The Portillo ski resort is the oldest and most famous ski center in Chile, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The first to ski on the slopes of Portillo were the British, who came to Chile to build the railway. The lift was a brand new railway line built in 1910. The first rope tow appeared here in the 30s of the last century. The places where Portillo is currently located already became very popular among skiers in Europe and the USA. Gradually, by the middle of the century, these picturesque places turned into a ski resort. At the same time, the first hotel was built, called Portillo. The resort began to grow: the number of ski lifts, hotels, restaurants increased, and a ski school opened.
In 1962, the resort was bought by two young North American businessmen, after which, by 1966, Portillo became the center of the World Ski Championships. In 1999, Portillo celebrated his 50th birthday. Now Portillo is one of the most famous resorts in Latin America, which can accommodate 500 guests at a time, with a staff of 450 people.
How to get there
Portillo is located 164 km from Santiago (about 2 hours away).
shuttle
The most convenient way to get to the resort is by using a transfer organized by Portillo Tours & Travel. The cost of the trip will be $80. Minibuses and full-fledged buses run from the airport to the resort.
Taxi
The cost of a taxi ride will be approximately $260. The taxi driver is ready to put up to three people in the car.
By car
If you want to get to Portillo on your own, for example, with a rented car, then you need to leave Santiago via Amérigo Vespucio, then take the Autopista Los Libertadores highway, in a northerly direction, according to the signs (do not enter the city of Los Andes). But keep in mind that the resort is located at a high altitude above sea level, so check the weather conditions before you travel.
Where to stay
You can stay at any of the many hotels in Santiago, from which there is a transfer to Portillo (prices are in US dollars based on standard double occupancy, breakfast included).
Leonardo Da Vinci ($55, extra bed $20), Atton ($65, extra bed $25), Kennedy ($70, extra bed $55), Marriott ($85, extra bed $35), Sheraton Santiago ($90, extra bed - $40), Plaza San Francisco ($100, extra bed - $35), Hyatt ($120, extra bed - $55), Sheraton Tower Junior Suite ($140, extra bed - $60), Ritz-Carlton ($150 , extra bed - $30).
Characteristics of the routes
Slopes:
- maximum height: 3322 meters
- elevation difference: 812 meters
- the longest route is 2200 meters
Trails:
Number of tracks: 34
- Green trails (for beginners) - 18%
- Blue trails (medium difficulty) – 25%
- Red slopes (for advanced) - 35%
- Black runs (for professionals) - 22%
Lifts:
- Tow ropes – 5
- Chairlifts – 5
- Vaet Vient - 2 (these are lifts specially designed for those slopes where there is a danger of avalanches)
Alpine ski school
The ski school in Portillo deservedly has a reputation as one of the best in the world. It was founded more than 60 years ago and now continues its work under the leadership of Jesus Puente. Four of the school's principals are Olympic gold medal winners. Now the team of instructors consists of 35 world-class ski and snowboard professionals from 10 countries.
Group classes
Group classes are held four times a day for everyone over 7 years old. The cost of one lesson is $23 (excluding 19% VAT, when paying in US dollars, no VAT will be charged). You can choose any number of classes. So, for example, 6 days of 2 lessons will cost a skier $193.
Individual sessions
Individual lessons are designed for one hour (1-4 people), held from Sunday to Friday inclusive. The cost of one lesson for one person is $45, for three people $81. A full day with a personal instructor will cost $400.
Ski school for children
In Portillo there are special classes for children from 4 to 6 years old. Children under 4 years old can study individually, over 6 years old can study with adult groups. Classes for children from 4 to 6 years old are held from Sunday to Friday.
Equipment rental
Standard set for adults (beds, boots, poles) for a day - $36, for a week - $223, for children $27 and $172, respectively.
Ski-pass tickets:
A one-day ski pass for an adult costs $42, for a child $27 in high season.
All inclusive holidays:
Portillo sells week-long vacation packages (Saturday to Saturday). The package includes 7 nights, 7 days of skiing, 4 meals a day, use of a swimming pool, jacuzzi, gym, aerobics and yoga classes, cinema room, playroom for children, disco, bar, equipment storage, childcare for children from 3 to 7 years old groups (childcare for children from 0 to 3 years old is paid additionally). An all-inclusive week at Portillo will cost you between $800 and $4,300, depending on the season and room class.
Ski Portillo ski resort can easily be called one of the most beautiful in Chile. Ski Portillo is located at the foot of the famous Mount Aconcagua (Aconcagua 6961 m) on the border with Argentina and at a noticeable distance from the Chilean capital Santiago - as much as 160 km. For comparison, the La Parva ski resort is located only 50 km from Santiago.
