High in the Andes Mountains near the border of Chile and Argentina, sits a bright golden sun of a ski resort: Ski Portillo. The pros often rate this resort as one of the best places to ski in South America. I rate it as one of the most beautiful mountain views I’ve ever seen.
Let me start my establishing my credentials. I have none. I have never skied before, nor have I stayed at a ski resort. Outside of a handful of day trips to Wisconsin to snowboard as a kid, I have next to no snow sporting experience.
What I do have is a general interest in international travel, an affinity for nice hotels, and a willingness to do just about anything for my kid. So here we are! If you’d like to see what it’s like to stay at a Ski Resort in the Chilean Andes as a beginner skier, keep reading!
Tip! Portillo is pronounced pohr-tee-yoh (sort of like tortilla) and not pohr-till-oh (like the Chicago-style hotdog restaurant.) We were very embarrassed to make this mistake with the immigrations officer upon arrival.
Why we chose to ski in Chile
It’s not because we’re expert skiers, I’ll tell you that much. In reality, it was the birthday wish of a certain 4-year-old.
We usually traveling over summer break, which lately means we’re gone for our child’s August birthday. (Last year they celebrated in Vancouver.) Now that they are a bit older, we decided to let them have a say in where they would be on their birthday this year.
Now, this is our child who absolutely adored “snowy vacation” (aka our 10-day Trip to Finland & Norway). So, we were not at all surprised when they said they wanted to go skiing for their birthday. Have they ever been skiing before? Absolutely not. In fact, I’m pretty sure their only reference point was a video they saw of their little friend skiing and seeing skis in a store window on Fifth Ave. But alas, ski trip is what they chose.
If you want to go skiing in August, you end up in South America where August is the middle of winter. The Andes were the obvious choice for skiing, and Ski Portillo specifically won the day because of the overall prestige/reviews, on-site amenities and kids ski school.
What is Ski Portillo?
Ski Portillo is an all-inclusive ski resort in the Valparaíso region of Chile, about 2-hours from Santiago. The iconic resort has been around for over 70 years, and people have skied the region for even longer.
The resort features ski-in/ski-out lodging, full-service dining, and an array of on-property entertainment and amenities. Ski Portillo feels like an entire ski town wrapped up in one little resort.
The main draw of Ski Portillo is of course the skiing. The resort is surrounded by 1,235 acres of skiable terrain. There are close to 30 different runs of varying difficulty, but you’re also free to ski just about anywhere you find snow. There’s even a heli ski option for the best and bravest looking for even more variety.
At the heart of the resort is Hotel Portillo. This is the main lodging building and the hub of the resort. All of the hotels amenities and services can be found here (pool, dining rooms, fitness center, etc.), as well as all of the ski services.
In addition to the hotel, Ski Portillo has two hostel-style lodges (private rooms and shared dorms) for a more economical option. They also have private chalets for a splurge option.
One thing that sets Ski Portillo apart is its small capacity and set stay schedules. They offer a 7-day ski-week and 3 or 4 day mini-weeks, so everyone is on the same schedule. By design, it creates a likeminded community and easily encourages friendships. And with only 450 guests at any given time, you’ll see a lot of the same faces.
The benefits of the small, isolated resort go far beyond the social aspects. It also means crowds are sparse. The slopes tend to be wide open and there is no such thing as a line for the ski lifts.
Outside of skiing, the resort offers a variety of on-site entertainment options. This includes adult activities like bars, dancing and social events, plus plenty of things for kids like a bounce-house forward welcome party, a movie theater and a full recreation room. And then of course, there’s the heated pool and hot tubs, which everyone can enjoy.
I have not engaged in American ski resort culture, but from what I gather, Ski Portillo offers a very different experience. Overall, the resort feels very old-school and vintage, without being dated. It’s cozy and charming, and to my untrained eye, offers a very pure and authentic ski experience.
