Santiago de Chile was our perfect introduction to the world’s longest and narrowest country.
Upon arriving in Santiago earlier this month, we finally stepped foot in Chile – our 7th country in South America. This was somewhat of a recon visit, since we have big plans to travel Chilean Patagonia in a camper van either later this year or sometime in 2026. Santiago will be our jumping-off point.
But Santiago is a fabulous place to visit in its own right, with its wealth of beautifully preserved neoclassical buildings, lovely parks and green spaces, a storied and tragic history, and a strong European influence. In fact, Santiago gave us vibes of several other capitals we’ve visited: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Montevideo, and even a hint of Madrid.
Altogether we spent eight days in this vibrant and sprawling city surrounded by the majestic Andes range. Here’s everything that captivated us on our first visit to Santiago, Chile.
Santiago Factoids
More than a third of Chile’s total population lives in metropolitan Santiago. That’s about seven million people, making Santiago South America’s fourth most populous city. Santiago consistently receives high marks for its economic stability, urban development, modernity, and infrastructure.
Santiago lies about halfway down on the string bean of Chile. To the north lies the vast Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on the planet. To the south is Chilean Patagonia, a wonderland of rainforests, glacial fiords, and towering Andean landscapes. We can’t wait to see it!
Before the Europeans arrived, Santiago was an important Inca capital. Today, a few vestiges of the Incas’ presence remain. A segment of the original Inca trail runs through downtown Santiago, and Inca ruins have been excavated in several locations including the Plaza de Armas and Cerro Santa Lucia.
Earthquakes have flattened Santiago several times over. Chile sits squarely on the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire at the collision point of three tectonic plates, making it one of the most seismically active places in the world. Santiago has had many devastating earthquakes since the first Europeans arrived in 1541, with the most damaging occurring in 1647 and leveling virtually every building. For that reason, almost no colonial-era structures can be found in the city. The 1960 Valdivia earthquake south of Santiago is the strongest ever recorded, at a mind-blowing 9.7 on the Richter scale. More huge and damaging earthquakes happened in 1985 and 2010, but Santiago’s strict seismic building codes have kept casualties lower and ensured less damage in recent decades.
Historic District
Santiago’s historic quarter is anchored by the Plaza de Armas, often considered the heart of the city. Several beautifully preserved neoclassical buildings surround the plaza, including the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago, the Central Post Office, and the gorgeous Palacio de la Real Audiencia, which now houses the National History Museum of Chile. Just a block away you’ll find the stately National Congress building, home of the Chilean legislative branch before it was relocated to Valparaiso in 1990 , and Plaza Montt-Varas, anchored by the monolithic Palace of Justice.
Walk a little further south, and you’ll arrive at Plaza de la Constitución and the Palacio de la Moneda. Once home to the Chilean mint (thus “moneda” or coin), the Palacio now houses the offices of the Chilean president. The Palacio was ground zero for one of Chile’s darkest days, the bloody overthrow of President Salvador Allende by the Pinochet military dictatorship on Sept. 11, 1973. (We have a lot more to say about that here.)
Tips: The Palacio de la Moneda offers free tours in English, but they book up quickly – your best bet is to book online in advance. Don’t miss the Changing of the Guard, which takes place at 10 a.m. every other day (but be sure and confirm the schedule – it might vary according to the time of year).
Cerro Santa Lucia
We could see Cerro Santa Lucia from our 16th-floor apartment in the San Isidro district, and I knew I wanted to explore it further. The park is a bit scruffy and in need of some TLC, but it’s still a very significant and beautiful place in Santiago.
Rising to 69 meters, Cerro Santa Lucia is actually the remnants of a 15-million-year-old volcano. Before the Europeans arrived, Cerro Santa Lucia was a sacred site for the Inca and Mapuche indigenous people – and there are remains of an Inca temple somewhere on the hill. It was given its current name by Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago’s founder, who climbed to the top on Dec. 13, 1540 (Santa Lucia day for Catholics). Santa Lucia was one of Chile’s first urban public parks, and it was also the site of Chile’s first astronomical observatory. The two abandoned, castle-like forts on the hill were built in the early 19th century.
