If you might be searching for the very best issues to do in Santiago, you’ve come to the fitting place. We spent 5 days seeing all the highest sights in Santiago earlier than and after our Exodus Travels tour of Chile. Even although we visited the Atacama Desert, Patagonia, and extra, we fell in love with Santiago probably the most. It’s such a enjoyable metropolis crammed with vitality and pleasure.
Santiago, Chile is a large metropolis in South America with loads of issues to do. Whether you’re searching for tradition or nice meals, there’s one thing for everybody. We fell in love with the capital metropolis of Chile and even managed to meet President Gabriel Boric throughout our keep. Read on to see how that occurred.
Top Things to do in Santiago
Only 2 days left to enter for an opportunity to win a Life of Adventure
Before we get began, we would like to remind you about an superior contest. Exodus Travels is giving one fortunate winner an incredible lifetime of journey. All you want to do is click on on this hyperlink, fill out your particulars and select our journey type.
It is then time to select your area. Where do you need to go? Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America? Once you’ve chosen your journey type and vacation spot preferences, all you want to do is hit enter. Isn’t that straightforward? Read extra right here.
Okay, now it’s time to discover Santiago with us. Here are our high picks for issues to do in Santiago, Chile.
1. Plaza de Armas
If it’s your first time in Santiago, make your manner to the principle assembly place within the metropolis. Plaza de Armas is the principle sq. in Santiago and a well-liked place for locals and vacationers to collect. The plaza is surrounded by essential landmarks, together with the Cathedral, Presidential Palace, National Museum, and extra.
Plaza de Armas is the right place to begin your Santiago tour. It’s the place all of the buses come into city so in case you are on an overland journey in Chile, you’ll most likely find yourself right here first.
The sq. itself is gorgeous, with fountains, palm bushes and inexperienced area, outside terraces, and road performers. There are additionally a number of outlets and eating places if you’d like to seize some meals or souvenirs earlier than heading out in your journey!
2. Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral
One of those landmarks that it’s best to undoubtedly go to while you go to Plaza de Armas is the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral. The cathedral was constructed between 1872-1904 based mostly on designs drawn up by French architect Paul Chenavard (who additionally designed Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal – Somewhat Canadian connection there). Not solely does this cathedral have lovely structure nevertheless it additionally has wonderful stained glass home windows which depict scenes from Chilean historical past.
It is a working cathedral so be respectful when getting into, however going inside is a should. It’s additionally a cool respite from the recent Santiago warmth.
3. Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucía Hill)
Cerro Santa Lucia is without doubt one of the hottest locations in Santiago to go for a stroll and benefit from the views. The hill is situated proper within the heart of town, with museums, outlets, and eating places on its slopes.
It’s finest to go to at sundown when you possibly can see all of Santiago lit up under you in addition to a phenomenal view of a part of the Andes (and possibly even some stars!). It’s an ideal place to spend a day taking within the websites. There are outdated forts, a chapel, fountains, and partitions to discover. There are even basalt columns to maintain a watch out for. I used to be shocked to see them main up to the highest of the hill.
The excessive platform is small and you can be sharing it with a crowd, however it’s undoubtedly value visiting for a panoramic view of Santiago. From right here it’s additionally straightforward to catch buses or taxis again downtown.
This hill affords views of Santiago and past—all with out having to climb too far! It’s much less busy than Plaza de Armas however on the weekends it may be very crowded with locals. Plus there are many bushes round so when you ever get drained (or thirsty), simply sit down underneath one in all them! Make certain to carry some water with you.
4. San Cristóbal Hill (Cerro San Cristóbal)
San Cristóbal Hill is the second-highest level in Santiago. It’s additionally the location of an outdated chapel (La Catedral) and the Virgin Mary. Standing 860 meters excessive, it overlooks town providing 360 diploma views.
The views from up there are a number of the finest in Santiago, though you’ll need to work laborious to discover an unobstructed view on the high, there are numerous viewpoints from midway up. You can see all of Santiago, in addition to some close by hills and mountains.
This is a well-liked place for sundown as a result of it’s so lovely overlooking the skyscrapers of the enterprise district. But be warned, when you go up for sundown, you’ll need to stroll again down. So we advise for first-time guests go earlier. It’s the right spot for consuming lunch with a view or going out on a picnic.
5. Teleferico or Funicular
There are two methods to get to the highest of San Cristóbal Hill: take the funicular from Barrio Bella Vista or take the teleférico (cable automotive) from Metropolitan Park. We took each and located them every to be well worth the go to. They embark from totally different sides of the mountain. The funicular leaves from the Bellavista neighborhood and the Funicular leaves from Metropolitan park within the Providencia space of Santiago
Teleferico
When staying within the monetary district, take the Teleferico to the highest as you’ll solely want to stroll by means of Metropolitan Park. This is a beautiful neighborhood to stroll by means of and the park has eating places, shady areas, and fountains.
