hour and a half from the capital Addis Ababa to Lalibela airport where I was met by Kibremidir from Plan, then it was a four-hour drive up rocky mountain tracks to meet our guides and the mules. The climb started from here, three mountain peaks ahead of us to cross.
The scenery around us was breathtaking – I mean literally breathtaking: we were over 3,000 metres above sea level and I was gasping in the thin air as we reached the top of each peak. So it was fairly embarrassing to be overtaken along the ridge by men and women effortlessly walking barefoot, carrying bundles of grain on their backs.
I was there in November, harvest time in north Ethiopia, following the rainy season from June to September. October to January is the best time to visit; from February to the start of the rainy season the temperature rises sharply and the countryside loses its green blanket, becoming scorched in the searing African sun.
The sun was dipping behind the mountain as we started the final descent into a green valley with a few small tukuls (traditional Ethiopian single-room hut dwellings) surrounded by crops. I could hear a child excitedly shouting ‘faranji, faranji’ (that was me, the ‘foreigner’).
And then there were people running forward, bringing animal skins and setting them down on the ground in front of the huts, our guides were shouting greetings in Amharic, and the mules looked like they’d clocked it – we’d arrived. I asked where Mekonnen was and this beautiful smiling boy, who was busy laying our furry carpet on the ground, approached me.
I hadn’t been able to imagine what our meeting would be like and when it happened I just felt sheer and total joy to finally see him. I thought he might be a bit shy – I certainly was – but he was smiling and confident and shook my hand and then, a great honour, leaned in to touch each of my cheeks with his own. I told him I was so pleased to see him and thanked him for all of his letters over the past ten years. I was standing beside him and my legs were shaking as we talked – I didn’t know if it was from the long climb or sheer emotion, maybe a bit of both.
He speaks some English and his English is good, so it was great to be able to talk directly to him and he introduced me to his mother, his father, two sisters, brother and a friend. I met his grandmother who was sitting outside a neighbouring hut, we bowed and exchanged ‘Selam’, the Amharic greeting.
Then I sat with the family outside their house and gave them a photo album with copies of all the photos of Mekonnen and his family I have received through Plan in the last 10 years. His parents don’t speak English but we managed very well by pointing and smiling at the photos and Kibremidir translated when needed. I also took a football and football annual for Mekonnen – I know he’s a soccer fan from his letters – tea-towels for his mother and ping-pong balls for the rest of the family.
As the sun went down we went inside their tukul, a single circular room with benches around the edge and a small fire pit in the centre, the only light came from the open door and fire embers that Mekonnen’s mother was stoking into life. I was given the seat of honour, a low wooden chair covered in fur skins, under the hut’s only ornamentation – the clay wall that displayed a few photos of Mekonnen’s family alongside one of me, my brother and nephew taken in our kitchen in Ireland on my birthday last year!
After the journey we’d just taken I could fully appreciate the huge task of getting my photos and letters to Mekonnen several times a year. And we had it easy – driving for four of the nine hours of the journey. The community volunteers who carry the letters do it on foot from Lalibela – though mind you they don’t have me panting and wheezing up the side of a mountain to slow them down.
Letters are my link with Mekonnen but it’s the £15 I donate every month that allows Plan to provide facilities for the whole community. For this village of Gormalie and surrounding areas Plan has provided a school for 620 children – so many they take it in shifts to attend, the first group coming to classes from 8am to 12, the second from 12 to 4pm. There’s also a water project which provides clean water for the community, located beside the school.
In the tukul we were served branches of peas and beans – Mekonnen sitting beside me helped me find the sweetest pods. There was a coffee ceremony, with beans roasted on the open fire in front of me, then painstakingly ground in hollowed-out bark by his mother as the kettle boiled on the flames. Ethopia is the original home of the coffee plant and this was the best coffee I have ever tasted.
A huge serving platter of injera – traditional bread made from the local grain teff which grows all over the highlands – dressed with bean paste was passed around and we all helped ourselves from the plate, using the bread in place of cutlery to scoop up the thick bean filling. Freshly brewed beer, foaming furiously, was our next treat, only served on very special occasions as the grain used to brew it is expensive. As dusk fell the cows and goats returned and clustered around the tukul’s open door, more people and children came in and I played ping-pong catch with Mekonnen’s little sister. ‘Would you like some milk? Mekonnen asked, and when I said yes a cup was taken outside to the cow and filled with sweet-smelling warm – and extremely fresh! – milk.
