In the middle of Chile and backdropped by the snow-capped Andes is Santiago, the capital.
If you’re going to Chile, I’d be extremely surprised if you don’t end up in Santiago at some point. It connects the northern desert regions with the southern lake district and Patagonia regions.
Having travelled my way up through Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia I finally made it to Santiago. I find it crazy that I’m still only halfway up Chile, it’s such a long country!
When chatting to fellow backpackers, I’d heard mixed things about Santiago. I got the impression that Santiago often came second best to Buenos Aires. I spent three days in Santiago and quite liked it! Here’s what I got up to…
Walking tour, La Vega market, Cerro San Cristóbal – Day One
I arrived to Santiago early in the morning after a night bus from Pucón. I hopped (or rather squashed myself) on to the metro at rush hour to my hostel. It was crazy crazy busy!
I didn’t get my bed at my hostel until 2pm so I left my stuff and went on a morning walking tour. I met María, a Spanish girl from Barcelona, and did the Spanish version with her. It was nice to get a bit of listening practice in!
I’m always a fan of a walking tour, they give you a great introduction to a place and better idea of where things are etc. In Santiago’s case, it was really interesting to hear more about the 1973 coup and subsequent military dictatorship. Coming from the UK, it’s a period of history that I was completely unaware of before I arrived to Chile.
After the walking tour, I went to La Vega market with Maria. It’s massive!!!!! There are stalls and stalls of fruit, vegetables, grains, fish, meat, toiletries etc for great market prices. I bought some apples, bananas and strawberries for the next few days.
In one of the warehouses, the upstairs has several places to eat. I had a super filling chorillana for lunch with some soup and salad. It’s a good place to try local food for decent prices!
For sunset I’d decided to go to San Cristóbal hill. I was going to walk up but realised it took 2hrs and I didn’t have enough time to do it. Plus, I could get a 5 minute funicular up, for $2000CLP return (£2 approx), instead. The funicular won!
Cerro San Cristóbal is great for views over the city – it’s so big!! The smog hanging over the mountains surprised me. I didn’t expect there to be that much.
On my way back to the hostel, I got an empanada from Galindo, a popular Chilean restaurant. Considering Galindo is always highly recommended for its Chilean food, I was expecting more from the empanada. It was nice but quite average and not anything special. Sorry Galindo!!
Cajón del Maipo and Embalse el Yeso – Day Two
For my second day in Santiago, I actually left the city and headed into the mountains to the Cajón del Maipo and Embalse el Yeso, a massive reservoir of water.
I generally prefer to avoid tours and do things myself where possible. I like the freedom it brings. With the Embalse el Yeso, it’s possible to go independently. With a car is the best option, but if not, there are buses and colectivos that run from the city centre to the nearest town San José de Maipo. From there, it gets a bit more complicated if you don’t have a car.
I decided going independently was too much faff and found a company with a deal on: $18,000CLP (£20 approx) for the day tour, instead of $35,000CLP (£40ish). The tour was worth it with the discount, probably not when full price.
We left Santiago at 8am and drove into the mountains. Over the course of the drive, it was cool seeing the smog and cloud slowly lessening until we had clear blue sky.
The rest of my tour group was from Colombia so Spanish was the lingo for the day. It was another nice opportunity to practice my listening and speaking!
We stopped a few times on the way before getting to the reservoir. At the reservoir we had time to wander and then had a picnic lunch of cheese, salami, crisps, peanuts and red wine. I’m not much of a red wine drinker but I wasn’t going to turn down a glass when we had such beautiful surroundings.
Surprisingly I liked the taste! My taste buds could be changing and I might be heading towards liking red soon! That’s what Chile and Argentina do to you!
Museo de la Memoria, then on to Valparaíso – Day Three
I spent the morning in Santiago visiting the Museo de la Memoria. It’s a free museum about the 1973 coup and subsequent dictatorship. Although I’m not much of a museum person, I highly recommend going to this one to know more about a vital part Chile’s recent history.
I’d also planned to go up Santa Lucia hill. However, due to a fair there was now an entrance fee. I decided to leave it and go back when I returned to Santiago for my flight to the desert.
I then got an afternoon bus to Valparaíso, the port city of colourful hills and street art.
How to get to Santiago
To get to Santiago you can go by bus or plane. If you’re already in Chile, before you book a bus have a look at flights.
Chile’s a long country! The bus journeys are going to be long! From northern destinations like Antofagasta or Calama, you’re looking at 24hr journeys.
Chile has two low cost airlines: Sky and Jetsmart which have really cheap flights! A lot of the time the flight is the same price as the bus and you save yourself from a 24hr ride! I’m flying to Calama to the desert for $30, it was a no brainer!
Getting to and from Arturo Merino Benitez Airport
Arturo Merino Benitez is Santiago’s airport for international and domestic flights. You can get to and from there by taxi. There is a public transport option which I did involving the metro and a bus.
Turbus and Centropuerto have buses to the airport running every 20 minutes from several stations. I’d been told going from Pajaritos was the easiest so I did that one.
From the centre, I took the red line to Pajaritos (less than 30mins from Plaza de Armas) and then followed the signs to the bus section. I paid $1900CLP (£2) for a ticket and went with the first bus that showed: Centropuerto.
It only took 15 minutes from Pajaritos to the airport which surprised me. I was preparing for a 30/45minute journey with traffic so ended up getting there more than two hours before. Better early than late!
My journey to Santiago
I got a 10hr full cama night bus from Pucón which cost me $16,800CLP (£20 approx). Depending on the bus company (Pullman, AndesMar…) and whether you go for semi-cama or cama, you can look at paying between $10,000-$18,000CLP (£10-20) for the ride.
Getting around Santiago
Santiago’s public transport system (metro and buses) use the BIP card. A card costs $1550CLP (£2 approx) and you then top it up with funds for your journeys. For us Brits it’s the Chilean equivalent of the London Oyster card.
Journey prices vary slightly depending on whether you’re travelling at peak, off peak or super off peak times. A journey at peak times is $800CLP and $720CLP at off peak times (less than £1 a journey).
I found the metro very straightforward to use. If you can I’d avoid rush hour, it gets extremely busy and you’ll most likely be queueing to get the next tubes.
I also found Santiago to be very walkable, more so than Buenos Aires. If you’re based in the centre, a lot of places are walking distance. I stayed near the Plaza de Armas and could walk to San Cristóbal hill, Santa Lucia hill, Barrio Bellavista, La Vega market etc…
Final thoughts
I liked Santiago more than I expected to. Like most cities, I only needed a few days to get my fill! As a tourist, I was only passing through and scratching the surface. To get the most out of Santiago and uncover the best places, living there is the best option. Also less smog would be great!
I’m now heading to Valparaíso for five days to explore street art, walk the coloured hills, relax and wait for my flight to the desert (which I’ll return to Santiago for).
