Santiago (Chile)

Introduction

Santiago

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Santiago (or Santiago de Chile) is the capital of Chile, with a population of approximately 5.5 million people. Alongside Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, Santiago is one of the leading economic hubs of South America. But Santiago is also stunningly beautiful, its modern skyline set against the backdrop of the snow capped Andes mountains.

Neighbourhoods

• Cerrillos
• Cerro Navia
• Conchalí
• El Bosque
• Estación Central
• Huechuraba
• Independencia
• La Cisterna
• La Florida
• La Granja
• La Pintana
• La Reina
• Las Condes
• Lo Barnechea
• Lo Espejo
• Lo Prado
• Macul
• Maipú
• Ñuñoa
• Pedro Aguirre Cerda
• Peñalolén
• Providencia
• Pudahuel
• Puente Alto
• Quilicura
• Quinta Normal
• Recoleta
• Renca
• San Bernardo
• San Joaquín
• San Miguel
• San Ramón
• Santiago Centro
• Vitacura

Sights and Activities

• Cerro Santa Lucia - a hill in the centre. The site where Pedro de Valdivia founded the city.
• Pablo Neruda Museum.
• National Museum of Fine Arts (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes).
• Parque Metropolitano is a 700+ hectare park and recreation area complete with swimming pools, a zoo, restaurants and a botanical garden. On a clear day, you can experience sweeping views of the city from Cerro San Cristóbal, the city's highest point.
• Plaza De Armas - the city's main square.
• Wander the streets of Bellavista and Bellas Artes.
• La Moneda Palace - the presidential palace.
• Mercado Central - the city's distinctive wrought-iron market.
• If you want to see something different, you could go to either Mercado Bio Bio which is on the yellow metro line, metro station Franklin or Mercado La Vega which is on the same line between the metro stations Puente Cal y Canto and Patronato. These are poorer markets than Mercado Central so be careful.

Events and Festivities

The 18th of September, locally known as dieciocho, marks the independence of the country from Spain and is celebrated as the main event in the Chilean calander. Parties spring up in nearly all the parks of the city and the nightclubs get full to the brim while people dance the Cueca (Chile's national dance) and drink Chicha. Chicha is arguably the best bevarage to come out of this traditional country and is made from either grapes or apples to produce a beautifully sweet drink that is only sold during the festivities of this month, so catch it while you can.

Weather

The warm days start from November and lasts well into March, with an average temperature from 25 °C to 35 °C during the day and around 15 °C to 22 °C From April to August the weather is relatively cold (still mild though) and unstable, mostly haze, cloudy, and sometimes rainy with temperatures from -2 °C on some nights to 15 °C or a little more on the warmer days. The sun starts to shine again in September and October, but be careful because some days looks like summer and the next day could be rainy.

Getting There

By Plane

Santiago International Airport, also called Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport or Pudahuel Airport, is the main airport in Chile and located in Pudahuel, west of the capital. It's the largest airport in the country with almost 10 million passengers a year.
LanChile is the national carrier of Chile, but many other major airlines fly into Chile as well, including Iberia, several South American airlines and airlines based in the USA.

Some travellers arriving by air are required to pay a "processing fee." This processing fee is in response to fee levied against Chileans travelling abroad, and will match the amount of the fee charged to the Chileans. Citizens from the USA pay $US 45, Citizens from Canada pay $US 55 and citizens of Australia pay $US 30. This fee can be paid in US dollars, Chilean Pesos or with travellers checks.

To/from the airport

• Bus: TurBus and CentroPuerto provide regular buses from the airport to a number of stations in Santiago, including the main metro stations.
• Minivan: Tur Transfer and Transvip provide shuttle services by van.
• Taxi/Car: Taxis and rental cars are widely available.

By Train

• Metrotren offers the service between Santiago and San Fernando.
• TerraSur offers the service between Santiago, Chillán, and Concepción.
• Buscarril offers local service between Talca and Constitución.
• Biotren offers local service between Talcahuano and Hualqui.
• Local Service between Talcahuano and Renaico.
• Local Service between Temuco and Victoria.

More info at Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE).

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

Try to avoid the rush hours during the week. In the morning, rush hours are between 8:00am and 10:00am, while in the evening between 6:00pm and 8:00pm.

By Car

By Public Transport

Transantiago
Transantiago is the public transport system in Santiago. It operates buses and Metro systems across the different zones in the city. The minimum fare for a bus ride is 500 pesos. Use the journey planner (Spanish only) and maps (Spanish only) to find your way around the city.

Bip!
Bip! is a pre-paid contactless smartcard used to pay for the bus and metro services in Santiago. You can get this card at all Metro stations and Bip! offices. The card is available for 1,200 pesos and can be topped up with more credit later.

Taxi
There are two types of taxis:

• Taxi (black and yellow), operated by individuals.
• Radio Taxi (generally navy blue), operated by a company.

Tourists are recommended to use Radio Taxis.

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Chile, due to its common history with its neighbours, shares many of its typical dishes. There is one thing however that people will tell you is Chile's speciality and they'll be right. That is of course, mariscos or seafood there are many seafood dishes in Chile such as Ceviche and seafood empanadas and they get better along the coastal towns. One famous and delicious dish that you should try is the Paila Marina a soup filled to the brim with mariscos of many shapes, sizes and colours that will leave you very content.

Drink

Once a year for only a couple of weeks around the most celebrated day in the Chilean calander, the typical and delicious alcoholic drink appears for all to enjoy. Chicha can be made from either apples or grapes and both types make a strong but incredibly sweet beverage that can be deceptive. It is a relatively cheap drink that you can buy in huge quantities from the bodegas that open up around two weeks prior to the 18th of September.

Due to the German influence in the south of Chile, many German style beers can be found and are generally favoured by locals and foreigners. One such typical example would be Kunstman.

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Teaching English

Santiago has a good stable economy that has been powering on despite the current crisis. If you want to live and work in a South American country, Chile could not be easier for English teachers. Due to the government's attempts to open up its economy to the world and their current policy of 'English opens doors' the demand in Santiago for English classes is huge. Unlike Europe, a TEFL certificate is not even necessary (although I would recomend it) and you can find many private institutes that are willing to take on new-comers and give them some training. VISAs can be acquired in the country once you've found the institute you want to work with so no prior paperwork is needed before you arrive, many people even work on tourist VISAs and just leave for Argentina every 3 months.

Your wages will be around 500,000 pesos per month for around 22 hours teaching time, which is ok but no brilliant. Chile can be quite expensive in some areas such as food produce. It is however, enough to live well, enjoy life and save a little for further travel around the country.

Learn

• Universidad de Chile
• Universidad de Santiago de Chile

Keep Connected

Internet

There are a lot of free wifi hotspots in the city (airports, hotels, malls, service stations, malls, main square, metro stations, medical clinics, etc.). In case that you don't have a laptop there are many places with desktop computers connected to internet where you can use them paying an amount of money for each hour.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Correos de Chile is the national postal service, and although relatively slow it is reliable with post offices throughout the country. On the website you can find more information about prices to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. Post offices are generally open Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 6:00pm and Saturday until 2:00pm, although there are sometimes longer opening hours in the bigger central post offices and shorter ones in small places. Ask around.