Santiago to Arica by bus

Typical ride 28h 00m over 2000 km. Starting fares around $70 ($70–130). Compare operators - we don't sell tickets.

Route snapshot

Duration

28h 00m

Distance

2000 km

Typical price

$70–130

Tip

At around 28 hours, this is one of Chile's longest trunk routes; many travellers fly or break the trip at La Serena, Copiapo or Iquique. Carry food, a charger and a layer for the air conditioning.

Over 2,000 km the starting fare works out at $3.50 per 100 km - cheaper per kilometre than 269 of the 475 $-priced routes we track. See the bus fare index. Fares are editorial starting prices, not live quotes.

Trip plannerEstimates

Santiago to Arica: bus, train, flight or drive?

We compared the ways to travel for Tue 3 Nov 2026 and 1 traveller. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive are our estimates, not live prices. We don’t sell tickets - the real fares are with the operators below.

Best overall

Flight

Strong on time. Scores 71/100 on our weighted mix of time, cost, comfort and CO2.

Score weights: time 35% · cost 30% · comfort 20% · CO₂ 15%

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Door to door: 6h 25m3h 10m on the move
Estimated fare: $115–290per person
Carbon: 224 kgCO₂e per traveller

Cheapest

Bus

$70–130

About 50% less than the next cheapest option (flight), counting typical fares.

See live bus fares

Quickest

Flight

6h 25m door to door

Door to door about 6h 25m - 22h 30m quicker than the next fastest (bus).

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Greenest

Bus

60 kg CO₂e each

About 60 kg CO2e per traveller, roughly 73% less than flight.

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Door-to-door time

The real trip, not just the ride: getting to the station or airport, check-in and waiting all count.

Estimated cost

Typical cheap-to-flexible range. The dot marks the middle of the range. Not live prices.

Scorecard

Each way scored 0-100 on four things. A bigger shape means a better balance.

Bus 60 out of 100
Flight 71 out of 100

Flight: step by step

71/100

Leave your door for the airport50 min
Check-in, bag drop and security1h 15m
Flight (gate to gate)3h 10m
Landing, bags and exit30 min
Airport to city centre40 min

Door to door6h 25m

Time weight 35%100 out of 100

Cost weight 30%50 out of 100

Comfort weight 20%62 out of 100

Green weight 15%55 out of 100

Rough estimate - assumes both cities have an airport with scheduled flights. Fare includes airport transfers.

Our estimate

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Train: not practical here - Too far for a sensible single-train journey.
Drive: not practical here - A multi-day drive - not modelled here.

See the numbers (table)

Estimated comparison of ways to travel from Santiago to Arica
Way	Door to door	On the move	Fare	CO₂e each	Score
Flight*	6h 25m	3h 10m	$115–290	224 kg	71/100
Bus	28h 55m	28h	$70–130	60 kg	60/100

* Our estimate, not a quote. Bus: duration, distance and fare range from our route data.

How we estimate

Bus uses the duration, distance and typical fare range in our route data (editorial figures, not live quotes).
Train, flight and drive are estimated from the 2,000 km road distance (with fixed average speeds and per-kilometre price bands, scaled to this route’s own bus fare level). A straight-line distance of about 80% of the road distance is used for flights.
Door to door adds the time that is not travelling: about 55 min for a coach (to the station, boarding, onward), 50 min for a train, 195 min for a flight (to the airport, check-in and security, baggage, into town) and 25 min for a car (loading, parking).
Cost is a cheap-to-flexible range per person; flights include airport transfers; cars are priced per car (fuel and tolls at the low end, plus a one-day hire car at the high end) and split between up to four people.
CO₂e per traveller uses typical factors per passenger-km: coach 0.03 kg, train 0.04 kg (0.015 kg on electric high-speed lines), short-haul flight 0.14-0.23 kg without radiative forcing, car 0.17 kg per vehicle-km shared between the people in it.
Scores run 0-100: time (fastest door to door = 100), cost (cheapest typical total = 100), comfort (our editorial rating, lower for very long rides) and green (lower emissions per km = higher). Best overall weights them time 35%, cost 30%, comfort 20%, CO₂ 15%.
Not every corridor has a direct train or airport service, and car journeys may involve ferries or tolls we do not know about. Treat everything except the bus figures as a starting point and check the operators.

The cheapest way from Santiago to Arica is the bus (about $70–130 per person); the quickest is the flight (about 6h 25m door to door); the best overall balance is the flight; the lowest-carbon choice is the bus (about 60 kg CO2e per traveller). The bus takes about 28h on the road over roughly 2000 km. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive figures are our own estimates, not live prices.

Fares and times other than the bus figures are estimates for planning only - they are not offers or live prices. We don’t sell tickets; compare live prices with the providers further down this page.