Santiago, Chile

Santiago is an enchanting metropolis with colorful city streets, lush hilltop parks, historic buildings, towering skyscrapers and views of the Andes Mountains. It’s a hub for Chilean wine and cuisine, queer nightlife and cultural sights. We spent a weekend exploring the city, getting a taste of what it has to offer and leaving with a strong desire to return.

Neighborhoods

Barrio de Bellavista. A charming neighborhood with treelined streets, colorful historic homes, cute coffee shops and main streets painted in murals and graffiti. The neighborhood is a cultural hub that comes to life at night! Local cuisine is served at Chilean restaurants, fans cheer on their favorite soccer teams at sports bars, glammed up drag queens perform at queer friendly bars and mixologists shake cocktails late into the evening.

Lastarria Neighborhood. A small and trendy neighborhood with cobble stone streets, colorful ornate buildings, high end restaurants and Chilean wine bars. It’s a calm area to walk around, stop for a glass of wine or dine at a sidewalk patio. To us, it feels very similar to the cute streets of the West Village in NYC.

Centro Historico. The historic center of Santiago with tree lined plazas, ornate stone buildings, cultural sights and museums.

City Parks

Jacaranda Trees. For one to two weeks during southern spring, the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. These beautiful trees blossom with tiny bell shaped lavender colored flowers visible around the city streets and from the lookouts. We were lucky enough to see them across the city when we visited in late November.

Cerro Santa Lucia. A beautiful hilltop park in the middle of the city with panoramic views of Santiago and the Andes Mountains. We walked the winding cobblestone paths, gradually meandering upwards through the park. Along the way, we passed ornate tiled fountains, bronze statues and medieval style architecture with castle walls, towers, lookouts and canons. The green space is home to natural hexagonal basalt columns, flowering jacaranda trees, towering palms and even a single Socotra Dragon Tree native to an Arabian island in Yemen.

Parque Forestal Museo. A verdant treelined city park with small meadows and walkways. It’s a retreat for locals on the weekend with couples lounging in the grass, pet owners playing fetch with their dogs and cyclists riding down the dirt pathways.

Parque Metropolitano de Santiago. A mountainous park in the middle of Santiago with winding walkways and bicycle paths, picnic areas, scenic lookouts, a zoo, a botanical garden and Japanese garden.

Cerro San Cristobal. A mountaintop lookout in the middle of the Parque Metropolitano de Santiago. It has beautiful views of the city, small cafes and a religious atmosphere with an outdoor church and various Christian shrines.

Funicular & Teleferico. We rode the funicular up the mountain from the Bellavista neighborhood to reach the Cerro San Cristobal. From the lookout, we continued on the teleferico across the mountainous park with views of the landscape and surrounding city.

Sights

Sky Costanera. A modern glass tower and the tallest building in South America! Come here for a cocktail at its observatory while enjoying panoramic views of Santiago and the Andes Mountains. The 300 Bar serves inventive cocktails served in unique glasses, with bubbles of smoke and floral garnishing.

Plaza de Armas. A palm covered plaza and the city’s main square with several monumental buildings, street performers and vendors. It’s a scenic spot to sit down, people watch and enjoy the city.

Plaza de la Constitución. A stately square lined with Chilean flags surrounded by government buildings including the presidential palace, Palacio de La Moneda.

Markets

Mercado Central. A historic seafood market in an ornate wrought iron building with seafood restaurants and vendors selling an immense variety of the days fresh catch on large beds of ice. We enjoyed lunch at Donde Augusto, a longtime seafood restaurant in the middle of the market severing Chilean dishes like sautéed sea bass and Paila Marina. Afterwards, we shopped around for ingredients to prepare a traditional Chilean dish, Shrimp Pil Pil.

La Vega Central. A large produce market with vendors selling fruits, vegetables, potatoes, nuts and dry goods. The market is a great spot to shop for fresh and local ingredients at affordable prices. A cute and unexpected scene was the number of cats roaming around the market and even sleeping alongside bins of produce.

