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Santiago, Chile, top 10 things to do (Wimup travel guide)
▶ Video · Santiago on Foot
Video guide · 1:19:50
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Top 10South AmericaChile

Top 10 Things To Do in Santiago

Country
Chile
Best months
Mar · Apr · Oct · Nov
Population
7.40
Language
Spanish
Budget / day
$70–140
Quick answer

Three days is the right length for Santiago. Give the first to the historic centre: Plaza de Armas, the Precolombino museum and lunch under the iron roof of the Mercado Central. Give the second to Bellavista, Cerro San Cristóbal and the cafes of Lastarria. Give the third to the Maipo Valley vineyards or the Andes at Cajón del Maipo, both under two hours from the centre.

Santiago on Foot

▶ Video guide Open the film page (1:19:50) →

Santiago sits in a bowl between the Andes and the coastal range, and the mountains set the terms. They trap the winter smog, they hold the snow that fills the ski fields an hour from downtown, and on a clear morning they stand over the skyline at more than 5,000 metres. The city has quietly become the most interesting capital on this coast.

The 10 best things to do in Santiago

Cerro San Cristóbal, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
1

Ride the funicular up Cerro San Cristóbal

Viewpoint· Pío Nono 450, Recoleta

The hill is the high point of Parque Metropolitano, the largest green space in the city, and the white Virgin on the summit is visible from half of Santiago. The funicular climbs from the Bellavista side and a cable car runs up the eastern flank. Walk down through the terraces if the light is good. The view is the whole basin, closed off by the Andes.

Time2 to 3 hours
CostFunicular and cable car ticketed
Best atLate afternoon
TipGo the day after rain. That is when the air clears and the mountains actually appear.
Map↗ Website
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
2

Read the Andes backwards at the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino

Museum· Bandera 361, Santiago

The best museum in Chile, and it is about everything that was here before Chile. The collection runs from Mesoamerica to Patagonia across some three thousand years, and the underground gallery holds Chinchorro mummies, the oldest deliberately preserved human remains anywhere. Closed on Mondays.

Time2 hours
CostTicketed
Best atWeekday morning
TipStart in the basement with the Chinchorro rooms while you are still fresh.
Map↗ Website
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
3

Face the dictatorship at the Museo de la Memoria

Museum· Matucana 501, Santiago

Seventeen years of the Pinochet regime, documented without commentary and without flinching: the bombing of La Moneda in 1973, the disappeared, the letters smuggled out of detention centres, the radio broadcast of Allende's last speech. A hard two hours, and it explains more about modern Chile than anything else in the city.

Time2 hours
CostFree general admission
Best atMorning
TipThe wall of photographs on the upper floor is the room people need time in. Leave some.
Map↗ Website
4

Eat congrio under the iron roof of the Mercado Central

Market· San Pablo 967, Santiago

Chile is 4,000 kilometres of coastline and this hall is where the catch lands in the capital. The cast-iron structure was fabricated in Scotland and raised here in 1872, and it still shelters fishmongers at the edges and restaurants in the middle. Order caldillo de congrio. Lunch is the meal; the market winds down after.

Time1 to 2 hours
CostMid-range for a sit-down lunch
Best atLunchtime
TipThe touts at the central restaurants work hard
Map
Plaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
5

Walk Plaza de Armas and the streets around it

Landmark· Plaza de Armas, Santiago

Pedro de Valdivia laid this square out in 1541 and the city still measures itself from it. The cathedral takes the western side, the old Royal Court palace holds the national history collection, and the square belongs to chess players, preachers, portrait artists and food stalls. The most honest half hour here.

Time1 hour
CostFree
Best atLate morning
TipKeep your phone in your pocket in the crowd
Map
6

Visit La Chascona, Neruda's house in Bellavista

House museum· Fernando Márquez de la Plata 0192, Providencia

Pablo Neruda built this one for Matilde Urrutia in 1953, when she was still a secret, and named it after her wild hair. It climbs the lower slope of Cerro San Cristóbal in stages, laid out like a ship, full of coloured glass and figureheads. Ransacked after the 1973 coup and restored since. Open Tuesday to Sunday.

