Cajón del Maipo Tour with Picnic: El Yeso from Santiago

Cajon del Maipo tours with a picnic, and the road they depend on

The Cajón del Maipo (Cajon del Maipo without the accent, or the Maipo Canyon in some tour titles) is the valley of the Maipo River where it comes out of the Andes south-east of Santiago, Chile. Oliveira Chile’s picnic day is the one this site is built around: hotel pickup in Santiago, a breakfast stop, the Plaza de San José de Maipo, the drive up the valley to the El Yeso reservoir viewpoint and a premium picnic with wines and a cheese platter. After lunch come a mini-zoo with llamas, alpacas and birds, and the Chocolate House, then the drive back to your hotel. It is rated 4.5 out of 5 from at least 1,800 reviews on GetYourGuide (November 2026), and guides work in Spanish, Portuguese and English.

The El Yeso road is closed to vehicles (11 November 2026)

On 6 November 2026 the Diario Oficial published Resolution 6.257 of the Santiago regional transport authority (Seremi de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones RM). It lets the ban on all motor vehicles on Ruta G-455, the El Yeso road, from km 21.7 (sector Las Cáscaras) continue “until the month of November 2026”. The ban starts every April; in 2026 it was extended to September, then October, then November. The resolution prints no end day, and we found no reopening notice. The full chain, and the park at the reservoir, are in our El Yeso guide.

The tours kept running. At least 25 reviews of this tour, dated 8 October to 4 November 2026, say the van did not reach the reservoir and describe another day: Lagunillas (a ski area), Salto El Yeso, Las Melosas or the El Volcán viewpoint, with the picnic served there. Some groups were told the evening before; others found out at the barrier. Several reviews dated 30 October to 7 November 2026 describe walking up from where the van stopped to see the reservoir: “a couple of kilometers”, on “a rough and often muddy road”. We could not find an official text that says whether walking past the barrier is allowed, so we don’t say it is.

One thing to plan around: free cancellation ends 24 hours before the start, and the operator sends pickup times after 8:30 p.m. the evening before. That message comes too late to cancel for free, so decide on the road status the day before your deadline, not the night before the tour.

What you pay

Regular prices per adult, read on 11 November 2026: US$45 for the picnic day, US$65 with breakfast (a ciabatta sandwich with ham and cheese, a hot drink and water) and VIP seats in the front rows of the van, and US$80 with a set of hiking gear (boots, trousers and a jacket). The calendar shows any offer for your date. Lunch is not included on any option; one reviewer paid about US$20 for the lunch buffet, and another US$10 per item of rented gear at the breakfast stop.

Check dates for the picnic day

Who it suits, and who should pick something else

It suits a first day in the Andes without a car: you are collected from your hotel and the whole day is arranged. If the hot springs are the point, a Termas Valle de Colina day is a different trip on a different road. If you want to walk for hours, see the El Morado and Volcán San José hikes. Before you go, read what to bring (the reservoir sits at 2,558 m), the Cajón del Maipo in winter and how to get there from Santiago if you are thinking of driving.