Attraction
Cerro San Cristóbal (Parque Metropolitano)
Santiago's largest public park covers the slopes of San Cristóbal hill, with a 1925 funicular, a cable car, gardens, pools and a giant Virgin statue at…
There are more things to do in Santiago than many travellers expect from a city often treated as a gateway to the rest of Chile. The capital, founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541, spreads across a wide basin with the Andes along its eastern edge. Its historic core around the Plaza de Armas holds the Metropolitan Cathedral, La Moneda presidential palace and the Pre-Columbian Art Museum, while Cerro Santa Lucía and Cerro San Cristóbal give views across the city. Barrio Lastarria and Bellavista, on either side of the Mapocho river, are pleasant neighbourhoods to explore on foot, and Providencia, Las Condes and Vitacura to the east hold modern hotels, bars and several of the highest-ranked restaurants.
The food scene ranges from seafood at the Mercado Central and traditional bars serving the terremoto to tasting menus at Boragó and other restaurants ranked among Latin America's best. The Museum of Memory and Human Rights explains recent history, and the Teatro Municipal stages opera and ballet. Allow three days for the city, plus a day or two for wineries in the Maipo valley, the Cajón del Maipo or the coast at Valparaíso.
Attraction
Santiago's largest public park covers the slopes of San Cristóbal hill, with a 1925 funicular, a cable car, gardens, pools and a giant Virgin statue at…
Attraction
Chile's neoclassical presidential palace, built as the colonial mint and bombed in the 1973 coup, with a changing of the guard and a cultural centre beneath…
Attraction
A museum of pre-Columbian art in the 1807 Royal Customs House, a block from the Plaza de Armas, covering some 10,000 years and around 100 American…
Attraction
Santiago's founding square, laid out in 1541, framed by the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Central Post Office, the National History Museum and the city hall.
Attraction
A small rocky hill in the city centre where Santiago's story began, turned into a park of terraces, fountains, stairways and viewpoints in the 1870s.
Attraction
Opened in 2010, this museum opposite Quinta Normal metro documents the human rights violations committed in Chile under the 1973 to 1990 military dictatorship.
Café
Opened in 2001 as a corner grocery on Merced near Parque Forestal, Emporio La Rosa is a well-known artisan ice-cream shop, also serving Chilean lunch dishes.
Café
A specialty coffee shop with a vegetarian menu inside the restored Palacio Pereira, an 1872 mansion by Lucien Hénault on the corner of Huérfanos and San…
Café
A French-inspired 1910 castle at the corner of Parque Forestal, opposite the Fine Arts Museum, now a brasserie serving breakfast, brunch, lunch and cocktails.
Café
An Austrian-style pastry shop in a room of the Teatro Municipal, known for its torta Mozart and torta María Antonieta and decorated with dancers' original costumes.
Café
A specialty coffee bar in the former card-catalogue room of Chile's National Library on the Alameda, with vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free sweets.
Café
A Vitacura coffee roastery and café that roasts all Puelo coffee on site with an electric roaster, and won the Specialty Coffee Association's 2025 design award…
Hotel
A 62-room luxury hotel in Barrio Lastarria holding one MICHELIN Key, with a rooftop bar over the city, indoor and outdoor pools and a spa.
Hotel
A 205-room luxury hotel in El Golf with one MICHELIN Key, English-manor public rooms, a spa with Andes views and the seafood-focused Estró restaurant.
Hotel
A 310-room luxury hotel in a cylindrical former Grand Hyatt tower with a vast atrium, gardens, pools and Italian and Japanese fine-dining restaurants.
Hotel
A 196-room lifestyle hotel on Isidora Goyenechea in El Golf, with the Red2One rooftop bar on the 21st floor, an outdoor pool and three restaurants.
Hotel
A 40-room heritage boutique hotel in a 1929 building on Huérfanos, near Cerro Santa Lucía, with a seventh-floor rooftop bar, a spa and the DeMo restaurant.
Hotel
A 19-room boutique hotel in a 1923 mansion in Bellavista, a block from La Chascona and steps from the San Cristóbal funicular, with a wine bar…
Bar
A cocktail bar devoted to the Negroni, listed on The World's 50 Best Bars extended list three years running, now at Terrazas San Cristóbal in Bellavista.