Time1.5 hours
CostTicketed, audio guide included
Best atMorning
TipEntry is first come, first served, so arrive at opening in high season.
Map↗ Website
Palacio de La Moneda, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
7

Stand in front of La Moneda, then go under it

Landmark· Plaza de la Ciudadanía 26, Santiago

The presidential palace was built as a colonial mint and bombed by the Chilean air force on 11 September 1973. It was rebuilt, and the square in front of it now runs down into the Centro Cultural La Moneda, an underground gallery with two large exhibition halls, a cinematheque and a good craft shop. The changing of the guard takes the forecourt every other morning.

Time2 hours with the gallery
CostFree outside
Best atMid-morning
TipWalk around to Morandé 80, the side door Allende's body was carried through.
Map↗ Website
Barrio Lastarria, Santiago, Chile (Wimup)
8

Spend an evening in Barrio Lastarria

Neighbourhood· José Victorino Lastarria, Santiago

Four cobbled blocks between Cerro Santa Lucía and the Parque Forestal, and the easiest place in the centre to lose an evening. Bookshops and a small cinema, a weekend antiques market, wine bars pouring carménère, and the GAM cultural centre at the top of the street with something on most nights.

TimeAn evening
CostFree to walk
Best atFrom 7pm
TipThursday and Friday fill up. Book a table on Lastarria itself or eat one street back.
Map
9

Climb Cerro Santa Lucía at the end of the day

Park· Av. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago

The rocky outcrop where Valdivia founded the city in 1541, landscaped in the 1870s into a stack of terraces, fountains and stairways in the middle of downtown. Fifteen minutes to the top, and the reward is the centre laid out below with the Andes behind it. Smaller and steeper than San Cristóbal.

Time1 hour
CostFree
Best atAn hour before sunset
TipThe gates close before dark, so start the climb with daylight to spare.
Map
10

Take the lift up Sky Costanera

Viewpoint· Av. Andrés Bello 2425, Providencia

The Costanera Center tower is the tallest building in South America and the observation deck occupies its 61st and 62nd floors, 300 metres up: glassed in on one level, open to the air on the other. It stays open into the evening, which makes it the one viewpoint in the city you can do after dinner.

Time1 hour
CostTicketed, timed entry
Best atDusk
TipBring ID. The deck sits above a shopping centre, so the queue is indoors when it rains.
Map

7 of the 10, mapped

Santiago · 7 spots
AllLandmarksMuseumsFoodFree

Santiago travel FAQ

How many days do you need in Santiago?+
Three. One for the historic centre and its museums, one for Bellavista, Cerro San Cristóbal and Lastarria, and one for a trip out to the Maipo Valley vineyards or the Cajón del Maipo. A fourth day buys you Valparaíso and the coast.
When is the best time to visit Santiago?+
March and April, or October and November. Both shoulder seasons bring warm days, cool mornings and clearer air. Winter, June to August, traps smog in the basin between the mountain ranges, and January and February are hot and half-empty as the city leaves for the coast.
How do you get from the airport into the city?+
Arturo Merino Benítez is 20 km from the centre. Centropuerto and Turbus coaches run to Pajaritos and Los Héroes on Metro Line 1 through the day and hourly overnight, and they are the cheapest option. Official taxis and booked transfers take 30 to 45 minutes outside rush hour.
Is Santiago safe for visitors?+
The city is straightforward by day and pickpocketing is the real risk, concentrated around Plaza de Armas, the Mercado Central, Bellavista at night and crowded metro carriages. Keep your phone out of sight in the centre, use official taxis or apps after dark, and treat the area around Estación Central with more care.
Can you visit a vineyard without a car?+
Yes. Cousiño Macul is inside the city in Peñalolén and reachable by metro and a short taxi ride, and Concha y Toro in Pirque runs booked tours that plenty of visitors reach by ride-hailing app. For Santa Rita or Undurraga, further south and west, a tour or a hired driver makes more sense.
Maipo Valley, 40 minutes out