I talked to Mekonnen about school and his favourite subjects – English and maths – and enjoyed the smiles of his younger brother who touchingly never seemed to stop beaming at me the whole time I was there. But by then it was very dark and we still had an hour’s walk across the mountain to the school where we would spend the night. The family were horrified to find we meant to leave and wanted us to spend the night there. I was humbled by the hospitality that insisted on finding space for a group of strangers among a family of seven in a small one-room tukul. Then Mekonnen, his brother and friend insisted on coming with us to carry bags and guide us safely across the mountain.
And there was still more hospitality when we reached the school; the teachers who lived in small stone huts close to the main building were worried the school floor wouldn’t be clean enough for our sleeping bags and insisted on giving up a room so we could sleep in their home, cooking us a dinner of macaroni and egg before we went to sleep.
I’m so moved by the generosity of people who have so little, sharing it with random passers-by who turn up unannounced in the middle of the night. But it doesn’t matter how much or how little, it’s the fact they share it with a happy heart and generous spirit. They may be poor in material possessions but in kindness and generosity the people I met on the mountain of Abuna Yosef are the richest of the rich.
And I learned something very important while I was there – and that’s to take what I’ve been given in life and make the most of it, not to wish my life was different or hanker after a life I don’t have, but use what I’ve been given to achieve what I want. I’ve been blessed with many more advantages in life than Mekonnen. He walks for two hours every day across a mountain to get an education, taking what he has been given to make his life better. I can learn a lot from him.
How to sponsor a child
Plan works with communities in 48 developing countries to help alleviate child poverty. In some of these countries one in five children will die before they reach their fifth birthday. For just £15 a month you could change this, helping Plan to build new schools and water treatment plants in local communities. Find out how to sponsor a child on the Plan website at www.plan-uk.org.
The island of Nevis in the West Indies doesn’t have an airport big enough to land international aircraft. Instead we land at St Kitt’s, drive for 20-minutes to Reggae Beach and board a water taxi for a 6-minute speedboat ride across the bay, arriving James Bond style on its white sandy shores.
Nevis is one of the smaller and lesser known Caribbean islands, despite the fact it was ruled by the British for over 200 years and was for a time the home of Admiral Nelson. Which means the Queen’s head is still on the local banknotes and English is the first language. Your bank card will work in the cashpoints and you don’t need a visa to enter.
The island measures just 36 square miles and has a population of 11,000, with the twin islands of Nevis and St Kitts making up the smallest nation in the western hemisphere. “Two islands, one paradise,” says the tourist board slogan.
Nevis offers the rare luxury of “exclusivity”, this unspoiled gem is how the Caribbean used to be, says its Minister for Tourism, Mark Brantley; “there are no high rises or fast food chains, no all-inclusive package holidays or mass tourism”. Neither are there cruise ships, traffic lights or bustling crowds, here you’ll find more monkeys than people, a place where sheep and goats graze freely at the sides of the roads.
Princess Diana used it as a refuge, holidaying here with the young princes and Harry returned on a royal tour of duty in 2016. It’s a favourite spot with Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Travolta and Meryl Streep.
Read on the rest of the story in a feature recently published in The Scotsman travel magazine…
Twinkling lights, carol singers, mulled wine – and lots of beautiful Christmas goodies. Christmas markets at home and abroad are about so much more than the shopping. Whether you’re keeping it local or treating yourself to trip abroad, we’ve got the low-down on the very best markets across the UK and Europe. And, once you’ve packed your bags with handmade decorations and festive foods, check out our list of top British shopping destinations to bag even more Christmas bargains.
Frankfurt
26 November to 22 December
The Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the largest and oldest in Germany and has been running since the 14th century in the scenic surrounds of the Römerberg. Fill your bags with its traditional wooden toys, giant sugar-coated biscuits, German sausages and the miniature candy figures called Brenten, Bethmaennchen and Quetschemaennchen. And don’t forget to take time to admire the huge Christmas tree outside the town hall, one of the largest in the country.