Funicular
The funicular takes you thru the Bella Vista neighborhood which is a energetic space of Santiago. We walked from town heart by means of Barrio Bella Vista having fun with a number of the enjoyable eating places and bars on our manner. When you get to the funicular, it seems like a fortress from an amusement park.
There are distributors and the Santiago Zoo. It is a steep incline railway with a cease on the zoo on the best way up. Make certain to maintain your tickets for each as you’ll need them to get again down.
6. Metropolitan Park of Santiago
Metropolitan Park of Santiago is without doubt one of the largest city parks in Latin America with San Cristobal Hill standing at its heart. Besides San Cristobal Hill there’s the Santiago Zoo (Zoológico de Santiago), Botanical Gardens with a Japanese Garden, two swimming swimming pools, mountain climbing trails, and a kids’s park. You may even go on a excessive ropes course situated beside the doorway to the teleferico.
There are a number of parks and greenspaces in Santiago situated alongside the river. You’ll discover households out for picnics, strolling by means of the gardens or just stress-free within the solar. We loved merely strolling alongside the river taking within the views.
7. Sky Costanera
Located within the Costanera Center a shopping center with a view of town, Sky Costanera is situated on the 61st ground of the constructing. This constructing is taken into account to be one of many tallest buildings in South America.
It has panoramic views, eating places, and bars that’s visited by locals and vacationers from throughout Chile and around the globe.
Go up for sundown for implausible views of the Andes Mountains and Santiago. There is a cocktail bar on the high the place you possibly can pull up a seat by the window to get pleasure from a romantic toast to town. Make certain to keep till the solar goes down, that’s when the view actually comes to life.
8. Costanera Center
Sky Costanera is situated in a monetary district however there are numerous issues that vacationers can do once they go to. The purchasing heart is very large with a number of shops promoting all the pieces from high quality Chilean wine to baggage. There are many eating places to select from together with native favorites and worldwide delicacies from Japanese meals to American classics just like the Hard Rock Cafe and Tony Romas.
This six-story shopping center is crammed with all the pieces you need for purchasing. There is a wonderful grocery retailer the place you possibly can decide up some high quality Chilean wine. The wine choice in there’s big.
9. Palacio de la Moneda (La Moneda Palace)
La Moneda Palace is the seat of presidency in Chile and has been since 1837. It was inbuilt 1784, nevertheless it was destroyed in an earthquake. The palace was rebuilt in 1837 and have become a nationwide monument in 1931. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site!
La Moneda Palace grounds are open to guests from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays solely. You can pre-arrange guided excursions to see the Ducal Palace of Modena, the Military Academy, and the rooms of the State house. The gardens surrounding La Moneda Palace are open from 8 am till 6 pm each day and provide some good spots for a picnic lunch or simply having fun with some recent air when you’re bored with sightseeing indoors!
10. Palacio La Moneda Cultural Center
After seeing the Presidential Palace, go into the Palacio La Moneda Cultural Center. This gathering place was constructed underground in order to not intrude with the grounds of the Presidential Palace. The big constructing homes cafes, rotating shows, museums, and boutique outlets.
11. Barrio Bellavista (Bellavista Neighborhood)
For nightlife, Barrio Bellavista is the place to be. This neighborhood is a energetic leisure space crammed with bars and eating places. Street artwork decorates many partitions round Barrio Bellavista. It’s one of the vital in style neighborhoods in Santiago amongst vacationers due to its vibrant ambiance and exquisite views of downtown Santiago from above thanks to its rooftop bars.
Art Tour of Barrio Bellavista
Santiago is a metropolis crammed with road artwork, so it’s no shock that the very best place to see it’s in Bellavista. This neighborhood is dwelling to the best focus of murals and graffiti in all of Chile.
If you need to get an insider’s have a look at these colourful works, there are many excursions obtainable. Tours can final anyplace from 2 hours up to 5 days and usually price between $10 USD and $25 USD per particular person. Most excursions will take you thru a number of totally different neighborhoods, however some give attention to only one space or particular kind of road artwork—like graffiti artists who use stencils fairly than paint or chalk on the sidewalks!
No matter what sort of tour you do, they’ll all lead by means of Bellavista the place most vacationers begin out earlier than branching out into different neighborhoods like Providencia (one other in style vacation spot).
12. Central Market
The Central Market is a good place to eat, purchase souvenirs, and even buy meals. There are a number of kinds of distributors contained in the market that promote all the pieces from flowers and fruit to meat and fish. This lovely constructing was inbuilt 1872 and has been restored a number of instances through the years.
13. Emporio La Rosa
Emporio La Rosa is a well-liked ice cream store in Santiago, Chile. It was named one of many high 25 ice lotions on the planet by Time Magazine in 2012. There are a number of shops in Santiago. Just put its identify in Google maps to discover one close to you.
