The Central Market in Santiago, Chile, has been named as one of National Geographic’s top ten food markets worldwide. Taken from National Geographic’s book Journeys of a Lifetime, the list runs through the best markets in the world for offering fresh local produce alongside a slice of local life.
Paseo Ahumada is four-block-long street in downtown Santiago. It extends in a north–south direction from Plaza de Armas to the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins and is lined by buildings housing retail establishments at their lower levels. At its northern terminus is Plaza de Armas metro station, whereas that at its southern end is Universidad de Chile metro station.
Is the seat of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, currently Celestino Aós Braco, and the center of the archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. Construction of the neoclassical cathedral began in 1753 and ended in 1799. The architect was the Italian Gioacchino Toesca. Further alterations ordered at the end of the 19th century give it its present appearance.
La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secretariat of the Government. It occupies an entire block in downtown Santiago
The Central Post Office Building is a historic post office building on the northern edge of the Plaza de Armas, in Santiago, Chile. It is adjacent to the Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago and is located on what was the land lot originally owned by Pedro de Valdivia and where he built his house.
Is the former home of the Chilean Congress. Congress met in this building in central Santiago until Salvador Allende's socialist government was overthrown by Augusto Pinochet's military coup d'état on September 11, 1973. During the Pinochet dictatorship, Congress was moved to new premises in Valparaíso; the old building was declared a national monument in 1976 and between 1990 and 2006 housed the ministry of foreign affairs. The Senate moved its offices in Santiago to this building in December 2000
On top of the Santa Lucia hill, in the historic center of the city of Santiago, is El Castillo Hidalgo, a building built in 1816 during the Reconquest by order of the last Spanish Governor of Santiago, Casimiro Marco del Pont. It is one of the most important buildings in the history of the city.
+++ If Option Selected +++ Although it’s probably on all of the Top 5 tourist sites of Santiago, Cerro San Cristóbal is not overrated in the least. This big hill in the middle of the city affords one of the most incredible Santiago panoramas available. Every time I head up, my knowledge of the city has increased, and thus I am able to point out more landmarks, distinguish different sectors, etc. For those unfamiliar to Santiago, the view from up here will let you orient the city in its surroundings: the Andes Mountains and the Cordillera de la Costa.
+++ If Option Selected +++ This hill is actually quite the historical locale. First off, It is the remnant of a 15 million year old volcano. Secondly, the conquistadors used it as a lookout point when they were conquering Chile. It was atop this hill that Pedro de Valdivia declared the founding of Santiago in 1541. In 1872, governer Benjamin Vickuna Mackenna decided to turn the hill into a park to commemorate its significance in the city’s history. Since then, it has undergone many renovations. Today, it comprises 65,300 square meters, replete with bronze gates, metal stairways, and various fountains and statue
This is the financial sector in the upper area of our city
Is a plaza occupying a full square block in the heart of the civic district of Santiago, Chile. It is located in front of the northern facade of the Palacio de la Moneda and is surrounded by other government buildings such as those housing the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Banco Central de Chile and the Intendencia de Santiago
The church, along with the adjacent convent, is one of the oldest colonial-era buildings in the country. The church was consecrated in 1622.
The Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda beneath Plaza de la Ciudadanía. A glass-slab roof floods the vaultlike space with natural light, and ramps wind down through the central atrium past the Cineteca Nacional, a state-run art-house movie theater, to two large temporary exhibition spaces that house some of the biggest touring shows to visit Santiago.