Cologne
26 November to 23 December
Cologne has no less than seven Christmas markets – but not only that. One of its biggest takes place beside the city’s magnificent cathedral, where the bodies of the three wise men are said to be buried, pictured above. You’ll find arts and crafts and lots of delicious food across the city and, down in front of the medieval gate, a whole village dedicated to St Nicholas. There’s a maritime themed Harbour market, a romantic Christmas village, an LGBT celebration market and, at the oldest market of all in Neumarkt, a flock of wandering angels.
Nuremberg
30 November to 24 December
Christkindlemarkt in this medieval Bavarian city has a long tradition, running in the central square since the 17th century. No mass-produced tat here, only fine handicrafts and designs. Pick up a traditional ‘prune man’ to take home – but don’t eat him, he is purely for decoration and believed to bring good fortune to the home that displays him. There’s a ‘Kinderweihnacht’ children’s market with merry-go-round and steam railway and the ‘Christkind’, the young child that takes the place of Santa to bestow gifts in this region.
Salzburg
22 November to 26 December
One of the oldest Christmas markets in the world, the Salzburg Christkindlmarkt is held in the heart of Salzburg’s World Heritage-listed Old City, with its backdrop of snow-covered mountains. After you’ve shopped for traditional Christmas decorations and gifts, check out the carol concerts, readings and parades taking place around the squares. Sample a spicy Bosna sandwich and wash down with some gluhwein – pay a few euros extra to keep the mug it is served in for a festive memento of your visit.
Paris
November to January
Enjoy three Christmas markets in this atmospheric city this year. Over 70 chalets make up the Christmas Village in Les Halles, selling traditional gifts, decorations and food, as well as an Enchanted Forest and Santa’s House for the kids (27 November to 31 December). Over at Champ de Mars you’ll find festive stalls and a skating rink underneath the Eiffel Tower from December until January, while the traditional Christmas market at Notre Dame Cathedral runs from December 15 until Christmas Eve.
Lille
17 November to 27 December
An easy trip from London – just an hour and a half on Eurostar – Lille’s Christmas market is located in the centre of town, just 10 minutes’ walk from the station. There are 80 stalls on the Place Rihour and a huge Christmas tree and Ferris wheel on nearby Grand Place.
Dubrovnik
2 December to 6 January
Unlike the centuries-old festive celebrations in Germany and Austria, the Winter Festival in this atmospheric medieval walled city is just four years old, but none the less beautiful for it. The main street, Stradun, is transformed into a twinkling marketplace selling gifts and festive foods, there’s snow at the bell tower and regular carol concerts in front of the magnificent St Blaise’s Church.
Our favourite Christmas markets in the UK
London
November to January
From festive chalets at the Southbank to Winter Wonderland at Hyde and Christmas By the River close to Tower Bridge, the capital city will be fully festived up this Christmas. And if that wasn’t enough, Leicester Square is also joining the fun – decking itself out in full seasonal marketplace splendour from November 9 to January 5. See more magical things to do in London for Christmas.
Winter Wonderland Hyde Park
November 22 to January 6
The Hyde Park extravaganza returns for its 12th year and its huge Christmas market features over 200 Bavarian style wooden chalets, packed with festive gifts, designer arts and crafts and traditional Christmas food and drink. Afterwards you could go skating on the UK’s biggest ice rink, visit the Magical Ice Kingdom, the Enchanted Forest and Santa Land, sample not one but two circuses or hang out in one of the themed bars, including a fabulously freezing Ice Bar.
Southbank Centre’s Winter Market
November 9 to December 27
With Alpine-style huts by the river, brightly lit up with fairy lights and showcasing the wares of 29 traders from around the world, the Southbank Winter Market is one of the most popular in the capital. This year it’s featuring two new pop-up bars, Bar Under the Bridge and The Circus Bar, offering tastebud-tingling cocktails and festive food in cosy hideaways by the river.
Christmas by the River
November 29 to January 2
With stunning views of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the iconic City of London skyline, this is one of most scenic Christmas market under the stars. Browse fabulously festive finds, as well as traditional food and drink and try one of the free workshops running in December.
Bath
22 November 22 to 9 December
A magical market in one of the UK’s most beautiful cities, it’s not hard to see why Bath remains one of the best loved Christmas destinations in the country. Over 200 twinkling chalets line the atmospheric Georgian streets around the picturesque Roman Baths and the Abbey. Snap up handmade and locally-produced buys, including festive food, gifts and decorations.