In addition to its extra conventional flavors resembling chocolate and dulce de leche (which tastes like caramel), additionally they make some distinctive Chilean flavors like murta (Chilean myrtle) and lucuma. You can get a cup or a cone they usually have milkshakes too! They’re open from 10 AM-10 PM daily besides Sundays when it’s closed; I like to recommend getting there early if you’d like a cone since most individuals go for cones fairly than cups.
14. La Chascona – Pablo Neruda Museum
Pablo Neruda was a well-known Chilean poet. The Museo de Pablo Neruda is situated in the home the place he lived and labored, and it’s an ideal place to study extra about his life and work. If you’re taking the funicular up to Cerro San Cristobal you possibly can simply make a detour to see this museum. It is situated within the Barrio Bellavista neighborhood as properly.
The museum has lots of his private gadgets on show together with garments, books, work, furnishings and even some meals that was left over from meals at his home. His desk can also be there so you possibly can see the place he wrote a few of his most well-known poems resembling “Ode to My Socks” or “Twenty Love Poems for Dummies” (okay we made that final one up).
15. Museo de Historia Natural (Museum of Natural History)
The Museo de Historia Natural is one other must-see for any customer to Santiago. This museum affords a variety of reveals about Chile’s pure surroundings and the animals that stay there. The museum additionally has a planetarium, the place you possibly can study extra about astronomy from an skilled astronomer. The museum was based in 1883 by Antonio Varas, who was additionally president at the moment, so it is without doubt one of the oldest museums in Chile.
We Met the President of Chile
After visiting the Museum of Natural History we walked throughout the road to eat lunch at a beautiful terrace overlooking the park. During our lunch, the folks began asking a person for images who was eating there as properly. We requested the subsequent desk ‘Is this man famous?’ and he stated, ‘He is the president of Chile’. We stated, ‘yeah right.’ And then the supervisor stated, ‘Yes he is!
He was leaving at the same time as us, so we introduced ourselves and said we were from Canada and we chatted for a bit and said in our excitement, “We’ve by no means even met our Prime Minister earlier than!” He stated “I’ve met Justin (Trudeau)”
He then requested if we had been going to Patagonia as a result of that’s the place he’s from. And we stated, ‘We will say hi to your home for you’ His Excellency Gabriel Boric was very gracious, pleasant and welcoming. We are nonetheless a bit in shock that we truly talked to a President of a rustic out in a standard on a regular basis setting. And that occurred on our first day in Santiago. Not a nasty first day in Chile!
16. Museo de la Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos (The Museum of Memory and Human Rights)
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights commemorates the atrocities carried out by the dictator Augusto Pinochet between September 11, 1973 and March 10, 1990. Unfortunately, it was closed once we took the metro out to see it on a Monday, however it’s a place that ought to be visited when in Santiago. Inside there are shows depicting the torture and indignities that came about throughout this brutal reign.
17. Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Museum of Pre-Colombian Art)
The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, or the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, is situated within the Bellavista neighborhood which is a good place to see a few of Santiago’s finest road artwork. This museum has an in depth assortment of pre-Columbian artwork from throughout Latin America in addition to artifacts from Chile and Easter Island.
The museum was based in 1888 and it’s one in all Chile’s oldest museums on show! There are over 6,000 items on show right here at this museum so that you’ll undoubtedly need to include a number of visits if you’d like to see all the pieces! The museum itself is open daily from 10 am – 6 pm (besides Mondays).
18. Watch Sunset from the W Hotel
One of our favourite locations to watch the sundown was to go to the highest of the W Hotel. Overlooking the Andes Mountains, town, and Sky Costanera it greeted us with beautiful views. There is a bar and rooftop patio full with an infinity pool.
Make certain to e-book reservations because the patio is for visitors of the lodge. We obtained fortunate they usually allow us to up however, you’ll need to e-book a desk. Be ready to spend some cash. We paid about $15 USD per cocktail. But it was value it for the view and ambiance.
19. the Museo Historico Nacional
A go to to the Museo Historico Nacional is an effective way to find out about Chile’s historical past. The museum is situated proper subsequent door to the Plaza de Armas and is simple to discover. As you enter, you’ll be greeted by a formidable assortment of weapons and artifacts from varied intervals all through Chilean historical past. You’ll additionally see a number of totally different uniforms worn by troopers relationship again centuries in the past, together with these worn by Native Americans or Spaniards throughout the colonial interval.
Address: San Francisco 469, Providencia
20. Cementerio General de Santiago (General Cemetery)
Cementerio General de Santiago (General Cemetery) is a must-see for historical past buffs. You’ll discover the mausoleum of Nobel Prize-winning poet, Pablo Neruda, in addition to a number of different notable figures from Chile’s previous buried there (together with Gabriela Mistral, who gained the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945). The cemetery was established in 1822 and continues to be an energetic burial floor right this moment.