Ski Portillo Ski Resort
Like all ski resorts, Portillo exists according to the laws of seasonality - it comes to life in the winter from June to September, and freezes for all other months of the year, welcoming them behind boarded up doors. I always like to visit popular places in the off-season, when they look a little deserted and sad. But all the beauty is for you alone.
Just before and after the season, when there is still/already little snow, Portillo has its advantages, even if they do not relate to the joys of winter sports such as alpine skiing, snowboarding and heli-skiing. What makes the Ski Portillo ski resort so visually special in the low season is the blue Inca Lagoon, spilling among the mountains opposite the main building. Around September, the lagoon appears again in all its beauty, but still surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Amazing sight!
I came to the Ski Portillo ski resort in October, since I spent almost the entire Chilean winter in Moscow, and I wanted to catch the snow and throw snowballs. Portillo was the only ski resort within a radius of Santiago that still had snow in central Chile, which seemed like a good enough reason for a 100-mile trip. The road to Portillo is international, so at times it is difficult due to large trucks traveling between Chile, Argentina and Brazil, and sometimes you have to obediently trail behind the trucks.
By the way, on the territory of Portillo itself in a month like October, you have to be careful - because of the melting snow, you can fall into a deep hole unnoticed, so warning signs were posted everywhere, and the resort workers did not let you get close to the lagoon.
Ski Portillo ski resort in low season and cloudy day
One of the chalets
Serpentine to Portillo resort leading to Argentina
This is what the Ski Portillo ski resort looks like in high season
Practical information about Portillo
When to go
High season: from July 2 to August 5. Low season: mid-June to July, mid-August to September.
Portillo has equipment rentals, but no clothing rentals. The bulk of the rental points for everything you need for skiing are located on Las Condes street, on the way to the road to the Camino a Farellones mountains (further along this road are the ski resorts La Parva and Valle Nevado).
Price
Ticket price for 1 day in Portillo per adult: in high season CLP 42,000 (USD 64), in low season CLP 31,000. A full season membership costs 710,000 pesos.
1 group lesson costs CLP 27,000 (USD 41), private lesson CLP 58,000
Portillo also has full 1 week and mini week packages. The package includes accommodation, 4 meals a day, access to slopes and ski lifts. Week: from USD 2150 in low season and from USD 3950 in high season. Mini-week (4 days, 3 nights): from USD 1086 in low season to USD 1436 in high season. Prices are based on a family room at the hotel, full price table.
Portillo in numbers
- 14 lifts
- Height (hotel level) 2880 m. Highest point 3310 m
- 35 trails, including 5 black trails
- The resort area is 500 hectares
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Ski Portillo ski resort in the Chilean Andes was last modified: December 19th, 2016 by Anastasia Polosina
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under the Bermejo pass
Excerpt characterizing Portillo (Chile)
And I just now noticed that many entities were splashing in these golden, sparkling waves... Some of them simply lay on the surface, smoothly swaying on the waves, others dived headlong into the “gold” and did not show up for a long time, apparently completely immersed into a mental “concert” and in no hurry to return from there...- Well, shall we listen? – the little girl pushed me impatiently.
We came close... And I felt a wonderfully soft touch of a sparkling wave... It was something incredibly tender, surprisingly affectionate and calming, and at the same time, penetrating into the very “depths” of my surprised and slightly wary soul... Quiet “music” ran along my foot, vibrating in millions of different shades, and, rising upward, began to envelop me with something fabulously beautiful, something beyond any words... I felt that I was flying, although there was no flight it didn’t happen in reality. It was wonderful!.. Every cell dissolved and melted in the oncoming new wave, and the sparkling gold washed me through, taking away everything bad and sad and leaving only pure, pristine light in my soul...
I didn’t even feel how I entered and plunged into this sparkling miracle almost headlong. It was just incredibly good and I never wanted to leave there...
- Well, that’s enough already! A task awaits us! – Stella’s assertive voice burst into the shining beauty. - Did you like it?
- Oh, yes! – I exhaled. – I didn’t want to go out so much!..
- Exactly! So some “bathe” until their next incarnation... And then they never return here again...
-Where are they going? – I was surprised.
- Below... Grandma says that you also have to earn a place here... And whoever just waits and rests will “work off” in the next incarnation. I think it's true...
– What’s there below? – I asked interestedly.
“It’s not so nice there anymore, believe me.” – Stella smiled slyly.
- And this sea, is there only one or are there many of them here?
– You’ll see... It’s all different – where there’s the sea, where there’s just a “view”, and where there’s just an energy field full of different flowers, streams and plants, and all this also “heals” souls and calms... just not like that- then just use it - you must first earn it.