York
15 November to 23 December
Equally atmospheric, the medieval laneways and cobbled streets of York make a wonderful backdrop to the city’s annual Christmas market. You’ll find chalet market stalls at St Nicholas Fair and local food and drink finds at Yorkshire Barn.
Birmingham
15 November to 23 December
If you can’t make it to Frankfurt, head for Birmingham instead. The city’s Frankfurt Christmas Market is the UK’s largest German market, featuring over 200 stalls. It’s also the largest German market held outside Germany and Austria and attracts over 3 million visitors to the city every year. From German food and drink to traditional decorations and gifts in Victoria Square, local craftspeople and artists sell their festive wares in the Christmas Craft Fair next door.
Edinburgh
16 November to 5 January
The Scottish capital is sporting two festive markets this year, with the traditional East Princes Street Gardens market offering Christmas shopping in the heart of the city, as well as a big wheel and fairground rides. It runs until January 5. Meanwhile the George St Christmas market runs until Christmas Eve, with festive stalls, Santa’s grotto and ice skating.
Winchester
17 November to 20 December
One of the largest Christmas markets in the south of England, Winchester also enjoys one of the most spectacular backdrops, with its 100 wooden chalets ranged around its stunning medieval cathedral. As well as arts, crafts, decorations and food, visitors to the festive celebration can also enjoy an open-air ice rink in Cathedral Close.
Other cathedral city Christmas markets this year include Salisbury, from November 29 to December 23 in Guildhall Square, Canterbury market at Whitefriars Square and the wonderfully original Dickens Christmas Festival in Rochester on December 1 and 2, featuring festive street entertainment, famous literary characters and a 2-day Christmas market.
Leeds
9 November to 22 December
Promising a continental-style festive shopping experience and offering German festive delicacies, Millennium Square in Leeds will play host to over 40 traditional wooden chalets as it transforms into a winter village for Christmas this year. Other attractions include the popular Christmas carousel, the indoor Frankfurter Scheune meeting hall and Alp Chalet Bavarian eatery.
Cardiff
15 November to 23 December
Taking place across the pedestrianised shopping area in the city centre, the Cardiff Christmas market this year promises an eclectic mix of new stalls and old favourites offering original and handmade buys and festive food and drink.
Getting there: travel to Europe
Interrail One Country Passes let you start your journey from your local station and get in to the heart of the country you’re travelling to from just £47; visit MyInterrail.co.uk for more information.
Getting there: fly from UK
Flybmi is offering special deal ‘Christmas market flights’ from Bristol, East Midlands, Aberdeen and Newcastle to 10 European cities including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Paris, with prices starting from £75 and including 23kg checked baggage (to bring all your goodies home!), complimentary in-flight drinks and snacks and allocated leather seating. For more information visit Flybmi
Getting there: travelling in the UK
Invest in a railcard to help you save one third off most rail fares and 60% off kids’ fares when using a Family & Friends railcard. Railcards can save you an average of £152 per year and cost just £30 – a cost which you can make back in just one trip! Visit Railcard.co.uk to find out more.
Christmas packages
For travel and accommodation in the UK and abroad, SuperBreak has a variety of packages to choose from for destinations including Edinburgh, York, Liverpool, Paris, Bruges and more, from £110 per person. Visit the website for more information.
Christmas shopping: bag a bargain
Where the savvy shoppers go for great Christmas bargains right across the UK
Bicester Village, Oxfordshire
Over 160 outlets offering savings up to 60% on standard retail prices, from brands including Prada, Gucci, Armani and Versace, Superdry, The White Company and the Cosmetics Company Store. Just one hour away from London with regular bus and train services.
Cheshire Oaks, Chester
Close to both Manchester and Liverpool, over 145 designer outlets include Burberry, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Cath Kidston, All Saints and Hobbs to name just a few, with play areas for kids, a leisure park and regular entertainment.
Birmingham
The Bullring is the city’s biggest shopping centre and there’s also the canalside Mailbox with its mix of designer shops, restaurants and bars.
Bluewater, Kent
The third largest shopping centre in the UK has over 330 stores and over 167,000 square metres of retail space centrally located close to London.
Looking for more festive fun? See our round-up of magical things to do in London for Christmas
More great shopping ideas
Arrival in Chile is quite a spectacular business, descending to Santiago airport over the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. Chile, stretching 2,500 miles along the south-west coast of South America, straddles three different climate zones, from arid to temperate to cool and rainy. You can trek across deserts, ski in the mountains and enjoy Mediterranean-like sunshine on the coast. The best time to visit is during the spring and summer months, which in Chile is from October to May.
