A City Guide To Santiago, Chile

Santiago is the capital of Chile and has over a third of the country’s population. There is not much denying it, Santiago is big and busy. It is not the prettiest city in Chile and if you don’t keep your wits about you it has the potential for petty crime.

For backpackers, the city will mainly act as the beginning or end of the South American adventure or, like us, it is the first taste of city life after spending months trekking through Patagonia.

A travel guide to Visiting Santiago de Chile

Where to Stay in Santiago de Chile

On both sides of our trip to Easter Island, we stayed in Santiago de Chile. As you may know by now, accommodation in Chile can be expensive. By the time we got to Santiago, 50% of our budget went towards accommodation.

We became accustomed to handing over close to 20 euros a night per person in Patagonia, so to save some money and see the city as the locals do, we decided to try CouchSurfing.

However, we asked a couple of friends who travelled to Chile in February 2022 to give us a list of their favourite places to stay in Santiago de Chile. Here are their recommendations!

1. Hostal Providencia – from €17pp for a dorm – €35 for a double
2. Eco-Hostal Tambo Verde – from €29pp for a dorm – €55 for a double
3. UGO Hotel – from €101 for a double
4. The Place Aparthotel – from €101 for a double

Booking.com

Discover the city with a Walking Tour

An excellent way to discover a city and learn about its history and culture is to go on a local walking tour. We can only recommend starting there to get your bearings. If you like taking pictures, free walking tours are a great way to walk around camera in hand, taking street photography, without feeling unsafe and constantly looking over your shoulder.

Santiago has a very recent history of dictatorship and humanitarian crimes and strolling through the city can help you understand the struggles the locals had to endure.

To learn more check out – Free Tours Santiago

Visit the Museum of Human Rights

A little outside of the city centre, the Museum of Human Rights is a must for anyone visiting Chile.

The very recent history of state terrorism under the dictatorship of General Pinochet saw ordinary citizens become victims of torture. The dictatorship was responsible for many cases of human rights abuse, persecution of opponents and political repression.

The violence affected a recorded 30,000 people – 27,255 were tortured and 2,279 executed while 200,000 people suffered exile and an unknown number of citizens simply disappeared. To understand Chile’s history and its people this is a must.

For information about the museum and how to get there, visit the website 

Walk around Santiago de Chile’s Parks

While Santiago has many parks to chill out and relax in, the two must-visit are Cerro San Cristóbal and Cerro Santa Lucía.

Cerro San Cristóbal

Cerro San Cristóbal is home to Santiago’s funicular, but if you don’t want to wait in line and pay to reach the top, the park contains many walking and cycling trails. Hike up the short but relatively steep path to reach the viewpoint of the Virgen del Cerro San Cristóbal where a small church and statue of the Virgin Mary lie. Grab a mote con huesillo (more on this below) and enjoy the view.

Cerro Santa Lucía

Located right in the centre of town, Cerro Santa Lucía was transformed in 1872 to showcase how beautiful Santiago was to delegates from Europe. Hike to the top to visit the chapel and relax in this oasis in the city, maybe grab another mote con huesillo and relax on the beautiful ceramic tile benches.

Where to eat and drink in Santiago de Chile?

Experiencing the flavours and ingredients that go into the local cuisine is a must when travelling around South America! While being on a backpacker’s budget means we can’t always visit restaurants, there are a lot of very wallet-friendly options in Santiago that are also worthwhile experiences.

The Markets

Look through any guidebook and they will recommend a visit to Mercado Central where you can get your fill of fish. For us, the market was a letdown. It is small and unspectacular with a couple of expensive restaurants on the side. A bit of a tourist trap.

For a more local experience cross the river and step inside the La Vega Market and rub shoulders with the locals picking up everything they need. The market is huge. Try and find the cats who make the avocado stalls home.

Local Drinks

Home to beverages unique to the city. Every stroll needs refreshment, so why not try:

• Mote con huesillos
  A peach juice containing wheat and a dehydrated peach. If you are hungry you can eat it and if you are thirsty you can drink it! Expect sweetness.

• Terremoto
  Terremoto which means earthquake in Spanish is a drink that will quite literally shake you up. Quite easy to drink due to its sweetness, the beverage is known to hit you hard as you stand up to go home and make you feel like the earth is moving… The drink is very popular with students as it consists of cheap white wine, pineapple-flavoured ice cream, and fernet, bitter liqueur or grenadine. The origins supposedly come from farmers and peasants who could not afford good wine and therefore decided to mask the taste with pineapple juice and to make it colder during summer, added ice cream! The cheapest place to buy terremoto by the litre is the Bellavista neighbourhood, popular with students. For the most authentic terremoto visit La Piojera right in the centre of the city.

• Pisco Sour /  Piscola
  Thought of as the most popular backpacker drink, Pisco has origins in both Chile and Peru, with both countries saying they were the first to produce the grape. Try a pisco sour or the local alternative Piscola, picso with Coca-Cola

• Coffee
  Being coffee enthusiasts, each city is a chance for us to stock up on beans and taste coffee from some of the countries’ best roasters. We could write an entire post about this but for a quick recommendation of where to grab coffee in Santiago check out – Café Altura in the La Vega Market, Caffe Triciclo in the Barranco Barrio, Nuna Coffee also in Barranco and Bloom in Barrio Lastarria which we visited during the city walking tour.

Street Food

Other Things To Do In and around Santiago de Chile

• Wine
  Fancy visiting a winery just outside of the city? Here is our dedicated article about how to cycle the Colchagua Valley without a tour. for those with less time, Vina Santa Rita can easily be visited as part of a day tour from Santiago.

• Visit Valparaiso!
  The popular colourful town on the Pacific Ocean is only 1-hour drive from Santiago de Chile. If you want to get there on your own, you can follow our travel guide here. You can also take a day tour to visit the highlights of Valparaiso and also the seaside town of Vina del Mar.
• Enjoy the views from the tallest building in Latin America!
  Sky Costanera offers unforgettable panoramic views of the Chilean Capital. You can book your tickets here to visit the observation deck (levels 61 & 62).
• Visit the first Ski Resort built in Chile
  If you visit Santiago during the winter month, don’t miss a trip to the Andes Mountain and enjoy taking part in winter sports for the day! Click here to check the tour’s availability and prices.

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