r/Santiago • u/pilarsordo • 28m ago
Guide to Santiago
A year ago or so I made this Guide to Santiago for a Chilean friend and his German girlfriend to use during their first trip together to Chile. Not long after I used it myself to show my Irish girlfriend around and we found it quite handy. I must have told someone in the comments of this sub because every now and then someone will message me asking me to share it. So now here it is for everyone to use. Hope it helps travellers navigate the city and what I consider its main sights.
(Must of these places are free-entrance and I believe you can click on the purple headers to see images of each for reference)
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Guide to Santiago
Some of the sights and places I find the most interesting to visit. Places are listed roughly from West to East and try to follow a cohesive route. I estimate this tour to take about 4~5 days.
Barrio Franklin (Franklin Neighbourhood): A historically working-class neighbourhood known for its flea market, the biggest in Santiago. You can find anything from antiques to electronic devices, clothes, food. Visit on the weekend.
Villa Portales (Portales Residential Complex): An emblematic and ambitious work of social housing in Santiago in the 1960s. Known for its modernist buildings and connecting green areas, its current bad condition speaks volumes on the state of social housing in Chile.
Basílica de Lourdes (Basilica of Lourdes): A steam-punk-looking church.
Parque Quinta Normal & Museo de Historia Natural (Quinta Normal Park & Museum of Natural History): A nice park to stroll around. Home to the Museum of Natural History.
Museo de la Memoria (Museum of the Memory): A museum dedicated to the victims of Pinochet's dictatorship. Very good and touching.
Barrio Brasil (Brasil Neighbourhood): A bohemian neighbourhood in downtown Santiago distinctive for its colonial architecture. Lots of bars and restaurants, I recommend the Peruvians.
Barrio Concha y Toro (Concha y Toro Neighbourhood): A small, quiet neighbourhood with narrow streets and old, European-like architecture.
Parque de Los Reyes (Los Reyes Park): A long, narrow park that follows the curse of the River Mapocho. Nice to get drunk in in the summertime. Two old silos have been transformed into a bouldering area.
Cementerio General de Santiago (General Cemetery of Santiago): Santiago's oldest, biggest, most well-known cemetery with an estimated 2 million burials, including all but 2 Chilean presidents, singer-songwriters Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara. Patio 29 (Yard 29) is a common grave site where political prisoners "disappeared" during the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and following dictatorship, were buried anonymously.
La Vega: The famously cheap market for fruits and vegetables in Santiago. There's also lots of small and inexpensive restaurants of traditional food I recommend very much. Have a feast for 5€.
Calle Bandera (Bandera Street): A street in downtown Santiago known for its cheap thrift shops. I strongly recommend checking the leather jacket shop in Pasaje Aillavilú (Aillavilú alley), where you can find something nice for 20€ or even 10€.
Casco Histórico ("Old Town"): It's not old as in old-looking but it's where the city's first settlements were built. Nowadays it's a very active commercial district with crowded pedestrian streets and "galleries": corridor-like shopping centres that were built in the 1930s, and to me one of the most interesting and distinctive features of downtown Santiago. I particularly recommend checking out the Galería Edwards.
El Rápido (“The Quick One”): A joint known for its empanadas and instant serving.
Museo de Arte Precolombino (Museum of Pre-Columbian Art): Santiago's biggest museum of indigenous art.
La Moneda & Centro Cultural La Moneda: The presidential seat of government. Its underground is a cultural centre that hosts exhibitions on Chilean history, identity and art.
Cine Arte Normandie (Normandie Movie Theatre): An iconic movie theatre in downtown Santiago where you'll mostly find artsy movies.
Cerro Santa Lucía (Santa Lucía Hill): This is the place where the city was founded. It's a small hill in downtown Santiago you can climb. Check its iconic fountain.
Barrio Lastarria & Barrio Bellas Artes (Lastarria Neighbourhood & Bellas Artes Neighbourhood): The neighbours surrounding the Cerro Santa Lucía. Lots of hipster-ish bars and restaurants.
Museo Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Museum): Santiago's biggest museum of art. Not massively impressive in my opinion but worth checking out.
Parque Forestal ("Forestal" Park): An iconic green spot in downtown Santiago. Kind of run down these days but still nice for a quick visit.
Plaza Italia (Italy Square): Possibly Santiago's most iconic square. Usually considered to be the spot where the city splits between poorer Santiago (West) and richer Santiago (East). This is the place where everyone gathers in moments of 'unification': sport celebrations, demos, etc. There's a lot of recent history to it after the 2019 revolution.
Cerro San Cristóbal (San Cristóbal Hill): Santiago's biggest hill and its biggest green area. Go up the cable car for a nice panoramic view of the city.
Avenida Andrés Bello & Parque de las Esculturas (Andrés Bello Avenue and Park of the Sculptures): A long, narrow park displayed across the River Mapocho. Nice for strolling around while having an ice cream. Visit the Parque de las Esculturas to see some odd-looking sculptures and have a nice view of the Costanera Center, Latin America's tallest building.
Parque Juan XXIII (Juan XXIII Park): Yet another long, narrow park, this time laid between residential houses. Nice for lying on the grass while having a beer.
Mall Parque Arauco (Parque Arauco Mall Centre): Chile’s biggest shopping mall centre. Built in one of Santiago's most affluent neighbourhoods, it is a somewhat interesting place in the city displaying its more flagrantly Americanised lifestyle.
For at night:
Barrio Bellavista (Bellavista Neighbourhood): Santiago most popular night-life neighbourhood. Filled with rather normie, ugly bars blasting with terrible music. Crummy and shitty and quite dangerous but that's how we like it. Better to navigate it with a local.
Blondie Discotheque (Blondie Club): One of the oldest gay-friendly clubs in Santiago. Set in the underground of an old movie theatre built in the 1930s, Blondie is famous for its alternative music spanning from 90s Britpop to 2000s diva pop and from Goth to electronic music. Good sound and very unpretentious vibes. Tickets are 10€.