Globular Clusters - Guides to Galaxies

Travel from Santiago to Concepción


General info:
Concepción is well connected to Santiago by air (1 hour), bus (6 hours) and rail (6 hours). 
Note that visitors from several countries (Australia, Canada, Mexico, and the USA) are required to pay a special one-time fee upon arrival in Chile. This must be paid in cash; there is a money-exchange desk at the Santiago airport to help with this. See here for airport arrival details, incl. the fee amounts. You might also want to consider travel insurance, especially if you plan to engage in risky outdoor activities. There are many automated cash machines in Chile where you can withdraw local currency using a foreign bank card (look for a "Redbanc" sign). Credit cards are frequently accepted by shops, restaurants, and hotels.

Flights:
Concepción airport has frequent flights between Santiago and  Concepción (airport code CCP). The flying time is 1 hour. The major carrier is LAN with about 5 flights per day in summer, fewer in winter. There is also the discount Sky Airline. From the airport, the Concepción city center is 10 km away; taxi fare is approximately 5000 pesos or US $8. We will also arrange an airport pick-up service for some flights. If connecting to Concepción via an international flight through Santiago, you will have to pick up your luggage in Santiago and re-check it in upstairs with LAN, even if it's supposedly checked all the way through to Concepción. It's advisable to not schedule your international flight departing from Santiago too close to the internal flight arrival, since the internal flights are known to be rescheduled on short notice.

Trains:
Train service (by EFE) is highly recommended as the most comfortable method of transport between the cities (and it's scenic as well). The first-class ("preferente") service is economical and very spacious, with electrical sockets at every seat for those who want to work, and full cooked meal service available around lunchtime. The train goes only to Chillan, after which there is a one-hour connecting bus service to Concepción (8 trains/day, 6 hours total travel: 14000 pesos ($26) each way for Salón class, 16000 ($30) for Preferente). Note that these comments pertain to the day train ("TerraSur"); there is also another train ("Automotor Diurno/Nocturno", 7-8 hours) using much older carriages, which goes directly to Concepción, either overnight or once per day. To get to the train station in Santiago ("Alameda" or "Estación Central"), you can take either a taxi (15 mins, about 12000 pesos), or a bus-metro combination. The blue bus "Centropuerto" leaves from the airport every 20 mins, with a fare of about 1100 pesos. One stop is at the "Pajaritos" metro station, from where you take the train to "Estación Central" (5 stops in the direction of "Escuela Militar": see metro map). Note that the Santiago underground metro is one of the best in the world in many respects except for disabled access: i.e. moving heavy luggage around can be a problem. The train tickets can be purchased at the station or in advance via the internet (recommended if you want to ensure preferente class on a specific train). For approximate arrival location in Concecpión, see left side of map.

Buses:
Long distance bus service in Chile is reliable and comfortable, and the cheapest way to get around. They all use a reserved seating system, and offer luggage check-in and video entertainment. For newcomers to Chile, we recommend Tur Bus. They run 20 normal ("clasico") buses a day to Concepción, with a 6-7 hour journey time, 8600 pesos ($16) each way. Some of the overnight buses are more luxurious in terms of space and seat recline: "ejecutivo" (10600 / $20), "salon cama" (21700 / $41), "premium" (28400 / $53). The luxury seats tend to be booked in advance, but for normal buses, you're safe to just buy a ticket at the station. There are Tur Bus information desks at the Santiago airport, both before and after you exit the luggage-claim area, where they can give you info about the bus schedules. They also have buses (1300 pesos) and mini-vans (3000 pesos) connecting directly from the airport to the Tur-Bus terminal. Arrival in Concepción is at "Collao" or "Camilo Henriquez". From Collao to the city center or university take a taxi or a micro-bus marked "Hualpencillo" from outside the terminal and get off on "Freire". From Camilo Henriquez, take a taxi or a micro-bus to Av. Maipú. Taxis are about 2500 pesos ($5), micros are 330-360 pesos ($0.65).
Other long-distance companies which can be faster, cheaper, safer, and/or more comfortable, are EME and Pullman (but they are not as frequent and have less accessible terminals and schedule information). These depart from Santiago's Terminal de Buses Alameda (O'Higgins 3712). This can be reached via the metro ("Universidad de Santiago": see details with train instructions above), or by taking Tur Bus to their Santiago terminal, then walking a couple of blocks to the other terminal.