Good to know: The scene outside of the market is chaotic with shipments of produce being delivered, vendors selling miscellaneous goods on the sidewalks and unsavory characters stumbling around the area. Avoid the area after dark.

What to Eat

Chilean Sea Bass. The famed Chilean fish seen on menus at high end restaurants around the world. The tender white fish is often served grilled, sautéed in butter or as ceviche.

Empanadas. Served everywhere across Santiago, these large folded pockets of flaky dough are stuffed with any number of fillings from spiced vegetables, savory seafoods, herbed cheeses and meats are a staple of Chilean cuisine.

Caldillo de Congrio. A very traditional Chilean stew made from a seafood broth boiled with a large piece of conger eel served with its skin and bones still attached.

Pil Pil. A traditional style Chilean dish made from meat, seafood or mushrooms cooked in a spicy and savory sauce flavored with garlic and chili cacho de cabra. It’s typically served with papas doradas.

Paila Marina. A traditional Chilean seafood soup made from at least a dozen types of sea creatures including scallop, clam, crab, mussel, octopus, sea bass and shrimp cooked in herbs a savory broth with herbs and spices.

Alfajores. A Chilean dessert with a heavy layer of dulce de leche sandwiched between two cookies or crackers. Some bakeries and cafes even encase them in baked meringue.

Where to Eat & Drink

Viva La Vida. A Chilean restaurant in Bellavista with a menu of local and national dishes. Come here for the Chilean sea bass grilled with veggies and potatoes to the Caldillo de Congrio, a savory seafood and potato soup served with a large piece of eel.

Sanguchería Ciudad Vieja. A multi-level restaurant and cocktail bar in a historic corner building in Bellavista with sophisticated cocktails and late night bites.

El Jardin Cafétéria. A cafe in Bellavista with a garden themed interior and sidewalk patio. Come here for avocado toasts, egg dishes, pastries and coffee.

Marciel Art Cafe. A cozy cafe in Bellavista with an electric art gallery vibe. Come here for croissant sandwiches, pastries and coffee.

Chilean Wine

Bocanáriz. A wine bar with hundreds of Chilean wines served by tasting flights, the glass or full bottle. Short on time in Santiago, we came here to try Chilean wines instead of going on a vineyard tours. We ordered a flight of the “Signature Wines” including a pinot noir, garnacha and merlot. Our second flight, “Carmenere, National Emblem” included 3 of the country’s beloved carmenere wines. We also ordered a tasting of a brut rose and merlot a-la-carte.

Santiago Wine Club. A wine shop in the Lastarria neighborhood specializing in Chilean wines. We came here after our tastings at Bocanáriz and bought two bottles of our favorites, a cabernet franc from the Valle do Lolol and a carmenere from the Calle del Maule.

Where to Stay

We stayed at a studio in the middle of the Bellavistsa neighborhood with views of the Andes Mountains, nearby restaurants, bars and several of the sights we saw. When we return to Santiago, we will definitely be booking here again.

For Next Time…

We have a lot to see the next time that we return to Santiago! We plan to return for at least two weeks to explore more of the city and region.

Visit the Vineyards. Having got a taste for Chilean wine at the source, we plan to return and visit some of the wine producing regions like the Maipo Valley and Casablanca Valley.

Hike the Andes. There are several nearby hikes on the outskirts of the city with views of Santiago and the Andes Mountains. In addition, we’d like to venture further into the Andes to see the snow covered mountains, fresh water lagoons and small alpine style towns.

See the Museums. The weekend we visited were the gubernatorial elections and all of the museums we wanted to visit were closed. High on our list are Museo Histórico Nacional, Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Head to Coast. The Pacific shores are less than two hours from Santiago. We were recommended by locals and other travelers to spend time in the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar.

Rapa Nui National Park. Far from the coast of Chile in the middle of the South Pacific is the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island). We plant to visit and see the famed Moai stone faces.

A Weekend in Santiago