Cajón del Maipo from Santiago: How to Get There

The Cajón del Maipo starts at Santiago’s south-eastern edge. From Plaza de Puente Alto it is 28.8 km by road to San José de Maipo and 75.4 km to the El Yeso dam; from Plaza de Italia in central Santiago the dam is 94.9 km by road. Those are road distances, and the last part is mountain road.

For a first visit without a car, a Cajón del Maipo day trip with hotel pickup is the simple Andes day trip from Santiago: you are collected in Santiago in the early morning and dropped back at your hotel in the late afternoon. If you drive, check the El Yeso road first: on 11 November 2026 it is closed to all vehicles from km 21.7.

By tour: what the pickup looks like

The picnic day trips on this site collect you at your hotel or address in Santiago. Start times on the dates open in the calendar in November 2026: 5:00 a.m. for Aprendi a Viajar Chile, 6:00 a.m. for Oliveira Chile’s picnic day, and 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. for MTO Tour Chile. Oliveira Chile sends the exact pickup time after 8:30 p.m. the evening before and needs your full street address, not just the hotel name. The days run about 10 hours.

Which one fits depends on what you want from the picnic.

Prices, ratings and review counts from our November 2026 data check; operators change prices by season and date, so read them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

San José de Maipo, the town on the way

San José de Maipo is the valley’s main town and a stop on the picnic days on this site: Oliveira Chile’s day stops at its traditional Plaza de San José de Maipo, and the Chocolate House the tours visit is in San José de Maipo too. It is 28.8 km by road from Plaza de Puente Alto. For a night there, see Cajón del Maipo hotels.

By car

The road runs from Puente Alto up the valley through San José de Maipo and San Gabriel; near El Volcán it splits. One branch climbs north to Embalse El Yeso (Ruta G-455), the other runs east to Baños Morales and the baths.

• To El Yeso: the vehicle ban from km 21.7 has run “until the month of November 2026” (Res. 6.257, Diario Oficial of 6 November 2026), and starts again each April. See the road status before you go.
• To El Morado: CONAF gives 93 km from Santiago, about 2.5 hours, on the G-25, paved as far as Baños Morales.
• To the baths: Chile Travel gives 109 km from Santiago on the G-25, about 2 hours 30 minutes, with an unpaved last stretch that needs a 4x4 or a high-clearance vehicle, especially in winter.

By bus

The only public transport we found named at an official source is CONAF’s, for El Morado: Metrobús line 72 from the Bellavista de La Florida interchange (Metro Line 5), in high season from 7:30, and Buses Turismo Montaña, leaving at 8:30 daily in the season from Américo Vespucio at Vicuña Mackenna. We found no operator or council page for buses to San José de Maipo, so we give no timetable or fare. No bus we found goes to El Yeso.

Tour or car?

A car gives you the timing; a tour gives you the picnic, the guide and no mountain driving. With the El Yeso road closed to vehicles, a car does not get you any closer to the reservoir than the tours, and in winter the baths road asks for a 4x4. For most first visits, the tour is the easier day. When you have picked one, read what to bring.