Best vineyards near Santiago (2026)

Five working estates inside reach of the city, from the giant in Pirque to the vines still growing inside the urban limit.
Booked tours
Pirque

Viña Concha y Toro

Winery · Av. Virginia Subercaseaux 210

The largest wine producer in Latin America, and the most polished visit in the valley. The tour walks the family park and the Casillero del Diablo cellar.

Map↗ Website
Inside the city
Peñalolén

Viña Cousiño Macul

Winery · Av. Quilín 7100

Founded in 1856 and still owned by the same family, on vineyards the city grew around. The old underground bodega is the reason to come: brick vaults from the 1870s.

Map↗ Website
Historic park
Talagante

Viña Undurraga

Winery · Camino Melipilla km 34

An 1885 estate on the road to Melipilla with a park by the landscape architect who designed Cerro Santa Lucía. The sparkling wines are worth the slot.

Map↗ Website
Viña Santa Rita
Estate and museum
Alto Jahuel, Buin

Viña Santa Rita

Winery · Camino Padre Hurtado 0695

The grand one: a colonial house, a chapel, a hotel and a private Andean art museum on the same estate, an hour south. O'Higgins is said to have hidden 120 soldiers here.

Map
Small producer
Peñalolén

Viña Aquitania

Winery · Av. Consistorial 5090

Small, French-founded and pressed up against the Andean foothills at the eastern edge of the city. The antidote to the coach-park scale of the big estates.

Map
Where Santiago eats

Best restaurants in Santiago (2026)

Six kitchens that explain the city, from a foraged tasting menu ranked among the best in the world to a bistro that has not changed since the 1980s.
Latin America's 50 Best
Vitacura

Boragó

Tasting menu · Book weeks out

Rodolfo Guzmán works with more than 200 small producers from the Atacama to Patagonia, and the endémica menu is the result: ingredients most Chileans never eat.

Map
Latin America's 50 Best
Vitacura

Ambrosía

Bistro · Pamplona 78

Carolina Bazán cooks French technique into Chilean produce, and the room is family run and relaxed about it. The easier of the two great tables to get into.

Map
Seasonal
Providencia

99 Restaurante

Tasting menu · Andrés de Fuenzalida 99

Kurt Schmidt's seasonal tasting menu, cheaper and looser than the fine-dining rooms it sits beside, and often the most interesting cooking in the city.

Map
Chef's counter
Vitacura

Demencia

Counter dining · Vitacura 3520

Benjamín Nast's smaller, stranger room, and the one where he takes the risks. Fire, fermentation and a counter you should sit at.

Map
Indigenous kitchen
Bellavista

Peumayén Ancestral Food

Chilean · Constitución

Mapuche, Rapa Nui and Aymara recipes rebuilt as a modern menu, opening with a bread board that runs the length of the country. A useful first dinner.

Map
Late kitchen
Providencia

Liguria

Chilean bistro · Av. Providencia

The city's benchmark bar-restaurant, loud, wood-panelled and open late, with a menu of Chilean home cooking done properly. Three branches, all busy.

Map
Pisco, carménère and a schooner of terremoto

Best bars in Santiago (2026)

Six rooms worth drinking in, from a pisco embassy in Lastarria to a century-old hall that invented the city's most dangerous drink.
Pisco flights
Lastarria

Chipe Libre

Pisco bar · José Victorino Lastarria 282

The self-declared Independent Republic of Pisco, which pours both Chilean and Peruvian bottles and lets the bartenders explain the difference.

Map
400 Chilean labels
Lastarria

Bocanáriz

Wine bar · José Victorino Lastarria 276

A wine bar built as an argument for Chilean wine: some 400 labels and themed flights by valley or grape. The shortest route to understanding what carménère tastes like.

