If you are looking for an authentic travel experience, the typical festivals of Chile offer an unparalleled panorama of culture, tradition, and popular joy. These events, which take place mainly in rural environments, are the meeting point where ancestral rituals are preserved.
Bringing together thousands of visitors, these celebrations are the best excuse to explore different destinations in Chile.
Next, we will explore the four most important festivals in Chile: the religious passion of the Fiesta de San Sebastián, the Cuasimodo huasa tradition, the Fiesta de La Vendimia in the Colchagua Valley, and the southern folklore of the Chilote Custom Festival.
Grape Harvest Festival
The Grape Harvest Festival is one of the most emblematic celebrations in the wine-growing areas of Chile, paying tribute to the grape harvest throughout the country. It is mainly celebrated in March with great fervor in valleys such as Casablanca, Colchagua, Maipo and others, where parades of floats, striking grape-stomping competitions and, of course, tastings of local wines that delight all attendees are held.
- Estimated price: Admission is free, although some special activities and tastings may vary between $5,000 and $20,000 CLP per person.
- Website: More information here.
Chilote Custom Festival
Since 1979, the Chilote Custom Festival, the main traditional event of Chiloé, has been celebrated on the third weekend of February. Held in the Municipal Park of Castro, it brings together more than 45,000 people who seek to enjoy typical dishes, dances, and music. It is the perfect opportunity to try authentic curantos al hoyo, milcaos, chochoca and Chilote lamb barbecue, while you delve deeply into the identity of the archipelago.
- Date: Third weekend of February.
- Estimated price: Admission to the park and festival is free. It is recommended to budget for accommodation and food expenses.
- Website: More information here
Fiesta de La Tirana
The Fiesta de La Tirana is the largest religious festival in Chile. Every year, between July 10 and 20, more than 200,000 visitors arrive to the town of La Tirana, in the commune of Pozo Almonte (Tarapacá Region), to participate in this vibrant celebration dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen. Diabladas, chinos, chinchos and antawaras are just some of the dances that fill the streets with color and fervor as they advance towards the sanctuary.
- Estimated price: Participation is completely free, although accommodation and food expenses should be considered.
- Website: More information here
Carnaval con la Fuerza del Sol
Celebrated in Arica during February, the Andean Carnival with the Strength of the Sun is the most important trinational cultural event in Chile. For three days, this explosion of color, joy, and Andean culture brings together more than 16,000 dancers around the Aymara, Quechua, and Afro-descendant traditions with diabladas, caporales and morenadas.
- Estimated price: Free admission for the public.
- Website: Arica Fuerza del Sol
Fiesta de San Sebastián
In Yumbel, Biobío Region, this festival is celebrated every March 20, attracting thousands of pilgrims who pay tribute to San Sebastián. This massive celebration, one of the most important in southern Chile, includes a long walk through the streets of the town, where prayers and chants are the main expression of popular devotion.
- Estimated price: Participation is free, but it is suggested to consider transportation, accommodation, and food expenses.
- Website: More information here
Cuasimodo
One of the most unique traditions of the Central Zone of Chile is Cuasimodo, celebrated on the Sunday following Easter Sunday. This impressive procession, known as "running to Christ", involves hundreds of huasos on horseback (cuasimodistas) with handkerchiefs and capes, who escort the priest in a float to bring communion to the sick.
It is a spectacle of devotion and peasant culture, recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is especially magical in communes of the capital such as Colina, Puente Alto and Lo Barnechea.
- Estimated price: It is a public and free festival for spectators.
- Website: More information in Memoria Chilena
Tapati
Considered the most important cultural festival of Rapa Nui, the Tapati is celebrated during the first two weeks of February. This event immerses the island in a friendly competition between two alliances (clans), each with its queen, who seek to revive and honor ancestral traditions.
Visitors can witness spectacular competitions such as the Haka Pei (descent in banana trunk sleds down the slope of a hill), the Takona (body painting competition) and Vaka Ama (Polynesian canoes) races, along with traditional music and dances on the Hanga Vare Vare stage.
- Estimated price: Witnessing most of the activities is free and public.
- Discover more about Tapati here.
