Surprisingly cool – the most beautiful corners of Santiago de Chile

Santiago de Chile was not on my travel bucket list in the run-up to our big trip. Originally, it was clear to me that we would start our journey in Buenos Aires. That’s where I really wanted to go. For various reasons (flight connections / rental car rental / travel route), Santiago de Chile was finally chosen instead of Buenos Aires. Without great ideas and expectations, our journey started in the capital of Chile and we were pleasantly surprised after just a few hours: ¡Santiago me gusta!

A Colorful Mix: Santiago de Chile Downtown

Santiago Downtown resembles a triangle and is bordered to the west by the Autopista Central, to the south by the “Almada” (Aveninda Libertador Bernardo o’Higgings) and to the north by the Rio Mapocho. In the city centre, historic buildings are lined up next to sophisticated high-rise buildings. As a pedestrian, Santiago Downtown is pleasant to explore, as most of the streets are designed as pedestrian zones or at least equipped with spacious pedestrian areas. We started our walking tour of Santiago Downtown at the Plaza de Armas. Here at the main square of Santiago, there is always something going on and there is a cast-iron map from the founding years of Santiago to discover on the floor. The square is lined with the Cathedral, the Town Hall and the Museo Historico National (admission free).

Also worth seeing is the Palacio de la Moneda, the official residence of the Chilean president. Every other day at 11:00 a.m. there is a changing of the guard with a corresponding parade. We happened to walk by at the right time and watched the spectacle. Just around the corner from the Palacio is “Calle Nueva York” with buildings in the architectural style of Manhattan (during the first half of the 20th century). If you are interested in architecture, I recommend taking a look at the magnificent rooms of the National Library of Chile at the end of the tour.

Casual and relaxed: Barrio Lastarria

To the east, Cerro Santa Lucio separates downtown Santiago from Barrio Lastarria behind it. Of all the districts, I liked the Barrio Lastarria the most. The neighborhood exudes a totally casual flair. The buildings here are much smaller than on the other side of Cerro Santa Lucia. In addition to numerous nice restaurants, you will find street stalls selling local handicrafts. An architectural highlight is located at the southern end of Barrio Lastarria: the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, which opened in 2010.

Ausgehviertel: Bellavista district

The Barrio Bellavista only really wakes up after dark. Here you will find the highest density of bars and restaurants in Santiago de Chile. But also from a cultural perspective, a detour to Barrio Bellavista is worthwhile. At the foot of Cerro San Cristobal you can visit the house of the writer Pablo Neruda «La Chascona». The Museo Neruda is all about the Chilean poet and writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Around Parque Forestal

Along the Rio Mapocho runs the extensive Parque Forestal, which invites you to take a stroll under the shady trees. We combined the walk in the countryside with the visit of some of the sights nearby to the Parque Forestal. A quick look at the Marcado Central was enough for us – the historic market building is beautiful, but nowadays it is purely used for tourist purposes. If you want to get an insight into the “real” market hustle and bustle, cross the Rio Mapocho and visit the farmers’ market “Vega Central”. Unfortunately, we missed the Centro Cultural in the former building of the Estacion Mapocho. We visited the Museo de Bellas Artes (free admission) and marveled at the impressive sculpture hall. A positive side effect of visiting museums in the Chilean summer is the pleasant temperature. Outside we sweated a lot at an average of 30°.

Cerro Santa Lucia: most beautiful view over Santiago de Chile

Around the center of Santiago de Chile there are two beautiful viewpoints. On the one hand, there is the centrally located Cerro Santa Lucia and on the other hand, the Cerro San Cristobal north of the Barrio Bellavista. We actually wanted to visit both, but in the end it was simply too hot for us for the ascent to Cerro San Cristobal (the funicular was unfortunately under revision). Instead, we have been to Cerro Santa Lucia twice and find the view from there phenomenal. The only pity is that the park access closes at 20:00 in summer and that is too early for a nice sunset photo.

Practical tips for your trip to Santiago de Chile

Journey:

We traveled with Air Canada via Toronto to Santiago de Chile. Alternatively, LATAM offers direct flights from Frankfurt. There are currently no direct flights from Switzerland to Santiago de Chile and unfortunately Swiss does not offer any codeshare connections from Sao Paulo either. There are public bus connections from the airport to the city centre. Tickets cost 1600 Chilean pesos per person (one way) at both Turbus (every thirty minutes) and Centropuerto (every 10 minutes). Turbus goes to the Alemada terminal with metro connection. Centropuerto stops at Los Héroes.

Out and about in the city:

Most of us were on foot. Metro tickets can be purchased individually and cost 740 Chilean pesos per single trip. To use the buses, a kind of prepaid card must first be purchased, which can then be topped up accordingly. Cash payment is not possible on the city buses (but it was possible on the Centropuerto airport bus). If you are traveling later in the evening, we can recommend using Uber. It worked out tiptop for us.

To dos

If you want to get a quick overview of the city including background knowledge, you are doing everything right by taking part in a walking tour. We went on the four hour walking tour with Free Walking Tours of Santiago. Despite the relatively large group, our tour guide Valentina did an excellent job. Tours depart daily at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM from Plaza de Armas. An alternative to this is Tours 4 Tips. Tours 4 Tips, in contrast to Free Walking Tours, offers different Santiago city tours.

Restaurant Recommendations:

A casual little coffee bar and welcome refreshment stop is the Bloom Speciality Coffee just around the corner from Barrio Lastarria.

A typical snack offered at the stalls in the arcades south of the Plaza de Armas, for example, is the Chilean version of the hot dog called “Completo”. If you feel slightly hungry at lunchtime, you will also find sandwich creations on most restaurant menus. We tried the ones in the Utopia Restobar in Barrio Lastarria as well as in the center in Salvador Cocina y Cafe and found them to be good.

A sweet institution is Emporio la Rosa – supposedly the best ice cream far and wide. I can confirm this insofar as I liked the Chilean banana split variant excellently.

Actually, we wanted to stop at the wine bar Bocanariz. Unfortunately, this was closed over the holidays. Right next to it is the Chipe Libre with an extensive Pisco menu. A veritable aperitif choice.

Finally, one evening we dined at a feudal address in the Barrio Bellavista. The chef of Restaurante 040, Sergio Barosso, worked at the famous El Bulli and Denis Martin in Vevey before opening the restaurant. His tasting menu consists of various – very elaborately arranged – tapas. In terms of taste, not everything could convince me. It seems to me that the presentation is almost more important than the interaction of the individual products. In addition, I think it’s suboptimal if you reserve a table for 10:00 p.m. and then have to wait 30 minutes until the table is assigned to you… The tasting menu including three different Chilean wines cost us the equivalent of 230 CHF.

Accommodation:

As a prelude to our trip, I made a good choice with the Matildas Hotel Boutique. The only downside of the hotel is its location in Barrio Brasil, which requires an additional 15-minute walk to the center. At the same time, the location in Barrio Brasil can also be seen as an advantage. I really liked the neighborhood (as a smaller counterpart to Barrio Bellavista). The hotel is located in a listed manor house and has a secluded garden with sun loungers at the back. The rooms are relatively small, but it is stylishly furnished to my taste.