– Who doesn’t deserve it? Don’t they live here? I didn’t understand.
“They live, but they don’t live so beautifully anymore...” the little girl shook her head. – Here it’s the same as on Earth – nothing is given for free, but the values here are completely different. And whoever doesn’t want it, gets everything much simpler. All this beauty cannot be bought, it can only be earned...
“You speak now just like your grandmother, as if you had learned her words...” I smiled.
- The way it is! – Stella returned the smile. – I try to remember a lot of what she says. Even things that I don’t quite understand yet... But I’ll understand someday, right? And then, perhaps, there will be no one to teach... So that will help.
Portillo– the oldest, most “tested”, most famous in the world Chilean ski resort. And the most expensive. But every peso left in Portillo, is worth it - after all, we are talking about the centuries-old experience of the instructor school, about magnificent pistes and slopes tested by generations of athletes, about the most beautiful part of the central Andes, about world-class infrastructure.
On the way from Santiago V Portillo An incredibly picturesque view opens up: hills overgrown with grapes and cacti, forest, plants exotic for guests of Chile. There are four more ski resorts nearby, but all their snowy splendor fades next to the respectable Portillo. Which is also located farthest from all the “central” ski places from the capital - one hundred and seventy kilometers from Santiago. It does Portillo in its own way a little pretentious, but people who are random in skiing don’t get here: in a sense Portillo, which hosted the World Championship in 1966, is a legend and, taking into account the almost two hundred kilometers drive from the capital, only those who really need it get here.
There will be no queues for the lifts or to see the instructor. Having climbed a steep “serpanitine” with more than thirty turns, guests find themselves in a place that has been welcoming travelers from all over the world for many years: Portillo you can meet people of different nationalities with different citizenships, who are united by only one thing - of course, alpine skiing.
These people understand perfectly what constitutes “excellent local service.” Here, for example, you can rent skis of absolutely any model: in Portillo They know that riding styles and tastes are different. And it is worth mentioning separately that Portillo ski resort it is equipped inside and out for people with disabilities - here people with disabilities feel not like disabled people, but like athletes, like everyone else who comes here.
Portillo- the very first Chilean ski resort and the most significant for the development of world alpine skiing. Known as the best organized ski resort in South America. The resort has hosted numerous international competitions, including the 1966 World Championships, where famous skier Jean-Claude Killy won his first gold medals.
Thanks to the recently introduced "snow making" system, the only one in South America, Portillo can guarantee skiing throughout the entire season. The Ski Instructor School, led by Mike Rogan, is a group of accredited, experienced and multilingual professionals selected from the best ski schools in the Northern Hemisphere.
Portillo is located 164 km from Santiago, it is most convenient to order a transfer in advance from Moscow. If you want to get to Portillo yourself, then always find out about the weather conditions, because... the resort is located high in the mountains.
Nature
Portillo is located at an altitude of 2880 meters above sea level at the foot of the highest mountain in the western hemisphere, Mt. Aconcagua (7,266 m) in the center of the Andes mountain system. The resort is located on the shores of the picturesque Lake Incas just north of the city of Los Andes, among snow-white mountain peaks, 100% above the forest level.
Infrastructure
Basic information
- Summer time (validity period) lags behind Moscow time in winter - by 6 hours, summer time (from the second Saturday of October to the second Saturday of March) - by 7 hours
- Religion Catholicism
- Time zone (+00:00 GMT) (-04:00 GMT)
- Power supply (voltage, socket type) 220 V / 50 Hz; Type C and L plugs
- Language (official and spoken) Spanish
- for adults
- on the company
- for youth
- for lonely people
- for families with children
Who is the resort aimed at?
- Tips:
- active / sports Outdoor swimming pool with heated water, sauna, ice skating track, gym, massage room, ski equipment rental and repair, ski school, children's room.
- Alpine skiing Characteristics of slopes - Slopes - maximum height - 3,322 m; elevation difference - 812 m. Trails - Green trails (for beginners) 18%; Blue trails (medium difficulty) 25%; Red slopes (for advanced) 35%; Black slopes (for professionals) 22%. The longest route is 2,200 m. Number of routes - 34. Lifts - rope tows 5; chairlifts 5; Va et Vient 2 are lifts (manufactured by Poma) specially designed for those slopes where there is a danger of avalanches. The ski season lasts from mid-June to mid-October. During the entire period the trails are covered with good snow. Average annual precipitation - 6 m, in season - 80% sunny days
Resort type
- high
Resort level
- Safety assessment: Chileans are very reserved, but they are friendly towards tourists and always try to help them. A vaccination certificate is not required to enter Chile, but doctors recommend vaccinations against hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus. For drinking, use only bottled water
Expert assessment of the resort
