Santiago

Set at an average elevation of 567 metres in Chile’s Central Valley along the banks of the Mapocho River, Santiago was founded on 12 February 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia as Santiago del Nuevo Extremo. Archaeological excavations have shown that Valdivia and master builder Pedro de Gamboa laid out their checkerboard grid directly atop a Tawantinsuyu (Inca) administrative and ceremonial centre connected to the southern Inca road system. Today Greater Santiago is divided into independent municipalities (comunas) framed to the east by 5,000- and 6,000-metre Andean peaks.

The historic core radiates from Plaza de Armas, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Pre-Columbian Art Museum southwest to Joaquín Toesca’s neoclassical Palacio de La Moneda and Barrio Cívico. On the eastern border of the centre, the 1872 terraces of Cerro Santa Lucía, Barrio Lastarria, and Parque Forestal connect historic museums with bohemian wine bars.

Across the Mapocho River, Barrio Bellavista and Pablo Neruda’s La Chascona sit at the foot of 880-metre Cerro San Cristóbal and Parque Metropolitano, while Metro Line 1 continues east to Sky Costanera, Providencia, and Vitacura’s Parque Bicentenario.

International and domestic flights land at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) in Pudahuel, 15 kilometres northwest of central Santiago. Official Centropuerto and Turbus Aeropuerto coaches link both passenger terminals with Pajaritos and Los Héroes stations on Metro Line 1, while pre-paid Transvip minibuses and official taxis use the Costanera Norte urban motorway straight into the city.

Within the capital, the seven-line Metro de Santiago (143 stations across 149 kilometres) and Red surface buses make getting around effortless; tap a contactless bank card at Metro turnstiles or buy a rechargeable Tarjeta bip! for combined Metro and bus travel. Full arrival and intercity bus terminal details are covered in How to Get to Santiago.

Santiago’s most appealing neighbourhoods align along Metro Line 1 and Line 5 from the eastern edge of the historic core into the leafy communes of the Sector Oriente. Staying in Barrio Lastarria or Bellas Artes places you on pedestrianised Zona Típica streets steps from Cerro Santa Lucía, Parque Forestal, and the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Further east along the Line 1 corridor, Providencia (around Pedro de Valdivia, Los Leones, and Barrio Italia) and Las Condes (El Golf) offer tree-lined residential avenues, specialty coffee shops, and modern hotels close to Sky Costanera and Parque Bicentenario. Compare each commune in Where to Stay in Santiago.

Begin at Plaza de Armas inside the gilded Metropolitan Cathedral and the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (home to 7,000-year-old Chinchorro mummies), then walk down Paseo Bandera to Palacio de La Moneda and the 16th-century Church of San Francisco. Climb the basalt stairways of Cerro Santa Lucía before crossing Parque Forestal into Barrio Bellavista to tour Pablo Neruda’s ship-inspired house, La Chascona.

Ride the 1925 Funicular up Cerro San Cristóbal and glide down on the Teleférico to Providencia and the 300-metre observation deck of Sky Costanera. Dedicate a morning to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights and Quinta Normal Park, and browse the 1872 iron roof of Mercado Central and La Vega Central. See our full list in Things to Do in Santiago.

Santiago’s kitchens draw on cold Humboldt Current seafood and the orchards and vineyards of Chile’s Central Valley. In summer and autumn, clay-pot pastel de choclo (sweetcorn and basil pie baked over savoury beef and chicken) and steamed humitas headline traditional tables alongside wood-baked empanadas de pino.

At Mercado Central and neighbourhood marisquerías, order steaming bowls of caldillo de congrio (conger eel soup) and Parmesan-gratinéed machas a la parmesana. For a classic lunchtime counter meal, pull up a stool at a traditional fuente de soda for a completo italiano or Barros Luco steak sandwich, washed down with cold mote con huesillos or a Maipo Valley Carmenère. Read our dish-by-dish guide in What to Eat in Santiago.

Santiago’s cultural life spans three Nobel Prize-winning poets (Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, and close mid-century literary circles), Latin America’s oldest fine arts museum (founded in 1880), and the lively performing stages of the Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM) and Teatro Municipal de Santiago (1857).

Every September around the 18th and 19th, the capital celebrates Fiestas Patrias in parks across the basin with open-air fondas, folk cueca dancing, and Chilean rodeos, while March and April bring harvest festivals (fiestas de la vendimia) to the surrounding wine valleys.