A Cajon del Maipo tour, lake to fiesta.

The Cajon del Maipo is the valley the Maipo River has carved into the Andes south-east of the capital, hemmed in by high, bare mountains. The road into it, known as the Camino al Volcan, begins on the edge of the city at Puente Alto, so you trade traffic lights for cliffs remarkably quickly.

The canyon is also Santiago's water tank. Chile Travel calls it the largest water reserve of the whole Metropolitan Region, and the El Yeso reservoir high in the canyon is the city's main store of water. Its mountain terrain shelters the Andean cat and the puma, though you would be lucky to see either.

For a visitor, that means real wilderness a short drive from a capital city. The upper valley holds glaciers, hot springs and empty gravel plains, while the lower canyon keeps its small towns, riverside restaurants and stalls selling cheese, honey and jam.

On the way down from the lake, the tour stops for 50 minutes at a rural spot with cheese tasting, regional food and animals to watch. The listing's description names fresh goat cheese, local honey and alfajores, the soft biscuits Chileans fill with caramel, among the things to taste.

Next comes Casa Chocolate in San Jose de Maipo, a 20-minute photo stop at a building of wood and stone with alpine-style details that looks like something from a fairy tale. Its facade makes the classic photo of the stop.

San Jose de Maipo itself is the canyon's historic town, built around its Plaza de Armas and a heritage church, and Chile Travel praises its local cooking. If you take the optional lunch there, at extra cost, it lasts 1.5 hours at a mountain restaurant with meat and vegetarian dishes.

The El Yeso park works on fixed slots. At our last check of its ticket page, tickets were sold for a morning window (8:00 to 12:30) or an afternoon window (14:00 to 17:30), each bearing its holder's name. A guided day handles the booking; travellers arriving on their own must buy their ticket in advance.

In the park's trial phase, as its page described it when we read it, visitors could walk the path on the dam wall and nothing more, while the Laguna Negra route above it was kept for accredited guides and partner operators. Visits are therefore short and controlled; on our day the reservoir stop lasts 70 minutes.

Chile Travel asks visitors to take their rubbish home and to use operators registered with Sernatur for outdoor activities. Leave the stones, plants and water as you found them; this is the city's drinking water and a fragile mountain landscape.