Five Things to do in Santiago
We arrived in Santiago armed with perhaps the most useful knowledge of our time in Chile so far - the name of a fee-free bank. Hallelujah!
(PSA for anyone reading this that is planning a trip to Chile - Scotiabank is where you can get cash without eye-watering fees!).
Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile, located in the central part of the country. It's known for its stunning backdrop of the Andes Mountains, rich cultural scene and dark history. After a couple of weeks in the wilderness, we were excited to spend a few days making the most of all amenities a capital city has to offer.
Chile was by far the most expensive country we had visited to date, with single dorm beds costing more than a double private en-suite room in Bolivia… so it was a bit of a shock to our budgeting! A little research and we found that renting rooms via AirBnb was the most cost-effective accommodation choice.
Our home for four days in the capital was in the trendy neighbourhood of Providencia with a family of four. Daniel, Jo and their two boys (5 and 7 years old), were one of the highlights of our time in the city. They made us feel instantly at home, gave us lots of tips for sightseeing and travelling in Chile, and the boys even helped us with our Spanish… because primary school level is about where we are at. They were pretty excited to mis-hear us talking about Kyle Walker as Luke Skywallker, rushing to show us their Stormtrooper Halloween costumes ready for later in the month!
We were pleasantly surprised by the city itself and really enjoyed our time there. There are lots of excursions to get out of the city and into the mountains and nature, but with the Chilean Lake District and Patagonia on the horizon, we decided to stick to city life, using the slick metro system to get around.
As with any city, there are areas to avoid and places to be on guard. On arrival, we got on the metro with our big backpacks, drawing attention to ourselves as tourists and, of course, attracting pickpockets. Three men came and stood very strangely between us. Having been through something similar in Athens that ended with chasing a teenager down a train platform to recover my dads phone, I switched to high alert pretty quickly.
In this situation, it’s a blessing that as a woman my clothing doesn’t have pockets that are of any use, so all my valuables were tight to my body. I kept an eye on the man creeping closer to Graeme, and when his hand was too close I decided to speak up. “Graeme, that man is trying to rob you.”
Graeme’s response? “Don’t worry, I’ve got zip pockets.”
Hmm. I’m not sure a zip is enough to confuse a professional pickpocket. The man closest to me had already tried to undo the front of my backpack (which only had suncream in, to his disappointment), whilst another was inching closer to Graeme. So I kept going, talking loudly and calmly and pointing right at them - I was sure they understood everything I was saying, and I wanted as many people to hear as possible. “Graeme, he is trying to rob you.”
People around were staring at us, and it was enough to put the men off. They quickly got off at the next stop and, two stops later, we were off too. Weirdly, I wasn’t too shaken by this. It’s quite common in cities and the kind of thing we expected to encounter more often on our trip, so it didn’t stop us using the metro day-to-day. We just made sure to get a taxi back to the bus station when we had all our luggage again and were more obvious targets.
Despite the shakey welcome to the city, we had an amazing time there. Most of the joy of city sightseeing is stumbling upon buzzing neighbourhoods and making the most of the cultural and dining scene. Here are some of the highlights of our time in Santiago…
Grand Architecture
Santiago boasts a mix of architectural styles, from colonial buildings in the city centre to modern skyscrapers in the financial district and the tallest building in Latin America: Sky Costanera. We did the classic ‘free walking tour’ on our first day in the city, taking in the historical centre and surrounds, including the Plaza de Armas, Cathedral and La Moneda Palace. It is possible to go up the viewing platform of Sky Costanera - at 300m high, it offers 360 degree views of the city - but at £12 a ticket we were much happier to stick to ground level.
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights
Santiago is a museum-lovers paradise. Unfortunately for us, we visited on a public holiday weekend, limiting our options significantly. There are a cluster of museums located around Quinta Normal Park, and though we were gutted to miss the National Museum of Natural History we were able to visit our first choice: the Museum of Memory and Human Rights.
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos is dedicated to commemorating the victims of human rights abuses during Chile's military dictatorship, particularly under General Augusto Pinochet, serving as a poignant memorial to Chile's complex history and a place for visitors to learn and understand more about this turbulent time in the country’s past.