Map
Since 1896
Centro

La Piojera

Chilean bar · Aillavilú 1030

A drinking hall since 1896 and the home of the terremoto, a schooner of pipeño wine with pineapple ice cream. Scuffed, loud and entirely unbothered by you.

Map
By the glass
Providencia

Baco

Wine bar · Nueva de Lyon 113

The bar that started the by-the-glass habit in Santiago: a French bistro list at close to retail prices, steak frites and a crowd of regulars.

Map
Wine list
Bellavista

Barrica 94

Wine bar · Patio Bellavista

Inside Patio Bellavista, which is the tourist heart of the neighbourhood, but the wine list is serious and the murals are better than the setting suggests.

Map
Cocktails
Bellavista

Red Luxury Bar

Cocktail bar · Barrio Bellavista

A hotel bar in the middle of Bellavista doing proper cocktails at a proper pace. Where to go when the street outside gets too loud.

Map
Beyond the big two

Best museums in Santiago (2026)

Six more collections, once you have done the Precolombino and the Museo de la Memoria.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Since 1880
Parque Forestal

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Art museum · José Miguel de la Barra 650

The oldest art museum in South America, in a 1910 palace with a glass roof over the central hall. Chilean painting from the colonial period forward.

Map↗ Website
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Quinta Normal
University museum
Quinta Normal

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Quinta Normal

Contemporary art · Matucana 464

The University of Chile's contemporary art museum, in the 1875 iron-and-glass pavilion built for an international exhibition.

Map↗ Website
Free
Quinta Normal

Museo Nacional de Historia Natural

Natural history · Parque Quinta Normal

Founded in 1830, one of the oldest natural history museums in the Americas. A blue whale skeleton, Chilean fauna from the Atacama to Antarctica, and free entry.

Map↗ Website
Museo Violeta Parra
Reopened 2026
Centro

Museo Violeta Parra

Art museum · Vicuña Mackenna 37

The arpilleras, paintings and papier-mâché of the singer who collected Chile's rural music before writing its most famous song. Reopened in March 2026 after a rebuild.

Map↗ Website
Free
Vitacura

Museo Ralli

Art museum · Alonso de Sotomayor 4110

A private foundation collection of Latin American and European surrealism, Dalí and Magritte included, in a quiet garden building. Free.

Map↗ Website
Museo de la Moda
Exhibition seasons
Vitacura

Museo de la Moda

Fashion museum · Av. Vitacura 4562

One family's fashion archive, shown in the modernist house it was assembled in, from eighteenth-century dress to pieces worn by twentieth-century performers.

Map
Where the city shops

Best markets in Santiago (2026)

Four markets past the Mercado Central, from the fruit halls of Recoleta to a craft village at the end of Line 1.
Cheap lunch
Recoleta

La Vega Central

Produce market · Antonia López de Bello 743

The wholesale produce market that feeds Santiago, across the river from the Mercado Central and ten times its size. Cheap cocinerías at the back cook for market workers.

Map
Food court
Recoleta

Mercado Tirso de Molina

Market hall · Av. La Paz

The tidier hall beside La Vega, with produce downstairs and a gallery of small kitchens upstairs. The best value sit-down lunch in central Santiago.

Map
Metro Los Dominicos
Las Condes

Pueblito Los Dominicos

Craft village · Av. Apoquindo 9085

Close to 200 craft workshops beside an eighteenth-century church at the eastern end of Line 1: lapis lazuli, copper, leather, wool and pottery, made rather than imported.

Map
Barrio Franklin and the Persa Bío Bío
Weekend only
San Miguel

Barrio Franklin and the Persa Bío Bío

Flea market · Weekends

A sprawl of flea markets, antique galleries and butchers south of the centre, busiest at the weekend. Come for the vinyl and the pichanga plates.

