I’ve been to Santiago before 10 years ago, but when looking through my short term memory loss of posts, I realized we never really explored the city! We had skipped over it for Valpariso, so it’s now time to return and do it justice monsoon style.
Arriving at Santiago Airport from an overnight 9 hour flight from Houston, I took an Uber directly to my lodgings at AC Hotel Santiago and settled in.
After changing and a quick shower, I recharged with a legit pourover at Colombian-owned Johnny’s Coffee where I met up with Chris to begin our tour.
Our first official stop was next door at Sky Costanera, a 300m tall glass-walled observation deck at the top of a skyscraper.
Come for a primer of Santiago where this observation deck offers 360º panoramas.
While at the observation deck we met up with Svalbard monsoon alums Alicia and Karthik!
After 20 minutes here, we hailed an UberXL to take us to the other side of the city to visit the Museum of Memory & Human Rights, documenting the human rights violations committed by the military dictatorship here from 1973 to 1990.
The museum is located in the multicultural neighborhood of Yungay.
Plaza Yungay is a popular meeting point, among other evocative residential refuges marked by special architecture in this area like Barrio Concha y Toro:
Deciding against a 40 minute walk from Yungay, we had Chris (who has been in Santiago for 3 days now) show us how to take the metro 3 stops east to La Moneda Palace, home of the President.
It sits right above La Moneda Cultural Center underground, a modern cultural center below street level with rotating art exhibitions, film screenings, dining, and shopping.
From there we took a detour to Chile’s Stock Exchange, known as La Bolsa:
The stock exchange is located in an area named after New York, a la New York Street, home to Latin America’s first skyscraper:
We then rested our weary legs watching a wedding take place in a nearby church.
We then walked 15 minutes east to the Municipal Theatre of Santiago, a legendary long-running neoclassical arts complex built in 1857. This is where you go for high art opera, choir, ballet performances.
If you have it in you, continue walking for a hike up Santa Lucía Hill which is a block away east, which is an urbanized hill and well manicured park featuring terraces, fountains, and a summit viewpoint.
From there you can continue east to Gabriela Mistral Cultural Centre:
This city loves its green; we then weaved up 10 minutes to Parque Forestal, built in 1905.
… and then passed by the National Museum of Fine Arts, located within the park.
After picking up some water and eschewing Saint Lucia Hill, we headed back to the city center where no visit is complete to Santiago (hah, tell that to me 10 years ago) without visiting the central urban square of Plaza de Armas:
It’s marked by the seat of the archbishop of Chile, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago.
It’s then a 6 minute walk up north to the seafood-rich Santiago Central Market:
For local fresh fruits and vegetables, cross both grand avenues to visit Mercado Tirso de Molina:
From the market we then hailed another cab over to the area where La Chascona is located; it’s home to Pablo Neruda from 1955 to 1973, which was built to resemble a ship.
A few blocks over from La Cascona, we then bought the tickets to take us up a funicular at Parque Metropolitano de Santiago.
From the funicular we walked up the hill to the Virgin Mary statue at the park’s peak for city views:
If you peek inside the Virgin Mary Statue:
Afterwards we weaved around for the cable car ride instead of funicular, which was included in our tickets and took us to the eastern entrance of the park (the funicular entrance is located on the southern end).
Once we disembarked at the eastern entrance of the park and facing the Sky Centenario and back to where we started our day, we took one final group photo with Karthik and Alicia before they headed to their hotel to check in. Chris and I headed onwards for more sightseeing.
Chris and I then took a quick Uber ride to the newly built Parque Bicentenario north of Sky Centenario. A serene walk here and dinner nearby could be the best way to finish your tour of Santiago, which is exactly what we did al fresco at Osaka Restaurant.
If we had more time, I would have fit in Cementerio General, a vast cemetery from 1822 where Chile’s historical figures are buried.
… as well as a tour inside at Palacio Cousiño, a fancy residential estate.
Tomorrow we reunite with Jill, KJ, Melinda, YuHan, and Melissa for our 5 days on Easter Island!
- At time of posting in Santiago, Chile, it was 23 °C - Humidity: 37% | Wind Speed: 3km/hr | Cloud Cover: n/a