It has a rather chequered recent history, particularly during the turbulent times of Pinochet rule from 1973 to 1990, during which over 200,000 Chileans were killed or exiled. Since then, the president have been democratically elected.
For a country that suffered so recently under violent dictatorship, Chile is outstandingly friendly, open and welcoming today. From the lively bustling streets of Santiago, with its uber cool nightlife, terrace restaurants and pavement bars, to the remote and beautiful islands in the Chiloe Archipelago on the South Pacific coast, there is a lively interest in and big welcome for visitors. And there is much – so much – to soak up in the country. Ideally, take at least a month and travel from the deserts of the north right into the southern archipelago – next stop the Antarctic! But if time is limited, make a bucket list …
5 must-dos in Chile
1. Drink Pisco Sour in Santiago
Make no mistake, Santiago is one cool city. With lots to see of historical interest, plenty of cultural events, gorgeous green spaces, chic places to eat and drink and vibrant nightlife, it’s the perfect city destination. And you have to try a Pisco Sour, practically the national drink, made from Pisco liquor and citrus juice, usually lime. Get over Rio, move on from Buenos Aires, Santiago is the new hip South American destination.
Where to stay: Soak up a bit of Chilean history and an peek into the home life of the former political elite. The Aubrey Hotel in the city’s lively Bellavista area, where the clientele spill out onto pavement tables at buzzing restaurants and bars, is the former home of the influential Domingo Duran Morales family, prominent in politics and business in the 20th century. The boutique hotel is still full of family portraits and heirlooms, with 15 individual and rather quirky bedrooms, landscaped gardens, sun terraces and a pool. It’s right beside the Park Metropolitan, the sixth largest urban park in the world, which adds to the sense of an oasis in the city. Rooms from $195; visit www.theaubrey.com for more information.
Where to eat: A rather posh treat in the city: soak up the best of Chilean ingredients and native cuisine at the Peumayen restaurant in Bellavista. Translated as ‘dream place’, the 10-course tasting menu (with wines to match) will lull you into a dream, as a vast array uniquely presented dishes parade through; horse steaks, fermented potato, fried pork skin, seaweed salad, lamb tongue, cow’s intestine and a bowl of stew fizzing with a volcanic stone were just a few of the more curious things we tasted; definitely an experience to savour. Expect to pay around $70 per person; visit www.peumayenchile.cl
2. Stop off at Puerto Montt, the gateway to Patagonia
The flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt takes just under two hours. Puerto Montt is a port city and salmon farming one of its main industries; Chile is the second largest salmon producer in the world and you’ll frequently see salmon cages bobbing off piers, salmon factories and laboratories.
Where to eat: Puerto Montt is a seafood-lovers paradise; visit the wonderful pier-side Caleta de Angelmo market to follow a mouth-watering trail around the stalls of super-sized mussels, giant clams, abalone, sea urchin, barnacles, piure – a red-stained fish, coloured by its natural iodine – suspended conger eels, king crabs, vast compacted seaweed slabs and a counter of hot sweet-smelling empanadas. You can eat on the benches around the market or take a wrapped tray home.
Or, try the Chilotito Marina restaurant, around the corner from the pier, after a browse through the handicraft markets, where specialties include cosy llama wool jumpers and scarves, plus jewellery made of the lapis luiz for which the country is famous.
Puerto Montt also marks the start of Patagonia, the sparsely populated region at the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile. The name comes from the word ‘patagon’, used by Magellan in the 1500s to describe the native people, as he navigated the southern tip of the country, now the Magellan Straits. The native Mapuche people, still live in the region and continue to fight for the return of their lands from the time of colonisation by the Spanish. Charles Darwin carried out extensive studies of the region in the early1800s, and in this century also, the first migration of German Lutherans arrived, invited by the government to farm and develop this sparsely populated area.
3. Eat cake in Puerto Varas
Because of the German migration from the early 1800s, the Patagonian city of Puerto Varas and its surrounding areas is marked by German/Alpine architecture, German-speaking schools and German culture. Set on the edge of the stunning Lake Llanquihue, hazy mist over the water fades every morning to reveal the majestic Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes on the far side of the lake. Chile is home to more than 2000 volcanoes, 500 of which are potentially active; in the last 20 years there have been 15 eruptions.
