Chile
Santiago de Chile
The Andes are 40km away and half the year you can't see them. What Santiago costs, and the clock that sets the price.
Currency
CLP
Language
Español — spoken fast, with the endings shaved off
Best months
March to May and September to November — the shoulder months, when the smog lifts and you can actually see the mountains
Mid-range budget
$
110
/ day
Santiago sits in a bowl with the Andes on one side and a second mountain range on the other, and the bowl runs the city. When the air is clear the mountains stand over the end of every street and it is one of the great urban views on earth. When it isn't, they vanish completely and the same street looks like anywhere. Half the trick of this city is knowing which half of the year you're in.
The other half is the clock. Chile eats its big meal at lunch and its shared meal at seven, and the prices follow — the same kitchen that charges you properly at nine will feed you four courses at one for the price of a coffee and a sandwich. Learn the clock and Santiago goes from the most expensive capital in South America to a city where eight of you eat together every night without anybody doing arithmetic in their head.
The soundtrack
Practical Stuff
Tipping
The bill arrives with a 10% propina sugerida already calculated, and the card machine asks out loud whether to include it. It is legally voluntary and socially expected — waiters are paid on the assumption you say yes. Say yes unless the service was genuinely bad. Nothing extra is needed on top, and nobody tips in cafés, bars or taxis beyond rounding up.
Safety
Santiago is one of the calmer big cities in the region, and the risk that actually reaches visitors is theft rather than anything worse: phones going off tables and out of back pockets on rush-hour metro platforms and in crowded markets. Ride outside peak hours where you can, keep the phone in a zipped pocket rather than your hand, and wear the bag in front in La Vega and around Plaza de Armas. After dark, take a ride-hailing car instead of walking a route you don't know. The eastern comunas — Providencia, Ñuñoa, Las Condes, Vitacura — are quiet; the western edges around Estación Central are not where to wander at night.
SIM card
Buy a Chilean eSIM before you fly. Local SIMs need a passport registration at a shop, and the airport counters charge a premium for the same coverage you can load on the plane.