Santiago
Chile
A city with the Andes at the end of the street, and vineyards forty minutes the other way
Photo by Nikolai Kolosov on Unsplash
Photos by Francisco Kemeny, Mauricio Farias, Ximena Nahmias and Vinicius Brasil on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Chile
September to November, and March to May (the shoulder seasons)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 80mm in Jun
Where it is
33.45°S, 70.67°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Take the funicular up San Cristóbal on a clear day after rain, when the Andes appear
- Eat at the Terminal Pesquero rather than the Mercado Central
- Spend a day in Valparaíso and come back
- Visit a Maipo or Casablanca winery, forty minutes out
- See the Museo de la Memoria, which explains the country
Santiago travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Chile
Mid-rangeCasas de cambio on Agustinas in the centre give better rates than the airport or the banks, by a wide margin. Cards are accepted almost everywhere and Chile is the most card-friendly country in South America.
ATMs & cards
Banco de Chile, Santander and Scotiabank machines charge around 8,000 pesos a withdrawal, which is high — take the maximum. Banco Estado is usually the cheapest.
Avoid these
- the airport exchange desks, which are the worst rate in Chile
Use these instead
- Banco Estado
- Banco de Chile
- Santander
Fees run to 8,000 pesos a withdrawal, so take the maximum. Banco Estado is usually cheapest. The casas de cambio on Agustinas beat every bank for changing notes.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Chile
Reasonably safeComfortable in the eastern and central neighbourhoods and far less so around Estación Central, Plaza de Armas after dark and the Alameda west of it. Phone snatching is the defining crime and has risen sharply — do not walk with one in your hand. Protests around Plaza Baquedano recur and are best avoided rather than watched.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Estación Central — and the Alameda west of it
- Plaza de Armas — after dark
- Phone snatching, which is the defining crime here and has risen sharply
- Plaza Baquedano — during protests, which recur and are not a spectator event
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Chile visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Nothing in advance. Keep the tourist card you are given on entry — you need it to leave, and to avoid paying local VAT at hotels.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Chile
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid for longer or rural stays
Getting treated
The best in South America alongside Uruguay. Private clinics in Santiago and Punta Arenas are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front; public hospitals treat emergencies. In Torres del Paine you are hours from either, and CONAF rescue is the only help there is.
Tap water is safe in the cities. In Patagonia the risks are exposure and wind rather than anything infectious — hypothermia happens in January.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodSeafood, from the longest coastline anywhere: congrio, machas, erizos if you are brave. The Mercado Central is the tourist version and the Terminal Pesquero is the real one. Pastel de choclo in summer, and a pisco sour that Chile will tell you it invented, whatever Peru says.
Nightlife
Bellavista for the crowd, Lastarria for the wine bars, and a city that eats late and drinks later.
- Barrio Bellavista — the clubs and the crowd
- Barrio Lastarria — the wine bars and the restaurants
- Barrio Italia — the newer, quieter version
- Bellas Artes — the bars between the museum and the river
Closing: 04:00 at the weekend.
A beer in a bar: CLP 3,000–6,000
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Santiago airport to Providencia 18,000–28,000 CLP
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than the metered taxis, and the regulated framework finally arrived in 2023.
Time zone and your working day
America/Santiago — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Chile
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at about the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Chile, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic, and increasingly secular
Historically Catholic, with religiosity falling sharply among younger Chileans.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with one kiss on the right cheek between women, or a woman and a man; men shake hands
- Say buenos días on entering a shop and gracias on leaving, every time
- Accept the once — the late-afternoon tea and bread — if offered; refusing reads as cold
- In Patagonia, close every gate behind you; the estancias run sheep and the gates matter
Don't
- Do not assume Chilean Spanish will sound like the Spanish you learned — it is fast, clipped and full of local slang
- Do not bring up Pinochet casually; it divides families and is not small talk
- Do not eat anything with your hands at a table, including pizza and chips — Chileans use cutlery for almost everything
- Do not turn up on time to a private dinner invitation; fifteen to thirty minutes late is expected
Where to stay in Santiago
No Holistay rentals in Santiago yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Santiago on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Arturo Merino Benítez SCL
30 minfrom the airport· 12 km as the crow flies
30 min by Turbus or 25 by taxi.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