Quick Review of Ski Portillo
If you don’t read our entire post (we understand!), here is the cliff-note version. Here are a few quick take aways and our overall impression of this resort.
- The lodge was cozy perfection. The rooms themselves were clean and modern (sans TVs), while the rest of the lodge felt like a vintage postcard.
- The Lake View rooms have the most stunning views. If they’re available, I’d probably say Lake View rooms are worth the upgrade. However, you can get the same view from the main terrace off the lobby.
- Ski-in/ski-out style offers convenience. We could go from our room to the slopes in about 5 minutes. This is probably great for everyone, but it is particularly great for beginners who are coming and going more, and not spending full days out on the slopes.
- The slopes are intimidating if you’re new to skiing. There are a couple green slope options, but I would not call them easy. There are definitely more options for moderate to advanced skiers.
- That said, it’s really great for kids. Ski Portillo has a great ski school for children, and it was impressive seeing what those little kids could do on the slopes! The resort also offers FREE day care for children 4-7, plus paid care options for younger kids.
- It felt a bit like going to camp. It brought a group of people together for the same shared experience. The set meal times, the familiar faces, and the familiar, nostalgic vibe just made it feel a lot like what I imagine summer camp to be like.
- The food was fine. We’re vegetarian, so maybe don’t listen to us. Overall, we weren’t blown away by the food, but we were happy with the variety in the vegetarian menu. (The very grumpy vegetarian next to us would disagree, as he was very unhappy with how often his appetizer was salad.) We also appreciated the relatively speedy service.
- The resort amenities kept us busy off the slopes. The resort offers a good selection of activities, and we loved that we could fill our afternoons off the slope. Most notably, we loved swimming in the heated outdoor pool surrounded by snowy mountains.
Bottom line: We really enjoyed our stay at Ski Portillo, but mostly because of the views and lodge experience. The skiing was harder than we thought, so we didn’t do it that much. A more advanced skier would probably get more out of it the experience.
Booking Ski Portillo
Ski Portillo operates on a set schedule, so you can only check-in and out on certain days. They offer a 7-day ski-week beginning on either Wednesday or Saturday. They also offer mini-weeks, which are available from Wednesday to Saturday (3 day) or Saturday to Wednesday (4 day.)
We booked the 4-day mini-week from Saturday to Wednesday. Specifically, we opted for a Lake View room in the main hotel building, Hotel Portillo.
All Ski Portillo resort bookings come as a package and include the following:
- Daily Lift Tickets. This includes your check in day, but not your final day unless you check out before 10 AM.
- 4 Daily Meals. Meals are served in the dining room service for Hotel Portillo, Octagon Lodge and Chalet guests, and in the cafeteria for Inca Lodge guests.
- Hotel Amenities Access. This includes the pool, hot tubs, cinema, fitness center, and game room, as well as any special events offered.
- Gear Check. They provide a ski/board/poles check and a shoe/boot check. You’re responsible for handling all other gear, including helmets.
The most notable things that are not included in the package are equipment rentals, ski school/lessons, and most beverages. Transportation to and from the resort is also not included.
Getting to Ski Portillo from Santiago
Ski Portillo is kind of in the middle of nowhere. (That’s a large part of how they keep the crowds on the mountain so low — there’s not many day trippers.) The closest international airport is in Santiago (SCL), which is about 2-3 hours away by car.
Ski Portillo partners with a transportation service, which offers both private transfers and a shared shuttle that runs on a set schedule.
During the high season, the shared shuttle is free for guests staying for the full 7-day ski week. Outside of that though, you’ll have to pay. Pricing varies, but you can review all the options here.
We decided to book a private car service — mostly because we wanted more control over our timing, but also because it wasn’t that much of a price difference over the shared shuttle.
Note: We flew to Santiago on a red flight and arrived in Santiago the day before the start of our Ski Portillo reservation. We stayed for one night at the airport hotel before heading to the resort. This was not necessary, but it gave us a buffer should our flight be delayed. Plus, it gave us a day to rest and get a full night of sleep before jumping into our ski trip.
Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 8:30 AM at the Holiday Inn at the Santiago Airport. The driver arrived at the lobby right on time and walked us to the garage.
We were traveling with a toddler, and we brought our own car seat. (We have and love the Pico portable car seat.) After a quick minute to install that, we were on our way.
The drive was lovely, but very mountainous. About halfway in, we began to climb the mountains, which meant a lot of switch backs. I ended up taking some dramamine, which I very much needed. My kid (who is prone to barfing in cars) seemed to handle it fine, though.
As we got closer, we started to see street vendors selling sleds and snowball makers along the road, but still no snow! I was so surprised that we didn’t really see snow until we were basically at the resort! But low and behold, we reached the final set of switch backs before the resort and the snowy peaks revealed themselves.
We arrived at the resort right around 11 AM — about 2.5 hours after our pickup.
Arrival at Ski Portillo
I already made the camp reference reference once, but arrival did feel a bit like the opening scene of the Parent Trap (the Lindsay Lohan version.) The parking lot was packed with vans coming and going, there was a swarm of guests around the check-in desk and the lobby was consumed by an organized but steadily growing island of luggage and gear.
While this did feel hectic to me, the staff ran the operation like a well-oiled machine. They welcomed this burst of arrivals every Wednesday and Saturday and did not seemed frazzled by the influx.
Despite the crowds, check-in went quickly. Much to our surprise, our room was ready. It took about 45 minutes from the time we arrived to the time we were in our room.
Given all the luggage in the lobby, I assume that was not the case for everyone. The website states that rooms will be ready by 2 PM.
Tip! Ski Portillo is at an altitude of 9,450 ft. If you’re coming from sea level you might experience side effects. Be sure to drink lots of water on your arrival day and throughout your stay.
Our Room at Ski Portillo
We booked a Lake View room at Hotel Portillo.
The hotel was very vintage, with wood paneled walls, old school olympic posters and floral curtains. The room itself felt much more modern. Everything was clean and comfortable, but not in a too-worn-in sort of way. They tied together the aesthetics with a series of matte framed photos of the maintains placed atop the wall’s ledge.
The beds were all twin size, which is the case in most of the rooms outside of the suites. We were traveling with our toddler, so there was a third bed in the room. That did make the room feel a little tight, but we didn’t mind.
The child bed setup was actually quite perfect. It was a rollaway bed, so it was a little shorter than the main two beds in the room. We scooted all three together and it created perfect bed rails to keep our little one both from rolling off their bed and from rolling onto ours.
The real focal point in the room was the window, which opened up to the most stunning views over the pool, lake and mountains. It’s definitely worth mentioning that this window does slide open and there was no screen. So obviously be very careful with little ones.
The rooms notably do not have TVs — they say it’s because they want you to disconnect and engage with nature and other guests. I don’t love how pretentious that sounds, but I will say, we didn’t even really notice that we didn’t have a TV because we were in fact too busy doing other things.
Meals & Dining at Ski Portillo
Okay, let’s talk about the dining!
Dining Room Experience
Our package (and most bookings) included four meals a day in the main dining room: breakfast, lunch, tea service and dinner. Since nearly all resort guests are dining in the same restaurant for all meals, they operate on a schedule for efficiency sake — much a like a cruise.
Breakfast is first-come-first-served during open hours. The menu is a la carte, and you can order whatever combination of items you want. It was mostly your basic continental breakfast items: eggs, oatmeal, toast, cheese, cold cuts, pancakes, etc.
Lunch and dinner was split up into two assigned seating times (12:30/1:45 PM for lunch, and 8/9:45 PM for dinner.) You lock in your meal times at your first meal, and they give families priority for the earlier seatings. (Thank goodness, because I would not have handled a 9:45 PM dinner well, even without a child!)