If you’re into issues that go bump within the evening, you’ll have enjoyable on a ghost tour of Cementerio General de Santiago. Tours final about an hour and a half and embrace stops on the grave of Carlos Gardel (a well-known tango singer) and Pablo Neruda
21. Metro Art Santiago – Subway Stops
Getting round Santiago is kind of straightforward. We took the metro and located it to be probably the most inexpensive manner to journey. It is quick, environment friendly, and inexpensive. You want to buy a BIP card after which fill it up. Our lodge gave us free BIP playing cards, so all we had to do was load it with sufficient pesos to cowl just a few days of fares. The subways are value visiting simply to see the artwork installations. The fare to experience a technique is 750 pesos. (85 cents US).
We put the subway stations in our listing of issues to do in Santiago, as a result of most of the underground stops have lovely artwork shows.
Where to Stay in Santiago
We stayed on the Four Points Sheraton situated within the coronary heart of the enterprise heart of Providencia. We discovered this to be a superb location that was inside strolling distance of Sky Costanera and the fashionable purchasing facilities of Santiago. It was additionally inside strolling distance to Metropolitan Park and the Teleferico. We had been simply two blocks from the Subway so it was straightforward to get to the outdated metropolis heart and Plaza de Armas as properly.
Book a room on the next ground for excellent metropolis views. Breakfast right here was wonderful. We beloved the buffet with an array of recent fruits, pastrys, meats, and cheeses and an omelet station. See their web site for charges and availability.
Another place to keep in Santiago is the W Hotel for a extra upscale expertise within the El Golf neighborhood of Santiago. It’s somewhat farther away from the sights, nevertheless it’s shut to a metro line so you possibly can simply hop on to discover all the metropolis’s high sights. It additionally has probably the greatest views in all of Santiago for sundown. See opinions and costs on TripAdvisor
Santiago is a large metropolis with lots to do
There are loads of issues to do round Santiago on straightforward day journeys. Here are just a few recommendations to get you out of town.
21. Day journey to Valparaiso
Valparaiso is a port metropolis in Chile, and you’ll take a ferry from the port of San Antonio to Valparaiso. This is an particularly in style day journey for guests who want to see the colourful homes and hillside views, in addition to the numerous murals and road artwork on buildings all through town.
Valparaiso has been nicknamed “La Ciudad de las Artes” (The City of Arts) due to its many museums, theaters, galleries and music venues. The most spectacular attraction right here is Cerro Alegre; it’s actually a hill however affords 360-degree views over Valparaiso’s bay space the place you will notice colourful homes constructed into hillsides together with church buildings scattered all through this picturesque townscape.
22. Andes Mountains, Valle Nevado, El Colorado
The Andes Mountains run the size of Chile and Argentina, which implies they’re typically seen from Santiago. They’re the longest mountain vary on the planet, they usually comprise a number of the most lovely surroundings you could find anyplace on Earth.
The Andes are dwelling to two peaks that really make it into their very own class: Aconcagua (22,841 ft), which can also be the tallest peak outdoors Asia; and Ojos del Salado (23,838 ft), a volcano in northern Chile with an energetic crater on high that has been energetic for over 400 years.
Valle Nevado is a ski resort shut to town. In the winter is affords the very best ski and snowboarding in South America and in the summertime you possibly can do some downhill mountain biking.
23. Wine Tasting in Chile Valley
Santiago is the right base for wine tasting in Chile. The nation produces 40% of the world’s wine and is finest recognized for its reds, created from grapes grown excessive up within the Andes Mountains. There are many various vineyards to go to all through Santiago however we advocate beginning with a go to to Chile Valley.
The Maipo Valley is dwelling to a number of the finest vineyards in Chile, they usually’re all inside straightforward attain of Santiago. A wine-tasting tour here’s a should for any wine lover, as you’ll find a way to pattern a wide range of wines created from totally different grapes at every winery. Many excursions will even embrace lunch or dinner at one of many wineries in your manner again into Santiago.
This tour takes you to two high wineries, Concha y Toro and Viña Undurraga the place you’ll get pleasure from 3 tastings at every winery whereas studying in regards to the Chilean wine trade.
Map of the Best Things to do in Santiago
As you possibly can see, there are many issues to do in Santiago. Whether you’re searching for a day journey or an in a single day journey, there’s one thing for everybody! We spe
Santiago is the capital of Chile and one in all Latin America’s largest cities. It has a inhabitants of over six million folks, which makes it dwelling to greater than half of Chile’s total inhabitants. Santiago has all the pieces you’d need in a giant metropolis: a formidable skyline, purchasing malls, museums, and theaters galore!