The acting national director of Sernatur, Santiago Fernández, and the president of EFE, Eric Martin, started - as is tradition - the 2025 summer train season, accompanying the hundreds of travelers who left on Saturday, January 11, bound for Chillán, the vineyards of Maule, or the Train of Remembrance to Llay Llay and Limache.
These are ten services that are part of the tourist schedule promoted by EFE, its subsidiaries and corporations that operate heritage and tourist trains and that, at this time of year, add more passengers to enjoy the attractions.
This is how the train to Chillán reinforced its itineraries with eight daily frequencies, to which it adds two additional ones to Talca. The trains are regular and express, while the former stop in Curicó, Linares, Parral, San Carlos, among others, the regional ones only stop in the regional capitals of Maule and O'Higgins.
The night train returns to Temuco
Also, starting January 17, the night train between Santiago and Temuco will return with a weekly frequency, leaving on Friday nights from Estación Central to arrive in the Araucanía Region in the morning. The return trips will be every Sunday afternoon, arriving in the capital early in the morning. It also includes intermediate stops in the cities of Lautaro, Victoria and Laja; in this last commune it will be possible to transfer with Corto Laja trains to and from Concepción. The price will start at $23,900 in tourist class and the dining car will be available for most of the night during the trip.
The acting national director of Sernatur, Santiago Fernández, highlighted that “the reactivation of trains not only expands the options for traveling around the country, safely and comfortably for passengers, but also allows for diversifying tourist destinations and accessing wine tourism, heritage tourism or rural tourism experiences, just as the tourist trains we are launching today do. These trains are a novel and entertaining option to get to know places in the north, center and south in a different way, and to be surprised by everything that Chile has to offer our national and foreign tourists, so we invite everyone to learn about this initiative and plan their trip now.”
For his part, EFE President Eric Martin said that “we are happy to accompany our passengers on this day, when many are starting their vacations and others are also going for the day to enjoy tourism by train, safely and comfortably. That is why we invite passengers of all ages to join the train trips, taking advantage of the new destinations we have available and the more than 25 thousand passengers who used these services last year.”
Summer train itineraries
In turn, in the north of Chile, the EFE Arica La Paz subsidiary will have tourist trains to its traditional destination Poconchile, located 40 kilometers from the regional capital, through the Lluta Valley, the capital of corn, which will have trips this summer to the Eco Truly village on Saturdays, January 18 and February 1, a place that belongs to a worldwide network of Eco Yoga Villages, where a healthy life is promoted, in connection with nature.
In the central valleys, the Sabores de Cachapoal and Sabores del Maule trains will deliver a unique product with visits to the Casa Acosta, Valle Secreto or Veletas and Terranoble vineyards respectively, with a trip for wine lovers, with tastings from the start of the journey, including guided tours and, in some cases, lunch. This summer's departures will be on Saturdays, January 11, 18 and 25, as well as Sundays, January 12 and 19.
Meanwhile, in the Valparaíso Region, the traditional Tren del Recuerdo announces its departure every week, with trips from Santiago to San Antonio, Rancagua to San Antonio and Santiago/Limache, which has the option of combining with the EFE service to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso for the day. As a novelty, this summer a special stop will be added in the town of Llay LLay, to give rise to a local tourist program with entrepreneurs that includes lunch and a heritage tour.
Likewise, the Train of Remembrance will reach Ritoque in February, from the town of Limache, passing through Con Con and the dunes of Mantagua, in collaboration with the Municipality of Quintero, repeating the successful experience of summer 2023.
In the south of the country, the Pablo Neruda Railway Museum, dependent on the Municipality of Temuco, will operate the Historic Araucanía Train, commanded by the century-old steam locomotive 820, built in Philadelphia in the United States in 1930 and cars dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. The departures.
In turn, EFE is evaluating the implementation of exploratory tourist trains between Puerto Montt-Puerto Varas and Frutillar during February, in order to enhance this natural attraction next to Lake Llanquihues, which are scheduled for Sundays, January 26 and February 16.
Source: Sernatur.