Map
Where to stay, where to walk

Best neighbourhoods in Santiago (2026)

Six districts, and what each of them is actually for.
Best base
Santiago Centro

Lastarria

Central · Metro Universidad Católica

Cobbles, bookshops, wine bars and the GAM cultural centre, wedged between Cerro Santa Lucía and the Parque Forestal. The best base in the centre.

Map
Bellavista
Late nights
Providencia and Recoleta

Bellavista

Nightlife · Metro Baquedano

Neruda's house, painted facades, the foot of Cerro San Cristóbal and the loudest nightlife in the city. Excellent by day, less so if you want to sleep.

Map
Barrio Italia
Independent shops
Providencia and Ñuñoa

Barrio Italia

Design district · Av. Italia

Old Italian-immigrant workshops turned into design studios, antique dealers and courtyard cafes. The best shopping in Santiago that is not a mall.

Map
Providencia
Easy base
Providencia

Providencia

Residential · Metro Line 1

The comfortable middle of the city: leafy streets, the Costanera tower, reliable restaurants and the metro running the length of it on Line 1.

Map
Barrio Yungay
Heritage zone
Santiago Centro

Barrio Yungay

Heritage · Metro Quinta Normal

A nineteenth-century quarter west of the centre, declared a heritage zone by its own residents' campaign. Peeling facades, artist studios and the Plaza Yungay.

Map
Vitacura
Restaurants
Vitacura

Vitacura

Dining · Nueva Costanera

The wealthy eastern edge, and where the ambitious kitchens are, plus the Ralli and fashion museums. Come for dinner rather than for the streetscape.

Map
Out of the basin

Best day trips from Santiago (2026)

Six trips within a day of the city: the Pacific, the Andes, a poet's house and two wine valleys.
Valparaíso
Wimup guide
120 km west

Valparaíso

Coast · 90 min by bus

The port city on 40 hills, with Victorian funiculars, painted houses and the best street art in the country. Buses leave Pajaritos every few minutes.

MapWimup guide
Cajón del Maipo and Embalse El Yeso
Andes
70 km southeast

Cajón del Maipo and Embalse El Yeso

Mountains · 2 hrs by road

The Andean gorge that starts where the southern suburbs end. The road climbs to the turquoise El Yeso reservoir, about two hours out. Summer is the reliable season.

Map
Valle Nevado and Farellones
Winter
60 km east

Valle Nevado and Farellones

Ski fields · Jun to Sep

Three ski areas share the same basin above the city, reached by a road of 40-odd hairpins. The season runs roughly June to September depending on snow.

Map
Isla Negra
Neruda
110 km west

Isla Negra

House museum · 90 min by road

Neruda's house on the Pacific, and the one he loved most: ships in bottles, figureheads and the poet's grave in the garden above the surf.

Map↗ Website
White wine
80 km west

Casablanca Valley

Wine · 1 hr by road

The cool-climate valley on the road to Valparaíso, planted with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir. An hour from Santiago.

Map
Pottery
65 km southwest

Pomaire

Crafts · 1 hr by road

A one-street pottery village where the black clay is worked into the bowls every Chilean kitchen owns. Go for the crockery and the pastel de choclo.

Map
What's on

Festivals & annual events in Santiago (2026)

Time your trip around the city's biggest dates.
January

Festival Internacional Santiago a Mil

The largest arts festival in Chile takes over theatres, plazas and streets for most of January.

March

Lollapalooza Chile

Three days and six stages. The 2026 edition returned to Parque O'Higgins on 13 to 15 March after four years at Cerrillos.

April

Festival Ñam

Chile's food festival gathers more than 50 restaurants, producers and bars at Parque Padre Hurtado over a long weekend.

April

Maratón de Santiago

Some 30,000 runners over 10K, 21K and the full 42K, closing the central avenues on a Sunday morning.

May

Día de los Patrimonios

Historic buildings, ministries and museums across the country open free for one weekend. In 2026 it fell on 30 and 31 May.