Lunch and dinner were both pre-fixe with 2-3 different options for each of the three courses (appetizer/salad, entree, dessert). There was always a vegetarian option available for each selection. (I don’t believe they were all vegan, but you could request that.)
Afternoon tea was lovely, but we only ended up going once. If you had the late dinner service, I could see going more often. The tea service included drinks (tea and coffee) as well as a tray of light bites, like mini sandwiches and baked goods.
The food was good. Nothing really blew my mind, but it was all very fresh and tasty. I mostly appreciated the variety. As a vegetarian, I usually find myself eating a lot of pasta and pizza at restaurants that don’t prioritize vegetarian menus. But here, the entree options were clever and varied, which I did appreciate — even if the appetizer was a salad most every time.
I was also a big fan of the service. Despite having set seating times, the servers did not keep all their tables on the exact same schedule. If we ordered our food quickly, our food would come quickly, and we could complete our meal in short order should we choose to. We could get in and out if we wanted, even if other tables were enjoying a leisurely meal.
The last thing about the dining room is that there is a dress code for dinner. We didn’t love that. I get that their trying to make seem more upscale, but I don’t really think that’s necessary in this environment. The dress code was a pretty low bar though, it was basically no shorts, t shirts or sweats.
Additional Dining
All of the dining room meals were included, but there were other dining options available for an additional cost.
The most popular, I gather, is Tio Bob’s, which is higher up on the mountain. This really looked like the place to be. You can to take the ski lift to get there, but then you have to ski down a red slope to get back to the resort. Unfortunately, my extremely pathetic skiing abilities meant that I absolutely could not make it to this restaurant.
There’s another small cafe on the mountain called Ski Box. This one overlooks the bunny hill, which was much more my vibe. We ate here for lunch on our departure day and I loved it. I got a coffee and veggie burger and watched my kid’s ski lesson. This is the kind of ski vibes I am into.
And lastly, there’s a cafeteria near the lobby. It’s more of a quick-service option that has a limited, rotating menu of hot bar items each day. This is where guests staying in the cheapest hostel rooms get their meals, but anyone can go and purchase items here when it’s open.
There’s also two bars at the resort. One is a central bar, which is a typical lobby bar that’s open most of the day and often hosts piano or other performers in the evening. The other is the discotech, which is located on the lower level and only opens later in the evening. It has a full service bar, dance floor, DJs and overall more party vibes.
Ski Experience at Ski Portillo
Okay, this is a ski resort, so let’s talk skiing!
Our package included our lift tickets, which gave us full access to the slopes. We also paid to rent gear and take lessons. Here’s how it went.
Gear Rentals
After lunch on our first day, we headed down to gear rentals on the lower level. It was pretty crowded, because everyone who arrived today was renting their gear. Just like check-in though, they had a very efficient process.
Note: You can review the rental options and pricing here.
If you’ve never rented skis before (like I hadn’t), it’s both easier and harder than I thought. You check in and tell them what you want to rent and for how long. (They also offer snowboards, but we did skis.) They’ll pair you up with an equipment person.
That person will take your shoe sizes and bring you out boots to try on. Then, they take your boots and do some magic to line up your boots to the skis. They’ll also get you set up with accessories, like poles and helmets. It took about 15 minutes.
Once they’ve got your gear set up, its yours for the duration of your rental. You can keep skis and poles at gear check, where you can check them in and out as much as you want for the duration of your rental. You won’t have to go through the set up process each day.
There’s a separate area to check your ski boots and shoes, but it’s the same idea.
Overall, the gear rental process was very smooth and easy. It was so easy to grab your gear and head right out onto the slopes.
The only thing that wasn’t available to rent was goggles. These aren’t really essential, but it was sunny during our visit and really bright with the snow. We ended up buying a pair of goggles from the shop for our kid, which proved a good purchase. I just wore sunglasses, which was fine for my measly 3 runs down a hill.
