Thank you Ikon pass for leading us here! The road up to the resort was an incredibly winding road…read morefor almost an hour. Hiring a driver familiar with this drive is a must. Once arriving, the small resort area with wide terrain (no trees), was very enjoyable. During our few days stay, the highest we could get on the mountain was via Andes Express. This was around half way to the top looking at the map. The runs were well maintained and the mountain was easy to navigate. This resort is a great way to enjoy the Andes Mountains. Mastercard gets 25% discount on rentals, food, etc so come with this card. We dined at a couple restaurants and although didn't think the buffet was all that good, the restaurant with a more chill vibe, almost sports bar like had wonderful food and service. Not the best snow coverage to start our stay, but decent conditions. Ended with almost being snowed in.

This place is like stepping back in time, the mid 80's to be specific. The room decor is set in an…read more80's French apartment, that is in desperate need of a facelift. The whole resort could use a facelift. The rooms were fairly clean, the beds were comfortable, the clean sheets and comforters had stains on the, that was kind of gross. The bathroom showers had great water pressure. The service we experienced was excellent. There was always someone who spoke and understood English. The chairlifts were archaic, one sort of high speed quad that was running to the top of the mountain, otherwise, there were many sling shots, they reminded me of sort of like T-bars that I rode on over 50 years ago. This small like saucer thing is very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it's the only way to get to the highest point on the mountain at 12,000+ feet as well as other areas. The tram holds 6 people, servicing the lower mountain and moves at an OK speed. There are two other chairs that are super slow, (for those that know) they run slower than chair 12 at Mammoth mountain , which I didn't think was possible lol. They have a large round heated pool that was packed every night with kids, men in speedo's, and some moms, most were drinking and listening to the DJ play EDM music. Your stay comes with a breakfast buffet, which was typical, omelette bar, eggs, bacon, lots of fruits and pastries, juices, coffee etc. For dinner, you can choose between four restaurant options, by far, the best was the Chilean restaurant, Sur. Make your dinner reservations early, it gets full quickly. Also, make sure for dessert you choose the sampler. The food and service were always outstanding. The Italian restaurant was overall decent. Another option is a dinner buffet, I can't comment because I'm not into dinner buffets and everyone I talked to regarding the French restaurant didn't care for it. Good luck. For lunch, at the mid mountain restaurant,the pizza was amazing, if you like rare hamburgers, then you might like the burgers. The resort is definitely family oriented. The week we were there, there were lots of families, and a lot of beginners. They didn't have much snow, but overall the mountain seemed to offer a good variety of terrain for beginners to advance. As for expert skiers, not so much and no trees. They offer heli skiing but did not try it. I'd rather heli-ski in Canada. Overall, seemed pricey even with the very small IKON discount. I'm glad I experienced it, but keep your expectations in check. I would definitely ski here again, if it's a pow pow day. No regrets, make life happen.

If you plan to visit both Argentina and Chile, LYS is a very worthwhile way to handle the rental…read morecar challenge. We booked two 4wd SUVs for our group of 8 people with Andres Gabor at LYS and Andres made it very easy. Mitta and Europcar websites are pretty much impossible to negotiate if you plan to drive between Chile and Argentina and back. Andres handles your multi-country paperwork which will be ready and understood by the car rental company when you arrive. Consider LYS as your concierge agent. Before and during your trip, Andres is also available 24/7 by WhatsApp to answer travel and route questions. (this is really useful) If you are just visiting Chile and plan to stay in-country, you could do it on your own if you are confident with your Spanish reading. Recommendation: Buy Airalo Chile and Argentina SIMs for data during your trip then use WhatsApp. Most hotels and businesses rely on WhatsApp and it is a great way to stay connected.

All that Andres is doing is passing you off to one of his employees and booking you a car through…read moreEuropcar. He doesn't explain that to you until you have paid him. He's a con. I paid him roughly 160 US because I had never rented a car in Chile and wanted the process to be more smooth and have the 24/7 help. He did not answer when my vehicle was sabotaged, which voided the whole reason that I booked through him. When I reached out to request a refund he very kindly told me that I was on my own. Don't make the same mistake that I made. Just book the car through europcar yourself. Avis and Budget also operate here if you want to use an English speaking 24/7 support service. By the way I don't write reviews and I gave Andres the opportunity to fix this. Attached is an example of an email his company sent me. Absolutely ridiculous to pay for someone who has so many technical difficulties. He also sent me a photo of WhatsApp to try to con me into believing that he had no missed calls from me... (for reference you can delete missed calls on WhatsApp and he is a conman)

Having never gone skiing before and not having experience in what a winter wonderland is, imagine…read moremy surprise at being told to rent chains for tires. We had previously gone to another shop, but they were out of the ones we needed for our car. Enter Ski Rental Xscape that did have them. Hallelujah! Now a bit about them - they're seriously following COVID-19 procedures and I say that as I waited outside for quite a bit to even be let inside. When I was let inside, the gentleman who attended me was kind and even gave me a discount for our car chains. Score! Put up a deposit, plus the actual charge for the rental, and well, it wasn't too bad. Got my deposit days later when I returned the chains. Easy stuff. Did I mention they have free parking? A big deal in Santiago. Oh, and be weary of competitors. We had a guy approach us trying to sway us to go elsewhere. Eek!