Maps

International Travel Maps and Books (ITMB, 530 W. Broadway, Vancouver BC, V5Z 1E9, tel. 604/879-3621, fax 604/879-4521, www.itmb.com) publishes a series of maps that cover all or parts of Chile at a variety of scales.

The annually updated three-volume Turistel guidebook series (Spanish only) contains the most current road maps at the back of its Norte (North), Centro (Center), and Sur volumes, along with numerous useful city maps, which, unfortunately, lack scales.

JLM Cartografía (General del Canto 105, Oficina 1506, tel./fax 02/2364808, Providencia, Santiago, jmatassi [at] interactiva [dot] cl) publishes regional and local maps at varying scale (even within the same map), in both Spanish and imperfect but generally serviceable English. Some cover parts of neighboring countries.

Chile’s official Instituto Geográfico Militar (IGM, Dieciocho 369, Santiago Centro, tel. 02/4606800, fax 02/4608924, www.igm.cl) publishes detailed topographic maps covering the entire country at a scale of 1:50,000; some of these, however, are “proprietary” as they adjoin what the military consider to be sensitive border areas. They are also expensive at about US$15 and up. The Instituto also sells city maps, road atlases, and books that are useful to the everyday visitor, and the staff is professional and efficient.

Tourist Offices

Sernatur (www.sernatur.cl), the national tourism service, maintains public information offices in Santiago and all regional capitals, and also in Chillán, Valdivia, and Puerto Natales. Most are normally open weekdays only, but in summer and in some localities they open on weekends.

In addition to Sernatur’s offices, many municipalities have their own offices, especially in southern lake district resorts such as Villarrica, Pucón, and Puerto Varas, which keep long summer hours but are limited the rest of the year. Many smaller towns have summer-only (January–February) offices.

© Wayne Bernhardson from Moon Chile, 2nd edition