Tips: There’s no cost to visit Cerro Santa Lucia, but guards at the entrances will ask you to sign the visitor registry. The hill is a short walk from the Bellas Artes or Santa Lucia Metro stations.
Cerro San Cristobal
As Santiago’s third highest hill, Cerro San Cristobal rises 300 meters above the city – offering breathtaking views and plenty of outdoor activities. Crowning the hill is a Catholic sanctuary dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, with its landmark 22-meter-tall statue of the Virgin Mary, an amphitheater, and a chapel. The Chilean National Zoo and a beautiful Japanese garden are nearby, and the city also operates two municipal pools on the hill. If you don’t feel like hoofing it to the summit (it’s about a 45-minute walk), you can take the Teleférico (cable car) or the historic Funicular de Santiago, a rail car that has ferried visitors up and down since 1925.
Other Parks Worth a Visit
We really enjoyed strolling through Parque Forestal Rubén Dario on the edge of the Lastarria district, Parque Bicentenario in the Vitacura municipality, and Parque Quinta Normal in the Yungay barrio.
Anchored by the National Museum of Fine Arts, Parque Forestal gives an old-world vibe that’s reminiscent of Parque de El Retiro in Madrid.
Completed in 2007, Parque Bicentenario is one of Santiago’s largest parks, offering tranquil walking trails and sweeping views of the Providencia business district.
Parque Quinta Normal was founded in 1847 and, as such, was Santiago’s first municipal park. It’s a leafy, green retreat with a pretty manmade lagoon and is home to several museums, including the Museum of Natural History.
A City of Museums
Santiago has several museums in every barrio, and most of them have free admission. Our standout museum visits included the Chilean National History Museum, the Chilean Museum of Precolumbian Art, the gorgeous National Museum of Fine Arts, and the somber Museum of Memory and Human Rights (we’ll be writing a lot more about this one in a future post).
Tips: Of these museums, only the Precolumbian had an entry fee, about $8 per person. Be aware that most (if not all) of Santiago’s museums are closed on Monday.
Two Cool Neighborhoods: Yungay and Barrio Lastarria
Santiago’s Yungay barrio is worth a visit and is easily accessible on the Metro (get off at the Quinta Normal station on the Green line). There you’ll find the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, colorful street art, stately old homes, and a plethora of trendy bars and restaurants. Side note: The current president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, lives there.
With its bohemian vibe and historic charm, Barrio Lastarria is arguably Santiago’s most hip – and most touristic – neighborhood. Anchored by Santa Lucia Hill, Lastarria offers loads of atmosphere and too many trendy bars, restaurants, and shops to count. We had some of our best – and worst – restaurant meals there. Barrio Lastarria comes alive at night with street performers, artists, and performances in its numerous theaters.
Overrated: The Gran Torre Costanera
It’s hard to miss the Gran Torre from pretty much any viewpoint in Santiago. It’s tallest building in South America, towering to 300 meters. The Gran Torre was completed and opened in 2013.
For first-time visitors to Chile, ascending the Gran Torre is like the Eiffel Tower in Paris: You really can’t miss it, but once is enough. The biggest turn-off is the $18-per-person price tag, which is basically just gets you an elevator ride to the 62nd-floor observation deck, Sky Costanera. Yes, the views are stunning and the top-floor lobby is quite pretty. But was it worth $18? Not for us.
Tips: Access the Gran Torre elevator through the sprawling shopping mall at the bottom. There’s a near-absence of signage, but just ask one of the friendly security guards for directions. We went fairly early on a Thursday morning and walked right up to the ticket booth, but the velvet rope maze was very large (which tells me the line gets really long, probably on weekends). Full info is available here.