A 60km drive from Puerto Varas, around the edge of the lake, will take you to the town of Frutillar with its traditional German houses, German handicraft boutiques and stunning lakeside concert hall, which attracts acts from the New York Met to this town of 3,000 people.
Where to stay: The Cumbres Puerto Varas Hotel on the edge of Lake Llanquihue offers breath-taking views of the snow-capped Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes. It’s sort of a log cabin, if you can imagine a 5-star log cabin with luxurious light-filled areas where you can lounge in front of a blazing fire, and 90 contemporary bedrooms, many with lake-view balconies and terraces. It’s very much part of its natural surroundings, evidenced as much by its design as by the locally sourced produce in the dining room. And, being part of a German heritage area, this means cakes. Lots and lots of cakes. I count 13 different types one morning on the breakfast buffet. For more information visit www.cumbrespuertovaras.com
Where to eat: Try the buffet at Fogon Las Buenas Brasas for one of the best selections of Chilean meat and seafood you will find, all constantly freshly prepared by the chefs at the hot plates. Famous for its wild boar roasts and king crab chupes (casserole), it’s set at the end of a winding road with gorgeous views over the lakes, and rambling gardens to roam at the end of your meal where you can hobnob with llamas, donkeys and goats.
4. Drive up a volcano in Vicente Perez Rosales National Park
High up in the Andes, the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park is a must-see on your itinerary in this part of the world. Covering just under 1000 square miles – allow plenty of time! – there are spectacular walks through forests, alongside lakes and waterfalls, with the snowy mountain peaks an impressive backdrop to your photographs.
Where to eat: Leaving the Emerald Lake and lava waterfalls behind, we drove up the side of Orsono Volcano – inactive, but nonetheless exciting – to the El Mirador restaurant. It’s 1200 metres high, just where the chair lift starts for trips into the mountain. The restaurant is big, yet cosy and welcoming, and serves hearty fare like homemade soups and huge casseroles, which is perfect fodder in this snowy landscape. It’s snowing heavily when we leave so we forfeit our trip to the top of the volcano to see the glacier.
5. Take the ferry to the island of Chiloé
Take a trip off the beaten track and experience remote island living on Isla Grande de Chiloé Island, the largest of the 30 islands in the Chiloé Archipelago, located in the southern Pacific Ocean. Steaming across the Chacao Channel on an early morning ferry is an invigorating way to arrive, you can also fly to Chiloé on LAN Airlines and, once the bridge to the mainland is completed in the next few years, drive there. My advice is to get there quick though, while the island and the archipelago still retains the sense of being on the very edge of the world. As our guide explains, ‘Chiloé today is isolation in an isolated country’.
Community ties on the island are strong and the locals are so welcoming that you may find yourself being invited into somebody’s house for a cup of tea during your visit. Thirty of Chiloé’s churches have designated World Heritage Site status from UNESCO; in total there are over 160 native timber structures, all brightly painted, elaborately decorated and dating from the 18th century.
Where to stay: Hotel Tierra, looking out to sea and the islands of the archipelago, is less of a hotel, more of a posh private pad: an ultra modern wood and stone design with floor to ceiling windows making the most of the view and just 12 bedrooms. Part of the very chic Tierra group, it is ranked in Conde Nast Traveler’s ‘Hot List’ and ‘Best Splurges’.
Given its remote location, prices are all inclusive – from $1650 for two nights – and the hotel offers lots of excursions and diversions for its guests. A team of guides offer tailored half-day and full-day outings, including boating, horse riding, biking, cultural trips, trekking and nature walks. The hotel has its own large cruiser, for trips to the islands of the archipelago, with lunch, snacks and drinks supplied on board and the chance to whizz around the bay in a speedboat or go sea kayaking during the outing. Watch out for penguins – we had a whole colony swim alongside the boat for a short while on our journey back from the islands! Visit www.tierrachiloe.com for more information
Chile: more information
For more information on Chile go to www.chile.travel
Chile: getting there
Return flights from London Heathrow to Santiago via Sao Paulo with TAM Airlines and internal flights to Puerto Montt returning from Chiloe with LAN Airlines start from £1,324 including all taxes. To book, visit www.tam.com.br or www.lan.com