This tour is great and such an awesome value!
Started out with an early pickup from my hotel, picked up the rest of the group throughout the city, then headed out on the road. The journey is pretty long, so be prepared for that. We stopped about halfway there and grabbed some breakfast and coffee, then continued on to Tinoco Tunnel, a cool experience at a place with a really dark past.
We then headed up the mountain a bit where the roads get very narrow, we had an excellent tour guide and driver, Jaime, who I felt completely safe and confident with.
After reaching the Embalse, we were allowed a lot of time to take pictures, soak up the environment, and enjoy the breathtaking views. We then had a very nice picnic with wine and cheese and crackers, stopped off at a chocolate shop for some much needed gelato on the hot day, and then headed back to the city to drop everyone off.
This isn’t a history-rich tour, our guide was great at giving us occasional tidbits of information and answered any questions we had, but the main purpose of this was to get to the location and enjoy the sights. A lot of time is spent in the van, so just be ready for that.
One big critique and the main reason I didn’t rate 5 stars:
- The pickup process could be a lot more streamlined. While I enjoy the convenience of a hotel pickup, we could have all easily met up at one location in the city and saved a lot of time in the van. I was the first person picked up and the last person dropped off so I had a unique experience in that sense, but it still seems a bit excessive to drive to 7 different hotels in addition to the actual long journey to the embalse.
I would totally recommend this experience to solo travelers and even bigger groups, the pictures do not do justice to this place, it was really amazing seeing it in person and a wonderful day trip to end my stay in Santiago.