Adult Ski Lessons
My experience with ski lessons didn’t exactly go great. Maybe my expectations were too high.
It was a bit of a mess from the start. We arrived at the meeting point and they broke us up by language and skill. Paired with the English-speaking instructor, we stayed on flat snow practicing walking and coasting for most of the lesson. Meanwhile, the Spanish-speaking beginners were already making their way down the green slope nearby.
Our class didn’t even make it to the the bunny hill until the class was nearing a close. By then, we were so short on time that she just flew through the important parts of actually skiing down a mountain. I never learned any of the basics of the back and forth thing you’re supposed to do so you don’t go flying.
I left my half-day lesson still terrified and unprepared. In hindsight, I probably should have taken another lesson. But with only 2 more days on the slopes, it didn’t feel like it was worth the money or time.
Ultimately, I gained very little skills or confidence. I spent the second day only going down the bunny hill. On the third day, I finally got the courage to take the ski lift to a green run. I went down that about 3 times. I never fell, but I was easily the slowest moving person on the mountain.
Maybe it was my teacher, maybe I’m a bad student, or maybe it just wasn’t my thing! But in my experience, my lesson felt like a bust.
Kids Ski School
The kids ski school was much more productive!
Ski school is offered for children 4 and up. Our child was a fresh 4 — they literally turned 4 the day before — so they were the youngest one in the group. They offer both a morning and afternoon session each day, be we just did the morning class.
On the first day, there was a handful of other kids in the group. By the second day though, all the bigger kids had graduated to the actual slopes and ours was the only one left in the bunny hill class. It was probably less fun without the other kids, but the 1:1 lessons were very beneficial.
Our kid had never skied before. They’re decently coordinated and a good listener, and they made steady progress. They never made it off the bunny hill, but after their three days of lessons they could pretty confidently zig and zag down the bunny hill.
Since we didn’t know how to ski ourselves, ski school was absolutely necessary to get our child on the slopes. There’s no way we could have safely helped them on our own. The instructor seemed very knowledgeable and seemed to make the class both fun and productive. I would highly recommend it, even for someone as young as 4.
On the Slopes
There is a huge web of slopes and skiable terrain sprawling out in all directions from the resort. There are three green runs close to the resort, which is where I kept my talents. But if you were even a little braver, the options were vast.
There’s a map in the ski equipment area the lists all the different routes and their status. Some routes close for different reasons, but most were open during our visit.
The slopes were never crowded. This was really nice on the green hills, because I never had to worry about hitting anyone or getting hit by anyone. It also meant we never had to wait in any lines for the lifts.
Speaking of lifts, there’s a handful of different kinds. The bunny hill has a magic carpet, but most of the rest of the slopes have chair lifts or Poma lifts (the pole/seat thing). Portillo is also famous for the sling shot lifts (va y vient), which look terrifying, but are necessary for the more difficult slopes (which also look terrifying.)
We happened to catch a warm front during our visit, which was both a blessing and a curse. With temps in the mid-40s (Fahrenheit) and sun, we were comfortable and even hot in just a light jacket.
Those temps don’t bode well for the snow though. The oscillation of above and below freezing temps yielded some pretty icy conditions. It wasn’t bad at the start of our stay, but it was pretty noticeable by our final day.
Other than that though, I was really impressed by both the condition and the quality of the slopes. Even though I didn’t do a lot of skiing, I did a lot of watching people ski, and the conditions didn’t seem to slow anyone down.
Off the Slopes
We chose to spend our mornings skiing and our afternoons enjoying the rest of the resort’s amenities. We didn’t do it all, but here are some highlights of what to expect.
First, there’s the pools. There are three outdoor pools, with increasing heat levels. The largest pool is the coolest, but is by no means cold. Its a heated outdoor pool, and even though it was 40 degrees outside, we were perfectly comfortable swimming every single afternoon. This is where the kids and families hung out for the most part, so our little one made several friends over the course of our stay.
