Food & Nightlife

Considering the main facilities of Valle Nevado resort are confined to the three hotel buildings, it's not surprising that the restaurant and bar options are somewhat limited. However Valle Nevado has the advantage of being small, so every bar or restaurant is within stumbling distance of your bed.

RestaurantsThe food at Valle Nevado gets lots of bad reviews, but our experience of the food was reasonably positive. The only thing unsatisfactory was the service from some of the staff. Make sure you make a booking for dinner (even if you've just discovered you're staying for dinner because the road is closed), even if it's just for a buffet meal and there are plenty of spare seats, or risk being chastised by the captain.

Hotel guests have meals included in the accommodation package, and for dinner, guests of the two upmarket hotels have a choice of four restaurants. Those at Hotel Tres Puntas are restricted to the Sur Restaurant.

Top of the pops is La Fourchette D'or in the Hotel Valle Nevado which has French Mediterranean cuisine. Beautiful presentation, fine cuisine and a big wine list – everything is delightful. This restaurant is also open for lunch and they have a great deck for sunny days. This is not the place to come if you're watching your pennies, but if you're not concerned with a budget, enjoy!

The restaurant in the Purerto del Sol Hotel is Mirador del Ploma (formerly La Trattoria). Dinner consists of a huge buffet. Entree is antipastos, soups, and breads that are so decorative that it seems a shame to eat them. Mains include a range of meats and pastas that are made to order, but are nothing special. For dessert there is a small range of sickly sweet treats on offer in plastic cups. Other than the plain pasta, the quality of the food is very good, and dinner can be accompanied with wine from an extensive list. The Italian decor is friendly and relaxed which is out of sync with a couple of the staff, especially the captain who could only be described as rude. A couple of outstanding waiters made up for his poor service. For non-guests of the two hotels, the buffet dinner alone (not including drinks) costs $44.000 per person (about $US82). That's a lot of money for a casual buffet meal!

The restaurant behind the pool on the plaza is Giovanni, another restaurant with an Italian influence.

Restaurant Sur at Hotel Tres Puntas is very casual and offers a mainly Chilean menu, so you'd better love meat!

For those staying elsewhere in Tres Valles, there are also various restaurants at El Colorado and Farellones.

Bars & Nightlife There are lots of Brazilians at Valle Nevado who have a reputation for partying hard. The vibrancy of the nightlife really depends upon how many Brazilians are visiting at the time!

The Bar Lounge is a good spot for après drinks and snacks. The huge fireplace is the centrepiece of the bar, and there are lots of couches and comfie chairs. The atmosphere is enhanced with great views, a DJ, a screen showing extreme snow riders, and plenty of Brazilians. The only downside of the bar is the service. It's far from 5 star – many of the staff were curt… when they weren’t ignoring us. The fantastic captain was an exception to this.

A very sedate bar is the Bar Hotel Puerta del Sol. It's open from 9am for coffees until midnight. They have après here, but it's more of a place to bring the kids for a hot chocolate.

The most vibrant nightlife at Valle Nevado happens at Pub Tres Puntas with live music, karaoke, and lots of dancing. Beware - all those flashing lights and pisco sours can put you in a time warp. There’s a high risk of not making first lifts the next day!

BTW - the male to female ratio is highly skewed towards the number of fellas. Boys if you're looking for a girlfriend there's minimal likelihood of success at Valle Nevado. Go to Portillo for that!