Pinochet was a Chilean military general who led a coup in 1973, overthrowing President Salvador Allende. He then ruled Chile as a dictator until 1990. His regime was marked by human rights violations and censorship - politically and culturally.
It was impossible to read about the events in Chile and not draw parallels to current events around the world that are prominent in the news now - war, human rights violations, innocent people losing their lives. There was a whole section of the exhibition on protests around the world, as people joined together to demand their governments help the people of Chile. As I’m writing this, tens of thousands of people are marching across the UK because of the Palestine-Israel conflict. In some ways, it’s all too disheartening to think that we still live in a world where human life is so disregarded. But on the other hand, at least we still live in a world where people will stand in solidarity with the oppressed.
Cerró Santa Lucía and the city’s Green Spaces
For a capital city, Santiago is full of green spaces. I’ve already mentioned Quinta Normal, a huge park surrounded by many of the city’s museums. There’s also Parque Metropolitano, a large urban park with cable cars, hiking trails and a zoo, and Parque Forestal - a green belt that runs through the city along the Mapocho River.
Our favourite was the park on Cerro Santa Lucia, a prominent hill in the city that features lush gardens with winding paths, fountains, and sculptures.
We enjoyed the gorgeous spring weather with a picnic in the park’s grounds before climbing all the way to the top for panoramic views of the city.
Cool Neighbourhoods
By far the best part of visiting a city is finding the cool, artsy, up-and-coming, hipster parts of town. And we stumbled on quite a few in Santiago! Our favourites included Barrio Italia - a tangle of streets with a bohemian atmosphere, full of antique shops, small boutiques and lots of winding arcades and hidden markets as well as cute cafes.
We also loved Lastarria, which had a more artsy feel thanks to book and record stores, open-air arts market and galleries, plenty of busking musicians and the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Centre on its edge.
Finally, we visited the Bellavista neighbourhood on our walking tour and had to return for a glass of wine after dark, as the cluster of bars, restaurants and clubs make for a vibrant atmosphere. It’s also a stone’s throw from La Chascona - one of poet Pablo Neruda’s former houses that is now a museum.
Glorious Food & Wine
Being back in a city meant we were spoiled for food choices… and being in Chile meant we needed to make the most of the wine!!
After chatting with our AirBnb hosts and reading our guide books, we came to the sad realisation that a trip to the wine region of Chile wasn’t meant to be. It wasn’t quite the high season for tourism yet, limiting public transport and DIY winery tours without a car. Organised tours were well out of our budget and didn’t really appeal to us as they all sounded a bit stuffy, and the only vineyard we could find reachable from Santiago was closed due to the holiday weekend. Darn.
Would we let that stop us tasting as many Chilean wines as possible? Of course not! We’ve saved money in Chile by mainly cooking our own meals, but decided in Santiago to put that saving towards a foodie experience to savour. We ended up booking dinner at Bocanariz in Lastarria neighbourhood as they offered wine flights, so we could sample a variety of grapes from across the country without having to leave the city!
It was an amazing dining (and drinking!) experience. We are both pretty into our food and quite often plan holidays around food experiences, but it seems all the more special on this trip as we really have to pick and choose when to indulge. I even discovered a new grape - Carmenere. Originally from Bordeaux, it now grows almost only in Chile. Having sampled a couple more (lower quality) bottles from the supermarket since our meal, I can confidently say I will be seeking out Carmenere’s for a long time to come. Who would’ve thought this Malbec gal would branch out?!
Not wanting to seem too fancy, perhaps the second best food experience we had in the city was sampling the local empanada. Empanada de Pino is a traditional Chilean pastry filled with seasoned ground beef, onions, a black olive, raisins, and a hard-boiled egg. Yep, one black olive, stone in, per empanada. We thought that was strange! We got ours from Emporio Zunino, just off the Plaza de Aramas. The place was buzzing with locals and we had to squeeze our way in for a spot at a bench before we could tuck in and… it was the most delicious snack! They were pretty big, but we did regret not buying two each.
We ended our time in Santiago feeling a lot more positive about travelling in Chile and very well fed and watered! It was back on an overnight bus out of the city as we made our way to the Chilean Lake District.
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