Things to do in Santiago
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Santiago
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer, long evenings and terraces but heat, haze, peak prices and locals leaving in February.
Autumn, warm days cooling, better Andes visibility and grape harvest. Best all round window is March to April.
Winter, cold and smog between rains, with ski season mid June to September and best snow late July to early September.
Spring, mild and green with terraces reopening. October to November is the other best window for city, wine and coast.
Worst month for a city trip due to heat, haze, local exodus and closures.
Worst month for a non ski trip, coldest and wettest with ski season barely open.
What's on
- Santiago a Mil January
International theatre and performing arts festival over three weeks, much of it free and on the street.
- Lollapalooza Chile mid-March
Flagship South American Lollapalooza, book hotels early that weekend.
- Colchagua Harvest Festival March
Famous harvest festival with grape stomping, barrel tastings and valley lunches.
- Fiesta de la Vendimia de Casablanca 11-12 April
Casablanca grape harvest festival in April.
- Fiesta de la Vendimia del Maipo 17-19 April
Maipo grape harvest festival in April.
- Santiago International Film Festival (SANFIC) August
International film festival usually held in August.
- Fiestas Patrias 18-19 September
Chile biggest holiday with fondas, cueca, empanadas and terremotos, plus closures and transport surge.
- Santiago International Book Fair late Oct-Nov
International book fair in late October to November.
Best things to do in Santiago
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
Essential museum on human rights violations under Pinochet that reframes everything else you see in Chile.
Cerro San Cristóbal
Hilltop Virgin statue and park with the definitive clear day panorama of Santiago against the Andes.
La Chascona
Neruda house threaded up San Cristobal slope where the audio guide turns quirky rooms into a biography.
Parque Forestal
Leafy park at the heart of the walkable Lastarria and Bellas Artes sightseeing corridor.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Free museum in Parque Forestal with a strong Chilean collection singled out by local itineraries.
Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral
Former presidential building turned arts centre that anchors the Lastarria cultural corridor.
Cerro Santa Lucía
Small ornate hill where the city was founded, worth a short climb for orientation.
Sky Costanera
Observation deck on floors 61 and 62 that lays out Santiago geography on a clear day.
Where to stay in Santiago
Providencia
first trip, all-round base
Leafy and safe feeling with Metro Line 1, hotels at every tier, cafes and everyday shops.
Lastarria / Bellas Artes
character and short stays
Boutique hotels in heritage buildings by Parque Forestal, museums and the best dinner walk.
Las Condes / El Golf
business, families, ski departures
Wide pavements, big international hotels and the safest feeling streets, closest to ski roads.
Vitacura
luxury and fine dining
Quiet wealthy and green with top dining and Parque Bicentenario, but no Metro so every move is a car.
Barrio Italia
repeat visitors and long stays
Creative low key area with apartment and small boutique stock, lovely to wake up in.
Bellavista
nightlife-first groups
Cheap to mid stock and a walk home from bars, matched by noise and late night street drinking.
Think twice about
- Santiago Centro west and south of Lastarria
Boarded frontages, encampments, open drug use in pockets, phone snatching and a deserted feel after dark. Visit by day, sleep elsewhere.
- Estación Central / Meiggs and the terminal district
Most consistently flagged theft and scam zone around the bus terminals. Pass through alert, do not base there.
- Plaza Dignidad (Plaza Baquedano / Plaza Italia)
Protest epicentre since 2019 with demonstrations that can close Metro stations and turn confrontational.
- Peripheral communes with no visitor infrastructure
No metro convenience or walkable dining and long rideshare dependence, a false economy for visitors.
Best restaurants in Santiago
Boragó
Endemic Chilean tasting menu laboratory using ingredients from Atacama to Patagonia.
Ambrosía
French Chilean cooking in a garden house, sophisticated without laboratory distance and strong value.
Ambrosía Bistró
Casual Providencia offshoot bringing the Ambrosia hand to a lower price point.
Osaka
Classic Nikkei tasting and tiraditos where Santiago excels at Peruvian Japanese cooking.
Karai
Polished hotel Nikkei restaurant in the W praised for ceviche, tiradito and Chilean fish nigiri.
