Location
The Federico Santa María University is in Valparaíso, in just an hour and a half northwest of Santiago.
Near to Viña de Mar, the 'Garden City', is one of Chile's premier beach resorts, with excellent hotels and shopping. While Valparaiso has a historic charm, immortalized in the words of Pablo Neruda, is one of South America's most charismatic and historic ports, with its charming ascensores (funicular railways) and colorful hillside constructions.
Getting to Viña del Mar - Valparaíso
The Viña del Mar - Valparaiso urban area is located about 100 km (60 miles) from the International Airport of Santiago. The trip takes about 70 minutes.
There are several alternative ways to get to your Hotel in Viña del Mar:
Public Transportation: Bus (from the airport to the Santiago bus station ) + Bus (from the Santiago bus station to Viña del Mar - shuttle from 6.am to 10:30 pm) + local taxi.
Take the airport bus towards Santiago. The bus stops right outside the airport building (there are two companies: "Centropuerto" is a light blue bus, and "TurBus" is a light green bus, the ticket is paid at the bus, about $ 2.800 CLP); get off the bus at the first stop (about 15-20 min drive), called "Pajaritos" (sounds: Paharitos; ask the driver to drop you there).
Pajaritos is a small bus and subway station. The bus station to Viña is on the other side of the building from where you got off the airport bus. Buy a bus ticket to Viña del Mar or Valparaíso at the corresponding ticket office (the best companies are Tur Bus and Pullman Bus). The seats are numbered, so you must purchase the ticket at the office. Buses run every 10-15 minutes but you may have to wait up 30 minutes for your bus, depending on the rush hours. This ticket is about $ 4500 CLP (~ 8 USD).
The trip from Pajaritos to Viña takes about 90 minutes. The Bus Terminal in Viña del Mar is near downtown, and about 1 km from Hotel San Martin. You should take a taxi from the Bus Terminal to your hotel. The price should be below $ 5.000 CLP.
Shuttle: Special vehicles scheduled by HEP 2016 organization
The details for this type of travel will be given the previous days for the conference.
Taxi: Private vehicle
There is a taxi service from the airport, called "Taxioficial"*, round-the-clock. The price is $ 89.000 CLP per taxi to Viña (~ 180 USD); the taxi can carry up to 3 persons with luggage. Web page: www.taxioficial.cl - Tel. (+56-2)-6019880.
*If you decide to take a taxi of a private taxi driver, you should try to negotiate the price
