Where to stay in Santiago
Lastarria, Providencia, Bellavista or Barrio Italia — four districts, four different evenings; the metro reaches almost all of them.
- First visit
- Lastarria and Bellas Artes
- For quiet
- Providencia: calm
- For nights out
- Bellavista, under San Cristóbal
Santiago is a city where metro line 1 solves almost everything, so you choose a district by the evening you want rather than by distance. The centre is for walking, Providencia for quiet, Bellavista for noise, and Barrio Italia for restaurants in the yards of old houses.
Lastarria and Bellas Artes — everything on foot
Two neighbouring quarters beside the Santa Lucía hill, with the fine arts museum, bookshops and restaurants two blocks away. Plaza de Armas is ten minutes' walk and La Moneda fifteen. The best choice for three days; the one drawback is that it is lively at night and you hear it.
Providencia — the most rooms
East of the centre on metro line 1, with parks and quiet streets. This is where the hotels and flats are and where there is least to worry about; ten minutes to the centre by metro. Choose it for a longer stay and for people who are not out every night.
Bellavista — the city that does not sleep
Between the river and Cerro San Cristóbal, with Neruda's house, the Patio Bellavista and streets of bars. At weekends you hear it until morning; rooms on the side streets are quieter, but then you lose the reason for being there. Choose it deliberately, not by accident.
Barrio Italia — little real lodging
A former artisans' quarter with few hotels or flats to rent — anyone staying here usually picks a small house, not a chain. There is no metro station in the quarter itself, the nearest is a ten-minute walk, so evenings mean a taxi or a ride app. Half of it, including many of the restaurants that are the reason to stay here, closes on Sundays.
What to avoid
- Santiago Centro for a longer stay. It is cheap and central, but it empties after seven and is dead at weekends.
- A room with an Andes view and no metro. The view depends on the smog; the metro depends on nothing.
- Las Condes. A business and residential quarter of glass towers; comfortable and expensive, but half an hour by metro from everything you came to see.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which district suits a first visit?
Lastarria or Bellas Artes: the museums, the Santa Lucía hill and the restaurants are on foot, and the centre is ten minutes away. Providencia is better if quiet matters and you are staying longer.
Is Santiago safe?
In the districts listed here, yes. The centre thins out after dark, and it is better to take the metro or a ride app then than to walk to the station.
Where is cheapest?
Santiago Centro, the business part of town. Prices are lowest and everything is close, but the quarter empties completely after seven and at weekends — fine for a night or two, not for longer.
Ready for Santiago?
Where to next
Santiago in 3 days
→The palace opens only on weekdays, and the museum and Neruda's house close on Mondays — so the one day for…
Valparaíso · 103 km
→A port on forty-two hills, with nineteenth-century lifts instead of stairs and a mural on every second wall
How well does Santiago suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Front row for the next trip
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