Travel In Santiago, Chile
Travel Tips for Santiago
The water is absolutely safe to drink in Santiago. After visiting for a week we had no problems which was great considering the next item.
Many public restrooms don’t have toilet paper in the stalls. Toilet paper was regularly near the sinks near the bathroom entry door.
Chile is one of only two countries that distills Pisco so drink up while you’re in Santiago!
You can find almost anything for sale on the streets of Santiago. Literally, like from a vendor with a blanket of goods on the sidewalk.
Brush up on your Spanish or download a language translation app because most locals seems to speak minimal English.
Our Travels In Santiago
Traveling to Santiago kicked off our three month journey around South America. Our upfront excitement quickly soured after a series of unexpected first impressions. The customs agent gave Chandni a hard time for not speaking Spanish yet being from Texas. The haze over Santiago was so bad from the mountain dust that you couldn’t clearly see the sky. The river running through town looked like Nesquik sludge. Why is there no toilet paper in any stall?! It was a rough start, but once we got past that surface level impression, the real Santiago impressed us. That started with the food, because from street food to 50 Best fine dining, Santiago offers something for every price range.
Argentina might be known for empanadas, but Chile was no slouch. They made all the empanadas I’ve ever had in the US taste forgettable thanks to the variety of doughs and fillings. Best part is that most empanadas are only a couple of bucks each, and many are vegetarian! All those empanadas had to be washed down with something. Chile is one of only two countries legally able to distill Pisco, so pisco sours became my beverage of choice as often as I could find it! I ended up ordering so many that Chandni got sick of them. I’m not an alcoholic, I’m just thirsty. Cocktails like the pisco sour don’t appeal to everyone but you’ll find many variations with fruits or other flavors not found in the states. It’s a very flexible cocktail that Santiago takes pride in creating. Much like their park system.
Santiago is an enormous city at the foot of the Andes meaning development stops where mountains start unless you want dedicated open space. That’s exactly what Santiago embraced – they built very, very good parks on top of major Andean foothills.
We must have visited half a dozen major parks during our city exploration thanks to how well Santiago mixed the urban and the natural. Our favorite was the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago which encompasses a huge Adean foot hill with views across Santiago in all directions. This is the largest urban park in South America and it also has many attractions within its borders like the Japanese Garden. The garden was such a well received addition that Japanese royalty even visited when it opened. Garden hours don’t allow for sunrise or sunset visitation, but the view is spectacular at any time of day. Just expect to deal with tons of pedestrian traffic over the narrow bridges.
Parque Metropolitano de Santiago is so popular that only authorized vehicles are allowed access meaning 95% of visitors will have to earn their way uphill to the major attractions. If willing and able, your uphill hike will be capped by the best views of Santiago at the Mirador Pablo Neruda! At sunset the view from the mirador (overlook) blows you away and is actually featured as the cover photo of this post. We went onto a lesser used trail and into some brush to capture this image and I’d go back again in a heartbeat. The walk back down is a night hike but it’s fully lit thanks to street lights throughout the park. At no point did we feel uneasy walking through Santiago by day or night.
Walking around Santiago felt like walking through any American city. The modern downtown has a huge shopping mall surrounded by beautiful glass sky scrappers. There’s a subway system ready to take you across town. There are also many Subways ready to feed you foot longs. Many other American fast food chains were ready to serve you your favorite trans fats. However there are some major cultural differences - the first and most obvious is the number of street vendors.
You can find anything for sale on the streets of Santiago. Literally. It was rare to find a street without booths or blankets selling everything from kitchen appliances to hair care products. The second is the amount of car honking. Chileans communicate levels of frustration through their car’s horn (as do all South Americans as we’d later discover). The last major difference is the amount of street performers. Every major intersection with a red light had people who appeared to be auditioning for Ringling Bros. by dancing, juggling, or performing something. Seconds before the light turned green they’d stop performing and collect pesos from drivers and pedestrians alike.
There’s an unfortunate preconception shared by many Americans that South America is a place of unrest, drugs, and largely unsafe to visit if you’re not a local or not with one. Like any other place, the continent has its fair share problems, but we didn’t encounter a single one in Santiago. Our biggest problem was coordinating pickups with Uber! Santiago is a very inclusive city where people confidently express who they are and what they feel. Freedom of love and expression is fully embraced which is incredibly important in today’s world. It’s no San Francisco, but it’s certainly far more open than many American cities of comparable size. We encourage anyone considering South American travel to visit Santiago because it’s a city we’re already excited to visit again!