Bar
A neighbourhood cocktail bar in Las Condes recognised by The World's 50 Best Discovery, with velvet and William Morris interiors, a terrace and a deep-fried burger.
Bar
Founded in 1943, Santiago's historic jazz club now plays at Casa Maroto in La Reina, with live shows several nights a week and double bills at…
Bar
A traditional bar near the Mercado Central, in business since at least 1896 and named by President Arturo Alessandri, famous for the terremoto.
Bar
A branch of the much-loved Bar Liguria, founded in 1990, serving classic Chilean bar food, wine and cocktails in Barrio Lastarria until after midnight.
Bar
A food and culture complex in Bellavista opened in 2006, with more than 20 restaurants, bars and cafés open until 01:00 or 03:00, plus craft shops…
Restaurant
Rodolfo Guzmán's Vitacura restaurant serves the Endémica tasting menu of 12 to 18 preparations built on native Chilean ingredients from coast to desert.
Restaurant
Carolina Bazán's Vitacura restaurant cooks a constantly changing seasonal menu from produce chosen each week at La Vega, with a wine list of small and natural…
Restaurant
A small Providencia restaurant where chef Nicolás Tapia serves a tea-led pescatarian tasting menu fusing Chinese technique and Chilean produce.
Restaurant
Chef Pedro Chavarría's 15-seat restaurant inside Hotel Magnolia serves a single seasonal tasting menu inspired by the markets and streets of downtown Santiago.
Restaurant
A Vitacura seafood restaurant ranked 14th in Latin America's 50 Best 2025, known for Chiloé oysters, Tongoy scallops and Patagonian king crab.
Restaurant
A Bellavista restaurant cooking from the traditions of Chile's indigenous peoples, including Mapuche, Aymara and Rapa Nui, with a tasting menu and unusual Chilean wines.
Thing to do
Santiago's 1872 iron-roofed market hall, made in Glasgow, where fishmongers and seafood restaurants serve paila marina, mariscal and fried fish.
Thing to do
Santiago's working fruit and vegetable market on the north bank of the Mapocho, trading produce from central Chile since its warehouses opened in 1916.
Thing to do
A protected heritage quarter between Cerro Santa Lucía and Parque Forestal, with winding streets, cafés, restaurants, boutiques and street performers.
Thing to do
Chile's main opera house, opened in 1857, staging opera, ballet and concerts with its resident Ballet de Santiago, orchestra and chorus.
Thing to do
A performing arts centre on the Alameda, built in 1972 for a UN conference and reopened in 2010, staging contemporary theatre, dance, music and exhibitions.
Tour operator
Santiago's hop-on hop-off bus operator, also running day tours to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, urban and Maipo wineries, Cajón del Maipo and the Andes.
Tour operator
A Bellavista-based company running daily guided bike tours of Santiago in English and Spanish, from market rides to a sunset tour along the Mapocho.
Tour operator
A tips-only walking tour of central Santiago that leaves from the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas every day at 10:00 and 15:00, in English, Spanish…
Tour operator
Guided visits, tastings and a Casillero del Diablo night tour with dinner at Concha y Toro's tourist centre in Pirque, about 45 minutes from Santiago.
Tour operator
A nature sanctuary of over 3,600 hectares in the Cajón del Maipo, 60 km from Santiago, offering Maipo rafting, horse riding, hikes and a zipline.
Three days cover the historic centre, Cerro San Cristóbal, the main museums, Lastarria and Bellavista and a couple of good meals. Add a day for a winery in the Maipo valley or the Cajón del Maipo, and another for Valparaíso.
Lastarria is the best base for walking to the main sights, with hotels such as The Singular and Hotel Magnolia nearby. Bellavista suits those who want nightlife, and El Golf in Las Condes has the large luxury hotels, restaurants and easy metro access.
Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is about 23 km from El Golf. Most visitors take an official taxi, a ride-hailing app or a shuttle, and some hotels offer their own airport transfers; allow extra time in rush-hour traffic.
Costs vary widely. Tasting-menu restaurants and luxury hotels are expensive, but market lunches, traditional bars, the free Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and tip-based walking tours keep costs down.
Take the basic precautions you would in any big city: avoid displaying jewellery, keep bags and phones secure in crowded places such as markets and the metro, and use taxis or ride-hailing apps late at night.