The other two pools are more like hot tubs. Those pools were mostly filled with adults and got more crowded in the later afternoon as people returned from the mountain. Drinks are allowed at the pool and there was a server, so it had a fun vibe.
Another space we used a lot was the gym and game room. The gym had a full-size basketball court and the game room featured a floor to ceiling rock wall. (No ropes, just bouldering style with mats below.) The game room also had table tennis, air hockey, foosball, coloring, and a few other things. There was also a coloring station for kids.
We hung out in these rooms a lot in the afternoon. There was surprisingly very few other kids who spent much time here. We thought it was fun and nice to have, but our child did max out on it after about 30 minutes.
Then there’s the fitness center, which my husband and I used daily. It’s small but well stocked. Working out here is no joke though. The altitude really sneaks up on you and running a 5K felt like running a 15K.
Finally, there are the scheduled activities which vary by day. There is an activity calendar posted in the common area outside the dining room daily. Be sure to check that out to see what is going on when.
Our favorite activity by far was the kids welcome party on our first night. They set up bounce houses and balloons in the gym and had snacks and juice for the kids. So many kids came and it was absolute madness, but a total blast. This was also our kid’s actual birthday, so they felt like it was their very own birthday party.
The movie times are also listed on the schedule. There’s usually a children’s movie in the afternoon and adult movies in the evening. It’s not really a movie theater exactly, but it was still nice to have. (It felt more like a college classroom where the fun TA played a movie on the projector instead of teaching the actual lesson.)
In our experience, they started the movie in English but had problems with the sound. Then they fixed the sound but changed the language to Spanish. I think they will play the movie in whatever language most of the guests at that moment prefer.
Overall, there was enough going on to keep us busy for our entire stay. So much so that we never ended up needing day care. I did swing by, and it seemed like it was probably fun, but I don’t feel like my kid missed out by not going.
Return to Santiago
On our final day, we had breakfast and then checked out of our room. We sent our kid to one final morning of ski school, and watched them from Ski Box while we sipped cappuccinos. (Again, this is the ski vibes I’m interested in.)
We booked the same private transportation service for our return. Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 2 PM and arrived right on time. Just like that, we were on our way back to Santiago!
Our driver took us back to the same airport hotel where we stayed at the start of our trip. We were going to stay there again for one night before our morning flight out the following day.
Closing Thoughts
I met a mom in the swimming pool on our last evening at Portillo. She was visiting from Aspen, but skied at Portillo often. She was incredibly humble, but I peppered her with questions and gathered that she was quite a talented skier.
When I revealed that I was skiing for the first time, she was shocked. It was less of an impressive shocked, and more of a confused one. Why did I traipse all the way to Chile and visit this amazing resort with epic skiing, just to stick to the bunny hills? To her, Ski Portillo was a wonderland and I wasn’t even scratching the surface.
Ultimately, I think she was right. There was a whole world on those slopes I didn’t experience. I think Ski Portillo is for people who love to ski and want to embrace the freedom that this particular environment has to offer. Someone with even intermediate ski skills would get substantially more out of Ski Portillo than I did.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a great time. The views were stunning, the resort was cozy and I was happy to try something new, even if I was bad at it. But I probably could have had that experience at a closer ski resort if we’re being honest. I probably wouldn’t recommend spending the money and time to come her specifically if you don’t plan to embrace the skiing component.
We had a unique situation where we really wanted to ski in August for our kid’s birthday, and it worked well for that. Our kid loved it! But if you’re a casual/beginner skier and you can wait until winter at a domestic option, that’s probably a better option.
I will say though — this vacation did make me a firm believer in reverse snow birding. We should normalize taking winter vacations as an escape from summer heat. Americans are always jetting off to the beach in February, but more people should be taking cold-weather getaways in summer. The way my soul felt alive after going from 80 degrees to 40 degrees in one red eye, is something I never forget.
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