Is an area that lies between the Mapocho River and San Cristóbal Hill in Santiago, Chile. It is known as Santiago's bohemian quarter, with numerous restaurants, boutiques, avant-garde galleries, bars and clubs. Many of the city's intellectuals and artists live in Bellavista, and Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago, La Chascona
+++ If Option Selected +++ The park was created in April 1966, when incorporating the Chilean National Zoo and the services of San Cristóbal Hill, and is managed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
The Biblioteca Nacional is, together with the Instituto Nacional and a small number of institutions, one of the first institutions created by the newly formed Republic of Chile in the Patria Vieja period. In the newspaper El Monitor Araucano, a Proclama de Fundación ("Proclamation of Foundation") of the Biblioteca Nacional was published on August 19, 1813. With this vision, a call was made to all the citizens to submit their books for the formation of one great public library
The building housing the Supreme Court of Chile, the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and the Court-martial Court of the Chilean Army, Chilean Air Force and Carabineros de Chile. It occupies a full block-front of Compañía Street between Bandera and Morandé Streets
Chile’s most famous poet, Gabriela Mistral (1889 – 1957), significantly inspired the work of this cultural centre for her love of words, her democratic conviction and her dedication to education. Born as Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in the small town of Vicuña in north-central Chile, she started writing and working as a teacher and at the age of 15. At 25 she published her first mayor work, “Sonetos de la muerte”, which brought her the Chilean literary award in 1912
The Torre Costanera, was designed by architect César Pelli and is 300 metres (980 ft) tall, making it the tallest building in Latin America and the second tallest in the Southern Hemisphere
Parque Forestal is a large, narrow park dotted with numerous must-see locations in downtown Santiago. It borders the Mapocho River from Plaza Baquedano, also known as Plaza Italia, all the way to Estación Mapocho, a historical building and cultural center near the Puente Cal y Canto metro station. Mercado Central, La Vega, and the Bellas Artes museum are some of the other major destinations located in or adjacent to Parque Forestal.
This open-air complex of bars, restaurants, and shops, located on the corner of Pio Nono and Constitución, is a relatively recent addition to the culinary, nightlife, and cultural landscape of the city.
The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts is one of the major centers for Chilean art and for broader South American art. Established in 1880 (making it the oldest in South America) The current building, the "Palace of the Fine Arts" dates to 1910 and commemorates the first centennial of the Independence of Chile. It was designed by the Chilean architect Emile Jéquier in a full-blown Beaux-arts style and is situated in the Parque Forestal of Santiago.
Bicentenario Park (Parque Bicentenario) is a nature park set on one side of the capital’s financial district, better known as “Sanhattan”. Discover this modern and well-tended park and enjoy walking across its extensive lawns. Watch the swans and other birds in its two artificial lagoons and have fun in its themed spaces for leisure activities and on walks with family or friends.
Nestled between the Mapocho River and Avenida Santa María, you’ll find Santiago’s Sculpture Park (Parque de las Esculturas). Opened in 1982, this park is a type of open-air art museum that was initially created to beautify an area of the city damaged by a flood of the Mapocho River. The park features impressive sculptures by different Chilean and international artists. In the summer months it’s not.
Departure from Santiago city
Driver was good and had good English , but felt rushed as he would drop us off and make us go on our own since he couldn’t find parking spaces. Additionally, gave us very poor walking directions at end.
Excellent guide, excellent choice of locations visited. Very informative guide with a very wide knowledge of Santiago’s history demonstrated at every location.
Avoid this company at all costs. We booked 2 months ahead. They took our money and less than 24 hours before said they could not pick us up where they had said they would for 2 months prior.
We had an excellent experience with our tour guide, Rodrigo, who made the entire trip both enjoyable and memorable. From the very beginning, they were friendly, professional, and incredibly knowledgeable about the area. He shared fascinating insights, local history, and hidden details that we would have completely missed on our own. I would highly recommend Rodrigo to anyone looking for a meaningful, well-run, and enjoyable tour experience. They truly went above and beyond to make our trip special.
Juan gave us a terrific tour of Santiago filled with many facts about Chile's geography and history. A very comprehensive tour that was never hurried or rushed. Of the 100's of tours we have taken this was one of the very best.
Comfortable and safe way to visit Santiago's sights. It was a hot day so we appreciated the flexibility of our private guide/driver was so accommodating and friendly!
We booked this tour 2 days in advance based on the decent Viator ratings. A lot of positive feedback on the tour guides. Our guide reached out right away upon booking, introduced himself and we felt we made a good decision. Unfortunately our tour guide was not great. He was a young guy doing this job likely to earn some extra cash. His English was okay but difficult to understand. Did not offer us a lot of understandable history. We asked questions and got short answers. He quickly drove and walked us to sights where he would tell us to just go explore a church or area on our own and then meet up in 10 minutes. So not really impressed with his engagement and knowledge. We were supposed to visit both hills but ended up only visiting San Cristobal. He sent us up the funicular on our own and then told us to catch the bus back down because traffic would be too much if we came back down the funicular. We had a lot of trouble finding the bus stop; maps in the park were not helpful nor were the “information” booths. We eventually found the bus stop and were able to communicate to the bus driver where we needed to go. It would have been helpful if our tour guide gave us more info about the bus, especially the part where the bus down leaves only once an hour. After the bus ride it was too late to go to Santa Lucia and we asked our guide to take us back to our hotel. Ultimately, when booking any tour, there is a risk in terms of the tour guide’s skills. It’s luck of the draw and this time we drew the short stick. Probably this tour would be great with a more mature experienced guide. Perhaps ask for an expert guide if you book this tour.