Bocanáriz
Wine bar with 250 plus Chilean labels and flights by valley, the best pre winery education.
99 Restaurante
Bistronomy pioneer with creative seasonal tasting menus at bistro prices in a relaxed room.
La Mar Cebichería
Benchmark ceviche, causas and grilled fish lunch from Gaston Acurio Lima cebicheria.
Best bars in Santiago
Siete Negronis
Award winning cocktail bar in Providencia listed among current Santiago drink highlights.
Bar La Providencia
Playful maximalist cocktail bar in Providencia listed by current insider guides.
Outdoor things to do in Santiago
Viña Concha y Toro
Polished historic giant in Maipo with Casillero del Diablo cellars and a premium tour with tastings.
Viña Santa Rita
1880s Maipo estate with Museo Andino, restaurant and picnic tours where it is easy to linger.
Viña Cousiño Macul
Family estate since 1856 inside the city, the best wine experience per hour invested in Santiago.
Viña Undurraga
Smaller Maipo producer often included on small group four vineyard tours of the valley.
Kingston Family Vineyards
Small family Casablanca winery blending Old and New World styles, best booked with a pairing.
Bodegas RE
Idiosyncratic story driven winery using ancestral methods and amphorae, a wine geek favourite.
Emiliana Organic Vineyards
Organic biodynamic pioneer with gardens and alpacas, the most enjoyable place not just tasting.
Casas del Bosque
Casablanca winery to visit for Tanino restaurant and Sauvignon as a lunch day.
Best hotels in Santiago
The Singular Santiago
Best luxury address with character, rooftop bar and pool over Parque Forestal.
Mandarin Oriental, Santiago
Grand resort in the city with gardens and large pool, convenient for El Golf business stays.
The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago
Club level polish and spa in El Golf, the default executive base near ski departures.
Hotel Magnolia
Heritage boutique hotel with rooftop terrace on the Lastarria side of Centro.
Casa Bueras Boutique Hotel
Fourteen rooms in a 1920s house with courtyard pool, the romantic mid tier pick.
Solace Hotel Santiago
Modern immaculate hotel with rooftop pool steps from Pedro de Valdivia Metro.
Hotel Boutique Le Rêve
French style boutique in a mansion street near Los Leones in Providencia.
NH Collection Plaza Santiago
Reliable upscale chain value in Las Condes for a straightforward Santiago base.
Is Santiago expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CLP 50,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CLP 90,000 a person |
| Splurge | CLP 250,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- La Chascona: a few days ahead
- Cajón del Maipo: a few days ahead
- Embalse El Yeso: a few days ahead
- Valle Nevado: weeks ahead
- Portillo: weeks ahead
- Valparaíso: a few days ahead
- Viña del Mar: a few days ahead
- Isla Negra: a few days ahead
- Borago weeks ahead. Ambrosia, Osaka and La Mar weekends days ahead.
- Book timed entry for Neruda houses, especially La Chascona. Buy Valle Nevado lift tickets direct in advance.
- Book Cajon and Valparaiso small group tours 2 to 3 days ahead in high season.
Is Santiago safe?
- Phone snatching and pickpocketing on Metro, in markets and at terminals are the main risks. Keep phones away and bags in front.
- Rideshare door to door at night in Centro and Bellavista. Leave the Alameda axis if a protest crowd builds.
- Check large notes for counterfeits and insist on taxi meters. Emergency Carabineros number is 133.
Santiago travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Mercado Central entrance restaurants with touts and inflated tourist platters. Walk to a stall inside.
- Sky Costanera on a smoggy day charges full price for no view. Check Andes visibility first.
- Centro hotel bargains and out of season snow experience tours are the repeated expensive mistakes.
Getting around Santiago: public transport and more
- Metro is the spine, Line 1 runs Centro to Lastarria to Providencia to Las Condes. Buy a Bip card.
- Use rideshare at night and for Vitacura. Use official airport transfers inside arrivals at SCL.
- Walk within neighbourhoods, especially the Lastarria to Providencia to Bellavista triangle.
Who Santiago suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Santiago your trip
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