Experience in Santiago, Chile by Felipe

What is it like to live in Santiago? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

The city has a lot of traffic. Your experience will depend on how far you live from the place you are going everyday, and how you commute there.
I would highly recommend living near a subway station if the place you are going nearby is near one of them. Subway works perfectly and is stable (you know almost for a fact how long it will take to arrive where you are going).
If the place you will need to commute everyday isn't near a subway station you should consider living nearby.

What is the student lifestyle like in Santiago?

It's very fun, there are many places to party.
Each year there are more and more international students and workers.
It's not Paris, so there aren't thousands of cultural events every week, but definitely there are many many things to do.

How much does it cost to live in Santiago?

Besides what you pay for your sleeping accomodation, on which I would assume you have access to a kitchen, you will need at least US$400 for food per month which means around US$100 on supermarket per week.
On transportation you will spend US$1.5 everyday using busses and subway; if you manage to get a "student pass" it's half.
Depending on the neighbourhood you choose to live, the price you will pay.

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Santiago? Is there any advice you can give?

I think there are many options around. It will depend on your budget.
Things you should consider:
- Living near the subway is really helpful to move around the city. In some sectors there are shared bikes and scooters services (like Lime, Grin, Mobike, etc.)
- Most secure neighbourhoods are "Las Condes" and "Vitacura" as they have private police and cameras everywhere.
- Use Google maps to check the time it would take from your place of residence to your university or job and decide how much your time is worth. I would recommend to keep commuting time under 45 minutes. 30 is normal. Google Maps almost always has the timings right, I would usually add 10 minutes so I am not late where I need to go. Make sure you check it at the time (local time) you would commute (a sunday morning is different than a week-day rush hour)

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

There is food for everyone on big supermarkets.
Vegan food is hard to find on restaurants.
I personally know 3 Vegetarian restaurants.
Meat is everywhere, so "omnivurous" restaurants are the easiest to find.
Most common delivery dishes are Pizza, Sandwiches and Sushi. Still there are a lot of options depending on the sector you live. I think "Providencia" and "Las Condes" have the more variety of food.

What places would you recommend visiting in Santiago?

There are many places. As I always recommend: there is no sense on reinventing the wheel everyday - download the Google Trips app and find the place by your interests and location. I have visited almost all, and in general they all worth it.

Is it good to eat out in Santiago? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

There are many awesome places to eat. It will depend on your budget.
A must for everyone is "Mercado Central" also known as "Santiago Central Market". Delicious food, great prices for everyone, awesome building, and full of people from everywhere. When there (and always) stay catious with your belongings.

Is the nightlife good in Santiago? Where is good to go?

Nightlife in Santiago is very diverse. It will depend on the type of music you want to dance to. There are clubs almost on all neighbourhoods. Party epicenter is called "Bellavista".
Personally I don't go there much, I mostly go to clubs located in "Vitacura" (like Club EVE or Amanda), "Las Condes" (like "Omnium") and "Plaza San Enrique" in Lo Barnechea" which hosts 4 or 5 different clubs.

What advice would you give future students heading to Santiago?

Beyond everything I wrote, you must know that Santiago has 4 very marked seasons, so you should prepare fom relatevly hot days ( 30 C / 86 F) in the summer, cold days in the winter ( 2 C / 35 F ) and everything in between. It rains during the autumn and winter, and I think it has snowed in the city around 4 times in the last decade, but, if you like snowboarding or skiing, snow resorts are at 1 hour distance, same as the ocean.
Chile is huge, and has a lot of places to visit outside Santiago, so I would highly recommend travelling as much as you can when you come here. You can even go to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a weekend. There are many options for every price. Sometimes it's cheaper to travel the country by plane than that by bus, depending on the dates and how many people, but in general, I would say that you should explore outside the city as much as you can. There are many many things to do outside the city.
Always stay catious with your belongings.
In Santiago and everywhere you travel anywhere: never ever have all your credit cards in your wallet while you are around. Always keep one credit card in your room inside a safe or hidden. Don't go around with your passport: photocopy it's main pages (your picture page and your visa page if any) and bring that around with another ID, such as driving licence or other Id your country might have.