Farellones is a small mountain village in Central Chile. It is 36 km east of Santiago at an altitude of 2,340 m. Farellones is in close proximity to the ski resorts of La Parva, El Colorado, and Valle Nevado.

Ski area near Farellones

Understand

Farellones' houses and cabins are made of wood, giving the village its characteristic look.

Farellones has only a few ski runs but its cable car system provides access to El Colorado, 5 km up the hill of the same name. They are often considered as a single ski area with a total of 62 runs: 11 for beginners, 6 for intermediates, 33 for advanced skiers and 12 for experts. They have a maximum altitude of 3,333 m above sea level, a vertical descent of 906 m and an average of 5 m snowfall in an average year. They are popular with beginners and families.

Get in

By road

Farallones is accessible from Santiago by road.

There is only one road giving access to the village through the winding canyons of the Mapocho River, Molina River and Estero Yerba Loca river. From Corral Quemado onwards, the road has more than 40 hairpin turns and requires a vehicle equipped with snow chains in snowy conditions. The road only permits ascent between the hours of 08:30 and 13:30 and descent from 15:30 to 20:00 during peak ski season days.

See

• Casa de Piedra de Farellones (Farellones Stone House) (At one side of the road to Valle Nevado). A stone structure that is believed to have been built by the Aconcagua people (late neolithic). It is thought to have been used as a temporary refuge in expeditions to gather the special kind of stone needed for making tools hunting Guanacos. (updated Jul 2023)

Do

• 1 Yerba Loca Nature Sanctuary (Santuario Natural Yerba Loca). A protected area that extends from the top of La Paloma Hill (Cerro La Paloma) to the top of Cerro El Plomo, dividing the valleys of the Blanco River and Olivares River. The area contains temperate coniferous forest, picnic and camping facilities, and the starting point for five trails, one of which ends at the hanging glaciers of Cerro La Paloma and Cerro El Altar.  

Sleep

• Hotel Posada de Farellones. Made from a mix of wood and stone in the Swiss style and built in the late 1930s by Antonio Padrós. Its location allows easy access to the three main ski resorts in Chile, which together form the biggest ski area of South America and the southern hemisphere: La Parva, El Colorado-Farellones and Valle Nevado. (updated Jul 2023)

Go next

• Valle Nevado
• El Colorado
• Santiago