Free Walking Tour
Our travel affiliate, GuruWalk, offers a wide range of free walking tours in Santiago. Free walking tours – in which you pay only a tip to the guide at the end – are a great way to get oriented to a new city or go into depth on many aspects of the local culture. Like our other partners, we can personally vouch for GuruWalk. We’ve taken many of their tours, and they always offer first-rate service and a wealth of information.
Getting Around
We can’t say enough about Santiago’s Metro system, which provides easy access to almost every attraction we’ve listed here. In addition to the Metro subways, the bus system is top-notch. It’s easy to purchase a “BIP” card at any Metro station that will let you on to the subways, buses, and even the funicular and teleférico on Cerro San Cristobal. Uber is also easy, fast, and reliable.
One thing we noticed is that traffic is not terrible in Santiago (at least, as far as we could see), which is probably down to the great job the city has done with public transit. (As a side note, we also saw hardly any motorcycles – a huge contrast to the hordes of motos in our home city of Medellín that buzz around cars like bees.)
Food and Beverage
Santiago is an up-and coming city on the global culinary scene and has many world-class restaurants. Our standout dining experiences were at Bocanáriz Restuarant and Wine Bar, with its fabulous pairings of Chilean wines and delicious food; Karai by Mitsuhara, where the server brought dish after surprise dish of beautifully prepared Asian-inspired seafood; and a scrumptious Italian lunch at Capogrossi in the upscale Vitacura area. (Thank you to our Colombian amiga, Valentina Tobon, for all the great restaurant suggestions!)
We also had great meals at Bar Liguria, with its old-school waiters and Spanish cervecería vibe; Zarita, an adorable Peruvian restaurant in Yungay that is whimsically decorated with antiques and old musical instruments; and Peztoro for pizza in Lastarria. Cafe Trieste is a great little spot for a cappuccino and a snack, and Montana Gelato was our go-to for . . . you know what. We also enjoyed an Aperol spritz at Brasserie Castillo Forestal, a cozy Parisian-style eatery in an old castle in Forestal Park just across from the National Museum of Fine Arts. We’ll be back there for a meal someday.
Our Lodging
For our first 7 nights , we stayed in a small apartment in the San Isidro barrio, on the 16th floor of the Edificio Ilusión (San Isidro 96) building. The apartment was no-frills but snug and cozy, ideally located just a few blocks from Cerro Santa Lucia, Barrio Lastarria, and the historic district.
When we returned from Valparaiso, we spent two more nights in Santiago at the Hotel Almasur Providencia. We really enjoyed this luxurious but not overly pricy hotel, which gave us the chance to explore the upscale Providencia neighborhood. We’ll probably stay there again when we return to Santiago to launch our big camper van trip to Patagonia.
Other Tips
- The Santiago tourism site is a great resource.
- For cellular coverage, we used two different eSIMs: Airalo and Roamless. Full disclosure: Airalo is one of our affiliate partners, and the service worked flawlessly in Santiago. We were trying out Roamless for the first time, and while the service wasn’t quite as reliable as Airalo, the Roamless advantage is that you can carry over a balance to be used in the next country you visit.
- Let’s be real – the air quality in Santiago can be pretty bad. Because Santiago sits in a bowl-like valley surrounded by mountains, the air pollution becomes trapped, especially during the city’s austral winter from April through August. For visitors with respiratory problems, it’s something to keep an eye on.
- We had received warnings from friends that Santiago is a haven for pickpockets. We took our usual precautions, minding our belongings especially on the subway, and never had a problem.
Next Up: Valparaiso, Chile’s Colorful Port City
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25 Comments
You paint a beautiful picture of Santiago. We loved it in 2017, especially the churches, museums, parks and street art. It was not a place to be in December of 2019 when we were on our way from Antarctica, through Patagonia to Paraguay. The aftermath of the riots was devastating. Loved our time in Patagonia and can’t wait to follow your upcoming trip.