August

SANFIC, Santiago International Film Festival

A week of Chilean and international premieres in cinemas across the city, run by Fundación CorpArtes.

September

Fiestas Patrias

Independence week peaks on 18 and 19 September, and the Gran Fonda fills Parque O'Higgins with cueca and empanadas.

November

Feria Internacional del Libro de Santiago

Ten days of publishers, readings and signings under the iron vault of the Centro Cultural Estación Mapocho.

Getting around

Santiago transport & airports

How to arrive and move around the city.
SCL

Airport

Arturo Merino Benítez, 20 km northwest of the centre and the only airport you will use. Coaches run to Pajaritos and Los Héroes on Metro Line 1 from early morning to late night.

↗ Website
7 lines

Metro

The backbone of the city and the fastest way across it: seven lines, clean, frequent and reaching from the airport buses in the west to Los Dominicos in the east.

↗ Website
Red

Buses and the bip! card

One card, the bip!, pays for metro, city buses and the suburban train, with up to two transfers inside two hours counted as one trip. Buses take no cash.

↗ Website
Metered

Taxis and ride-hailing

Black taxis with yellow roofs are metered and plentiful, and ride-hailing apps work across the city. Both are cheap by European standards. Use the official rank at the airport.

Traditional food

Must-try dishes in Santiago, Chile

The classics to order before you leave.
Empanada de pino, Santiago (Wimup travel guide)

Empanada de pino

The national baked empanada: minced beef and onion with a black olive, a slice of egg and raisins.

Pastel de choclo, Santiago (Wimup travel guide)

Pastel de choclo

Beef, chicken, olive and egg under a thick sweetcorn crust, baked in a clay dish and dusted with sugar.

Cazuela, Santiago (Wimup travel guide)

Cazuela

A clear, slow-simmered broth with beef or chicken on the bone, a wedge of pumpkin and corn on the cob.

Machas a la parmesana, Santiago (Wimup travel guide)

Machas a la parmesana

Razor clams grilled in their shells under white wine, butter and cheese. The Mercado Central dish.

Mote con huesillo, Santiago (Wimup travel guide)

Mote con huesillo

The drink of the Chilean summer: dried peaches stewed in cinnamon syrup over cooked wheat, drunk with a spoon.

Completo italiano

A hot dog under mashed avocado, tomato and mayonnaise, named for the colours of the Italian flag.

Chorrillana

A platter of chips buried under fried onion, sliced beef and eggs, built for a table of four and a long night.

Sopaipillas con pebre

Fried discs of pumpkin dough, sold on every wet-weather street corner, eaten with coriander and chilli salsa.

Santiago fact sheet

Santiago at a glance

The essentials worth knowing before you go.
Country
Chile
Region
Región Metropolitana de Santiago
Population
7.40M in the metropolitan region (2024 census)
Founded
12 February 1541 · Pedro de Valdivia
Nickname
Santiago del Nuevo Extremo, the name it was founded under
Language
Spanish
Currency
Chilean peso (CLP)
Time zone
UTC-4 · UTC-3 in southern summer
Calling code
+56 2
Airports
SCL
Power
220V · Type C & L
Emergency
133 police · 131 ambulance · 132 fire
Ideal length
3 days
Getting around
Metro, buses & walking
Tourism board
Official site

Interesting facts

  • The 2024 census counted 7.4 million people in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, close to four in every ten Chileans.
  • The Costanera Center tower is the tallest building in South America, and its deck sits 300 metres up on the 61st floor.
  • The cast-iron frame of the Mercado Central was fabricated in Scotland, shipped across the Atlantic and raised here in 1872.
  • Pedro de Valdivia founded the city on 12 February 1541 at the foot of Cerro Santa Lucía and named it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo.
  • Vines still grow inside the city limits: Cousiño Macul has made wine on the same ground since 1856, and Santiago grew around it.

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