Super tour! Very thorough. Our guide, Luis, was extremely knowledgeable about the city and all of its history.
Underwhelming. Saw a few neighborhoods but didn’t get a really good sense of knowing the city. Guide tried but didn’t seem to have an organized thematic presentation.
This was a great tour with a guide who knows Santiago and is friendly and personable. We covered all the major sites and we got to set the pace and decide where we wanted to spend more, or less, time.
It was an unfortunately hot day, the drivers car did not have air conditioning, although he was very nice and was explaining things around. We could not walk in Santiago center because of the heat.. it was unbearable
Good tour and informative friendly driver and knowledgeable enjoyable and made it fun. My family also liked it
Giovanni was a great guide. We had already seen most of the sites on the standard itinerary, but Giovanni improvised and took us to some places we never would have thought of . The rose gardens and St Lucia Hill were excellent choices, and we had a terrific time with him. Would highly recommend Giovanni to anyone looking to take this tour
My wife and I cancelled this event at the meeting place. Our tour guide arrived "thirty minutes" late and identified himself, but we had not been informed. We cancelled due to lateness and the loss of our original confidence in the prospective tour guide.
Good visit to major sites was pleased to visit the top of both hills and ride the cable car. The cathedral was my favorite.
Tour guide was good. Showed everything. Very friendly and spent the whole tour explaining things. Very good.
While we did pass by most of the places listed in the tour description, we did not drive to Cerro Santa Lucia though we chose both hills to visit in our booking. The description is pass by in a private car which was great because we didn’t want to walk too far. Our driver/guide Christian was friendly and knowledgeable however he admitted this was only his 2nd tour in English and needs to work on his vocabulary. To be honest I don’t think what I saw was worth the cost of the tour. The buildings were not impressive and the traffic and road conditions was disappointing.
Our driver arrived 25 months late in a beat up dirt old little personal vehicle with a very very very broken windshield and did not pull up to front of our hotel where we had been waiting even though there was plenty of room to do so. His vehicle had no identification as to being a tourism car. We were concerned about it being a scam, and was at least very inappropriate. We denied the trip out of concern. We informed Viator, who told us that the driver claimed us to be a no show. We were given a 25% refund. We missed the day of sightseeing. We would NOt recommend booking a private tour by car!!!
I personally don't like it and the description is not complete. I wanted to go to the Central Market in the evening, but the driver didn't have any company and it was closed there.
This comprehensive tour introduced us to significant locations in Santiago while our guides gave us background to the history and culture behind them. It was very clear that they were proud of their city
We booked this tour 6 months ago and on the eve of the tour we were notified that they were cancelling the tour due to a mechanical issue with the car and they were very busy so couldn't look after us
Enjoyable and thorough tour of the best of the City of Santiago. Tour conductors were very knowlegeable about the City and its history.
We chose this tour specifically because it included the two hills in Santiago and one of the main parks. Unfortunately it was raining and as such the hills and park were not open so we spent time driving around aimlessly presumably to fill in time. Very disappointed
This was the perfect tour of Santiago. It hit all the highlights. Jaime did a great job getting me to all the destinations safely & giving me plenty of time to discover. I highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting to see Santiago’s main tourist sites.
This tour was a wonderful overview of the history and places and architecture of Santiago. We feel we got a good feeling for this nice city with this tour. Our driver Erick was very knowledgeable and professional.
Unprofessional and unaccommodating guide. Did not wear a mask being sick. My family have had to wear our masks ( luckily we had them).
Luis was a terrific guide. He was prompt, thoughtful, extremely knowledgeable and a delightful person.
Jaime was very knowledgeable about the City and made sure we saw all the highlights to make sure we had a fabulous day.
