Jan 27, 2026
My Kind of Town: Santiago
What do you want to know about Santiago?! I asked cousin Peggy if I should talk about politics or food and she said she wanted to hear about both. So let me start with a short treatise on politics, then I’ll begin the normal trip report. If you just want to hear about the food and sights, skip the next paragraph. I’ll be blogging about other areas of Chile in subsequent posts.
In the Chilean Presidential election on November 16, 2025, far-right wing candidate José Antonio Kast beat the governing left-wing coalition candidate Jeanette Jara, earning 58% of the vote. Kast is an admirer of Trump, and ran on a vocal anti-immigration platform. I was so interested to talk to locals in Chile to find out how they felt about the election. What I learned surprised me. I really only met one person who openly supported Kast. He was an older gentleman who feels Venezuelan and Colombian immigrants are creating crime and homelessness in Santiago. I spoke with many others who are not pleased with Kast’s win, but who overwhelming gave the answer, “It’s temporary.” One man we met, whose parents fled to Canadian during the Pinochet reign because they were socialists, felt that the Kast presidency would not affect life that much and that they would have a “better election next time.” One young person we met was very aware of US news, and joked that he did not think Kast would try to annex Greenland (he chuckled) as he asked us why Trump doesn’t understand that there are no penguins in the northern hemisphere. I guess I wanted folks to match my terror over fascist regimes. Wouldn’t Chileans, who suffered through atrocious human rights violations under Pinochet, be willing to crash out with me over an incoming leader who might start killing people? I could find no Chilean willing to go there. Over and over again I was amazed by how relaxed, happy, and kind the people were in Chile. Chileans were really Chillaxed. It was such a reprieve from the hostility, violence, and anger in the US. So maybe it’s a state of mind? I decided to let the calm wash over me and go about my visit.
So, Santiago is the 58th largest city in the world and the 14th largest city I have ever visited. (You can check your own city count here.) It does not feel like a city of 7 million. Each small neighborhood has a very distinct feel. We spent our time in Providencia, Lastarria, Centro, Bellavista, Vintacura, Barria Italia, and Franklin. Although the metro is easy to use and navigate, we found it was most convenient to take Ubers. We took 13 Uber rides that cost a total of $90. The door to door service and route finding is worth it for us. I also enjoy chatting with the drivers and hearing their music and radio shows!
So in this post I will cover hotels, restaurants, and sights we enjoyed in Santiago. We were there for 5 nights total, so we enjoyed two hotels, five lunches and five dinners, plus plenty of sightseeing. I will break it down by those categories.
Hotels
We stayed at a small boutique hotel, Hotel Le Reve in the Providencia neighborhood, then a larger swankier hotel The Singular in the Lastarria area. While Lastarria is more convenient for sightseeing, I liked Providencia for its quiet tree-lined streets and repreive from the tourist shuffle. I also liked the service and atmosphere at Le Reve better. The folks at The Singular were lovely, but it seemed like the place was full of entitled gringos, so the staff was hustling. At breakfast, the American couple next to us ordered one triple-single espresso and one double-double espresso each in a large cup with a side of warm whole milk. Imagine watching all the staff in a huddle trying to figure that one out. We had a suite at Le Reve that was spacious and quiet. Our room at The Singular was smaller, dated, and a little dirty for my taste.
Meals
My first step in blogging about our meals is to look at the credit card statement! LOL! We planned most of our meals in advance, but there were a few variables and I wanted to see exactly what I want to share with you by remembering where we ended up. I am going to share info about five meals and two cocktails that we really enjoyed.
Fuente Alemana was our first stop, literally. We got in to the hotel at 10 and our room was not ready so we walked over to this longtime Santiago favorite. We hadread about the lomito and wanted to try it right away! It was delicious and fun to watch the folks working there. The staff ran like a well oiled machine and the sandwich was delicious.
La Mar offerened wonderful ceviche in an upscale setting with good service. We really enjoyed chatting with our waiter, who was from Bogata. We wanted to order more food but we were so full from this ceviche course!
This is a highly recommended wine bar and was John’s top choice for dining. They do have tastings, both food and wine, and their wine list is one of the best in the city. We tried the ceveiche, prawns, bao, and rabbit. I was underwhelmed. The food took a little long and seemed overly ambitious. The Bao were really more like fried sliders than Bao.
This was another of John’s top choices because they have a seafood platter that he really wanted to try. They keep a picture of the platter on their website and I think he must of dreamed of that platter for 14 nights. When we arrived and ordered, the waiter said we should really get the half platter because there was no way we could eat the full. I was thankful for that advice! The platter was all we could do and it was insteresting, though everything started tasting the same as we ate our way through it. The wine list was great and the service was excellent.
This was my top choice for dinner, even though it was a little hard to find information about it beforehand. They are a small restaurnat with maybe only 25 covers, and they write their menu on a chalkboard each day so it is hard to plan ahead. We arrived right as the crew was finishing their kitchen meeting, and we were the first seating of the night. We were really impressed with everything we ate here and had many of our most memoriable and favorite dishes of the trip, especially the interpretive version of Pulmay, a hearty strew particularly from the Chiloé Archipelago, featuring layers of seafood (mussels, clams, shrimp), meats (pork, chorizo, chicken), potatoes, vegetables (cabbage, onion, garlic, peppers). Their pulmay came with confit chicken leg that was easily the tastiest thing I had the whole trip. Our other dishes were an amuse bouche with pickled vegetables, oysters with watermelon granache, crab-stuffed zucchini, sea bass in peanut sauce, and local tomato salad.
We had a fun psico sour tasting here! The bartender took a lot of time to describe the differences between the distilling techniques and the variations from Peru to Chile.
A must stop! It’s in a pretty “spicy” area of town near the central market. We watched a man climb the wall of the neighboring subway station to retreive some items he had been storing there. But the history is rich, and the terremoto is strong. We weren’t sure exactly what to do so we smiled a lot and nodded and took what we were served. The terremoto is a strong drink made with special wine and pineapple sorbet.
Sights
National Museum of History: One of our first stops, which was a fun way to get in the mindset of Chilean history and culture.
National Museum of Fine Arts: I enjoyed this museum but the descriptions online were confusing. It seems like it should be two buildings with contemporary in a second spot, but it is all under one roof.
Cerro San Cristobal: Great views and a great way to learn about local religious practices.
Funicular: It’s a short, steep ride with a fun view.
Cable Car: We were the second people on the cars and it was really fun! Spectacular views and a nice ride.
La Chascona: Poet Pablo Neruda’s home was one of my favorite visits! Such a fascinating structure with a wild collection of furniture and art.
Mercado Central: Who doesn’t like a market? All the fish and veggies you could possibly want.
Factoría Franklin: We got here too early to see the action. There is a distillery and restaurants in a hip repurposed building.
Persa Victor Manuel Flea Market: Reviews have compared this market to Chatuchak in Bangkok, and I can see why. Stalls as far as the eye can see. Lots of antiques and art.
Donde Golpea el Monito: If you love hats, go to this hat store! It retains a long history and the staff were so fun and helpful.
La Casa del Ceramista: A small ceramics store with a little display. If you happen to be in Bellavista, stop in.
Centro Cultural Metropolitani Gabriela Mistral: We were confused but happy. There are several art exhibits, but when we tried to enter one the guard said, “You can’t come in here.” There is a great ceramics studio downstairs and a really good bookstore upstairs.
Sky Costanero: We did not go all the way up because it was $26 each. That may seem silly. But $26 each for an elevator ride? It is attached to a mall, which we enjoyed strolling becasue it was interesting.
Here is a gallery of photos from the trip. Click on the photos for captions!