Be safe,
Steve
Thank you, Steve! We’re glad you two got to see Santiago at a more peaceful time. I remember hearing about those riots – it seems like the city is pretty well recovered now. We’ll definitely check out your blog posts about Patagonia!
Cheers,
Susan
Wow! What a beautiful city! I was especially interested to read about the church of San Francisco that has withstood so many earthquakes because of savvy Inca builders.
Thanks so much for reading, Mimi! We were surprised to hear about the Inca building techniques, but it made it sad to learn of yet one more Inca temple that had been destroyed and built over by the conquistadors. It’s a story we heard a lot in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, Peru. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
Great post about Santiago! It seems like we missed quite a few things. We camped for two weeks by Cerro Cristobal in Providencia and loved to shop at the Jumbo in the Sky Costanera building. Yeah, we saw the entrance tickets there (or asked someone) for going up. Better to get to the top of the hill in the park and/or ride the cable car.
So, if and when you rent your campervan in Santiago, check iOverlander and you can camp your first night by the park to get used to the lifestyle and see if you need to buy or fix anything before the trip south. We really liked that area. We couldn’t care less for all the homeless people on the Plaza de Armas.
Great – thanks for the tips, Liesbet! I figured you guys had already been through Santiago, and that’s good to know about Cerro Cristobal. We will check out iOverlander as we get closer to the planning stages for our campervan trip. And we agree – the city views from Santa Lucia and Cerro Cristobal were almost as good as those from the Gran Torre, and they were free!
As always, thanks for your interesting posts. Cheers, Muriel
You are so welcome, Muriel! Thank you for reading. 🙂
As always, thanks for taking me along! Cheers, Muriel
Thanks so much, Muriel! Hope you’re well.
– Susan
Your post takes me back to my time in Santiago several years ago. Although I had a short visit, it was nevertheless a fulfilling one, as I got gorgeous views of the sprawling capital from Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal, as well as seeing a bit of the Changing of the Guards and having some delicious tuna empanadas and Pisco Sours in the process! Makes me want to go back soon…thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Rebecca! Sounds like you hit the real high points of Santiago and made the most of a short visit. Hope you get to go back someday!
– Susan
Santiago is such a pretty city. The changing of the guard looks like a fantastic, regal ceremony. It’s been quite a few years since I was there and it was on our trip to Aconcagua, so we barely even paid attention to the city. We’ll have to return for a better look at the city. Maggie
Hi Maggie – hope you can return to Santiago someday and spend some time there. It’s such an interesting (and pretty) city!
– Susan
Just before I read this post, I watched the news about the countrywide blackout in Chile. It was so sudden no one knows what caused it. But anyway, a road trip across the Chilean Patagonia sounds epic! You know, this blog post is one of the most interesting pieces I’ve ever read on the Chilean capital. It really makes me want to go there!
Yes, that happened a day after we got home! We were sorry to see how disruptive it was – even the Metro was closed down. I think things are pretty much back to normal now. And thanks for your kind comments on the post, Bama. Hope you can visit Santiago someday!
I would really love to see Santiago one day so this is a great tour! What a great adventure to set off through Patagonia in a camper- looking forward to following along with you 🙂
Thanks, Meg! We’re really excited about that trip and getting to explore Patagonia.
Beautiful city, thanks for the tour! I’m excited to read more about your time in Chile as well, including when you make it to Patagonia.
Thanks for reading, Diana! We’ll be blogging a lot about future trips to Chile. 🙂
Wow, plenty to get excited about here for our upcoming South America trip. Chile, and Santiago, are currently on our planned itinerary l
Is Colombia in your plans? We’d love to meet you!
Could well be….still in the Philippines at the moment so South America is at the “planning with a pencil” stage…
Oh wow, what an absolutely amazing city. I didn’t know there was so much to see and do – those views from the hilltop sanctuary would sure be high on my list! I’m excited for the road trip 🙂
Thanks, Hannah! We really enjoyed our first visit to Chile and we’re looking forward to that road trip. Hope you’re well!