Day Tour of Santiago

Hi There, I only have 2 nights and 1 full day in Santiago and am hoping someone can please tell me the absolute must do's in the city. Can anyone recommend a good day tour? I'll be there alone so an organised tour may be the best way to go??? Also, how much can I expect to spnd on a taxi from the airport to the city centre? Cheers...:0)

the city of santiago is nice you can go to santa lucia and do a small working tour from there to plaza de armas to see some nice historical sights. Another option is to do a bike tour. its a little expensive but well worth it. they are bilingual tours. bicecletaverde. come I believe the sight is. the tour guys are really cool. we even went for some beers after the tour. Another option would be to head towards Valpariso/ vina del mar. It is about an hour away by train and bus. look into it. please have look at my blog too! you may find some useful information on there.

here's the blog sorry. http://playnowworklater.travellerspoint.com/

[ Edit: Changed incorrect link. ]

If i remember right, i think you should be paying about 12thousand pesos (12 lucas) for the taxi, which is about 12 pounds.

As for the city i think you should visit the cerro san cristobal, the big hill in the centre, you can get a cable car that goes to the top from near the pedro de valdivia metro stop on the red line. Then you could walk down or get the fenicular railway into bella vista and see pablo neruda's house, if you're into poetry and all that. Bella vista has some good bars and is nice to walk round, as is bellas artes which is just over the river from bellavista. If you're not up for going to the top of cerro san cristobal, there is also cerro santa lucia which is mouch smaller but still offers good views of the city, its next to the santa lucia metro stop on the red line.

If you fancy going off track, i think recoleta is an interesting barrio, old buildings, poor but nowway near the worst in santiago. In recoleta you can find the cemmentary, there's two actually and the old catholic one is very nice and worth a visit if you have time. Thats on the yellow line, metro stop Cementerios.

You could also go to see the presidecial palace, la moneda, red line, metro stop la moneda. This is the one pinochet bombed before taking power, now restored you can pop inside in the day and there is a cultural centre below. I recently wen there to see an exhibition of rivera and his wife.

Still with time you could pop up to mercardo central at the stop Puente Cal y Canto on the yellow line. Here you can get some seafood dishes (chile's speciality) or you could pop over the river, two seconds, to the dodgier market called ''La Vega'' where you can see some interesting sights, poverty.

Also there is the main square Plaza de Armas, where the cathedral is, its ok, not brilliant, but all the toursits go.

Although i agree with the poster above that if you can be bothered go to valparaíso, the gem of Chile. Spend a day walking up and down it´s hills, or take the feniculars and see the really interesting architecture (to me its beautiful).

To get there you´ll need to go to the metro stop ´´pajaritos´´ on the red line. the bus terminal is there and it´ll take you about 1 hour 15 mins to get there. Well worth it. In my opinion, i´d rather spend the day there than in Sanitago.

A return should cost you 6 lucas...6pounds.

[ Edit: Edited on 25-Jan-2009, at 08:51 by sirwhale ]

I think BHammer301 made a mistake in posting his blog address and it pointed to some spammy site. To prevent others from clicking the link, I flagged it as spam and it will be edited when the moderator in charge of this forum sees it. His blog address should be http://playnowworklater.travellerspoint.com/

[ Edit: Edited on 25-Jan-2009, at 12:31 by Hien ]

Hey everyone, thanks so much for all the advice. It's really realy helpful and loads of great information to help plan the short time I have and get the most out of it. Muchos gracias!!