Disappointing, We were in Santiago for one day before starting a cruise. Booked the 1/2 day private tour. 2 hours before, we got a text from our driver saying he couldn’t make it, tried to contact the tour operator but got no response. The only positive is that they gave us a full refund with no argument.
You can just take an uber to the same places and save yourself 110 bucks honestly didnt include any tickets or entrances
We booked a four hour tour with Jamie. He was a wonderful guide and knew all about everything in the area because he’s been there all his life. He was funny, helpful, and did whatever we asked him. We all felt like we saw the best parts of the city because of him and he directed us to a delicious fish restaurant!
Booked four months in advance. With no advanced warning we had a cancellation fifteen minutes after the scheduled. If you want to tour Santiago, I suggest that you look elsewhere.
Great experience of Santiago Seeing city government and religious buildings Then a great view by the gondola We had tour guide so informative
Eric was very knowledgeable and nice . We had a great experience. We would recommend this tour and guide to anybody.Santiago has very different areas of the city and tries to imitate New York City with the tall buildings.
Janina and Mauricio were lovely companions for a morning around the city. There were a few changes to the itinerary due to maintenance at one of the landmarks, but we pivoted and found substitute activities that were just as enjoyable. Thank you both for a lovely morning!
Good way to see the highlights of Santiago , driver was flexible and offered opportunities to more of sites we were interested in
Excellent tour of the city! Jaime did a great job on showing us the city and providing history on our private tour.
Jaime was an excellent guide who spoke English very well so was easily understood. He was very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of information about the places we visited and life in general in Santiago. We highly recommend this tour as it gave us a good general overview of the city.
Thoughtful and cordial throughout. Guide was very informative,especially regarding points of history which were of particular interest to us. Her wealth of knowledge was remarkable and she also knew where to bring a shopaholic customers. She also knew how to adjust the route to suit a senior visitor.
We really enjoyed the tour. Our guide Consuelo Gutiérrez was very knowledgeable and professional. She and the driver not only showed us many interesting places around the city, but they also took us to the country side to explore beautiful nature and nearby small towns that tourists normally don’t get to see. We had a great time.
We really enjoyed this tour that covered a lot without having to spend all day touring. The guide was informative and friendly and it was very nice to be driven around town to see the sights such as the top of Cerro Santa Lucia and to go on the teleférico.
Had a great guided Santiago half day tour with Luís Gomez. He provided detailed comments about different areas of the city with many opportunities to take photos as well as some walking tours of the city. He was an excellent guide for ten of us and highly recommend him for future tours!
Had a wonderful day exploring Santiago. Janina was so informative and by the end of our tour we were already good friends. Would highly recommend
Everything was very good, the guide was very knowledgeable, she took her time to explain everything, and generally was very nice person.
Excellent your with a comprehensive overview of the metropolitan area of Santiago. Our guide Jaime was very attentive and took the time to show us all the highlights.
Our tour guide Consuelo did an excellent job telling us about Santiago and surrounding areas. We were fortunate to be able to watch the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace and learn of Chiles history and political history. That was one highlight of the trip. The other was taking the gondola to the top of the mountain where the statue of the Maculate Conception is. Took the funicular back down the mountain which was fun. Stopped to have a Mote con huesillo which is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink ( Non, alcoholic.) which was very refreshing on a hot day.
Wonderful private tour. They were kind, friendly and highly knowledgeable. They tailored the tour to meet my specific preferences. I highly recommend this tour.
Our guide was nice, but he had limited knowledge about the sites he took us to or drove us past. The car was not clean, and was not air conditioned. We were taken to both hills but discouraged from climbing Santa Lucia. We drove past, but were not taken into Mercado Central. Overall we saw a bit of Santiago but were disappointed with the experience
The views were excellent and we took plenty of photos. We took the cable car and visited all the main tourist attraction points such as Cerro San Cristobal, Cerro San Lucia, Palacio de Gobierno, La Vega Central, and other places part of the tour package.
I had stomach problem earlier in the morning and asked Ignacio to pick us up 45 minutes later and everything worked out. We were grateful that he was flexible even though I told him 15 minutes before planned meeting. He was knowledgeable about Santiago and Chile as well as US snd we enjoyed talking to him.
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