Trip: March 2018
Below is our Top 5 Things To Do in Santiago, Chile, part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series. These lists are favorite activities, eats, and drinks from our travels around the world—in no particular order.
We really enjoyed Santiago. It was often described as a boring and uninteresting city, and while admittedly it doesn’t have all the European charm of Buenos Aires, it has the real life lived in feel of a huge, pulsing city. We spent 3 nights here in March of 2018, arriving late Saturday night and leaving early Tuesday. This felt like the right amount of time, although a lot of restaurants, shops and museums were closed either Sunday and Monday so we would avoid visiting these days, if you can. We stayed in the Bellas Artes neighborhood, and you can see that most of our recommendations revolve around this area.
1. Walking Tour
If you’ve been reading our Top 5 Things To Do series, you’re probably not surprised to see that we included the Free Walking Tour in Santiago. We do them in almost every city we visit and they almost always make our Top 5 lists. But we really loved this one! Being in Chile and understanding the culture would be incomplete without some context of the dictatorship of Pinochet and how politics affect the everyday life of Chileans now. While our tour wasn’t as in depth as we wanted in terms of personal opinion from our tour guide, we heard from others that their guides were less shy about sharing how their personal views of present-day Chile. It was also our first day out of the chill of early fall in Patagonia and the heat of Santiago was welcome. The tour starts from Plaza de Armas and leaves at 10am and 3pm everyday, no reservations needed.
2. Madhu
When the tour broke for a snack halfway through (every tour should do this!) we were instructed that the vegetarians should stick around for specific recommendations. Our guide pointed us in the direction of Madhu. It is a small, local shop with a seemingly random assortment of groceries and snacks, including very delicious vegan baked empanadas.
Google Maps / not on Trip Advisor
3. Yoga in the Park
During our Sunday morning tour we walked by a group of people doing yoga in the park and learned that it occurs daily. We returned on Monday, excited to practice in a yoga class after the yoga class desert of Patagonia. Bring your own mat and roll it out in the grass alongside other residents of Santiago, many of whom showed up on their bikes after work to practice. The class cost around $4 USD, and they also have a Yoga Parque Facebook page announcing times, etc.
Google Maps / not on Trip Advisor
4. Museum of Memory and Human Rights
This museum is dense and heavy, full of the human rights violations and loss of life that occurred under the Pinochet dictatorship, primarily in the 70s and 80s. It was also an important and meaningful experience, adding to what we learned on the walking tour, the opinions of our lovely AirBnB hosts, and the reading that we did. All of the written content is in Spanish, providing us an opportunity to practice our language skills and deepen our understanding of the history of Chile, but we shared an English audioguide for an extra fee as well, which we highly recommend.
5. Have a beer on the sidewalk
While there are seemingly endless amounts of great spots for a cocktail or artisanal beer in Santiago, we recommend joining the locals and spending the evening sipping a draft beer on the sidewalk, which is bustling in the evenings as people stop to drink on their way home from work. There are endless street performers, many of them quite good, and the mood is relaxed for a populous capital city. The photos above, while not of the street where we enjoyed our cervezas, gives a sense of the Santiago well-worn charm.
Google maps (anywhere on this street will do)
Honorable mentions
Walk to the Mirador at Cerro San Cristobal: It is a steep and short ascent to the mirador where one is moderately rewarded. It is a great way to get a sense of the density of the city and there’s an interesting outdoor Catholic church at the top blaring gospel music.
Visit Barrio Italia: Admittedly it is hipster central but is excellent for people watching and exploring another neighborhood of Santiago. Many of the shops and restaurants were closed on a Sunday but we still enjoyed ourselves and imagine it would be all the better when the neighborhood is bustling. Since many of the enticing restaurants were out of our price range, we bought some wine and food for a picnic and settled in to one of the park blocks to enjoy the afternoon.
Top 5 Things To Do in Santiago, Chile is part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series, which offers our best travel recommendations from around the world.