Most Instagrammable Places in Santiago — Trip Planner

What's actually worth your time in Santiago

Cerro San Cristobal supplies the view, reached by a 1925 funicular, but only once rain has cleared the smog; on a bad inversion day you will see nothing at all. Cerro Santa Lucia's carved stairways rise straight out of the centre for free. La Chascona was Neruda's Bellavista house, built for Matilde. La Moneda still carries the history of 1973. Sky Costanera is the continent's tallest viewpoint.

Santiago after dark

Bellavista's Pio Nono is young, cheap and messy, Lastarria and Barrio Italia pour wine to a calmer crowd, and Bellas Artes sits between the two. Clubs run to four or five at weekends. For a week around 18 September the city converts itself into fondas, where cueca is danced and terremotos poured in volume, and nothing else on your itinerary will actually happen.

Santiago's museums, and which one to pick

The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, housed in the old Royal Customs House, is the finest pre-Columbian collection on the continent and includes Chinchorro mummies older than anything in Egypt. The Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos documents the dictatorship, admits everyone free and closes Mondays. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, a 1910 palace under a glass ceiling, also charges nothing.

Santiago with kids, realistically

The MIM in La Granja is a genuinely well-built hands-on science museum that gets far less foreign attention than it deserves. Parque Bicentenario in Vitacura keeps flamingos and long open lawns. The San Cristobal funicular and cable car please almost any age. Fantasilandia handles teenagers. The Metro is clean and fast but crushing at peak, so travel with children between ten and four.

When the weather turns in Santiago

Rain falls almost entirely between June and August, and its reward arrives the following morning when the smog washes out and the Andes appear above the rooftops. While it lasts: the Precolombino, the free Bellas Artes, the Museo de la Memoria, the Centro Cultural La Moneda beneath the palace with its cinema, and the covered halls of the Mercado Central.

When to go to Santiago

The month to avoid is June — around 15°C (59°F) with roughly 7 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: November is the sweet spot, June the month most people skip.

Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.

Where to base yourself in Santiago

• Bellavista — Bohemian quarter at the foot of San Cristóbal — bars, restaurants, La Chascona (Neruda’s house).
• Lastarria — Hip cultural strip — restaurants, galleries, the Cerro Santa Lucía park.
• Providencia — Upscale residential side — cafés, the Costanera Center skyscraper, Parque Bicentenario.