Experience in Santiago, Chile by Ignacio

Source

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

It is safe, quiet and it has a good nightlife. You can live extremely good in some areas depending on your budget. There are a lot of parties and it is cheap to travel around. Transport (and people) can be messy at rush hours.

What is the student lifestyle like in Santiago?

The universities don't have dorms so it is pretty much living in the city. Two mains supermarkets chains. Not so many public libraries but all the café have WiFi. There are a lot of good parties from Tuesday to Sunday.

Source

How much does it cost to live in Santiago?

Can vary a lot depending on your lifestyle and where you are staying.

• Housing: private room from 350 US, private apartment from 600 US (in Santiago, Providencia, Las Condes).
• Food: outside lunch from 8 US, weekly food purchase at supermarket 60-90 US.
• Transport: 80 US/mo by subway. Taxi are kind of 2US per kilometre.
• Alcohol: very cheap at the supermarket, at a bar 8 US a coke and 6 US a beer.
• Parties: a lot of them are free until 12pm... mega parties cost from 20 to 30 US.

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

International students are very welcome so it is not that hard. There are some good websites for that. However the deal has to be made in person, so I would recommend being at least 3 weeks before classes start.

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

A pretty common dish is red meat with rice. Some traditional dishes are pastel de choclo, empanadas, choripan. All very tasty. However it is all about bread and carbs. Santiago has no healthy food culture. So, you will get fat for sure if you don't worry about eating good. My advise is try to cook at home. You can purchase online from supermarkets.

My favourite dish is salmon with capers and veggies. 1 kilo of fresh high quality salmon cost around 16 US.

Source

What places would you recommend visiting in Santiago?

For walking/biking on a sunny Sunday: lastarrias, bellas artes, pedro de valdivia norte, parque bicentenario (my favorite), ciclo vía pocuro.

For traditional tourist things: Mercado central, San Cristobal Hill, Santa Lucia Hill, Plaza de armas, Bellavista, Teatro municipal.

Winter time: Sky centres: Valle Nevado, el Colorado, Farallones.

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

Yes it is good. Vitacura, Isidora Goyenechea, and Bellavista are the traditional best spots with a lot of restaurants offer. You have also luxury hotels. There are a lot of websites you can research where to go. There are plenty of restaurants for vegetarians, meat lovers, etc.

• Inexpensive breakfast: Domino. I liked it because it is cheap and good for 4 US.
• Favourite burgers: Mr Jack (also has my favorite dessert... hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream) burgers from 14 US.
• Favourite luch restaurant: Café del Museo in Las Tarrias (menu is about 14 US, including espresso and a nice dessert).

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

I know a lot about parties and nightclubs but very few about bars because I don't drink. The average party is bad, with much more men than woman. But there are some really good parties. The best parties are made by producers companies usually at luxury hotels. Nightclubs are much better at the week than weekends. The best advice is to stay out of blogs/internet/hotels recommendations. In Santiago, the trendy hot nightlife is advertised in Facebook selectively.

Source

What advice would you give futurestudents heading to Santiago?

1. Research about your university and the people are going there.
2. I would recommend staying out of some of the international students' events (parties, activities, etc) because you are gonna only meet other foreign people and just a few Chilean people. Try to learn Chilean slang and make some Chilean friends. For men, football is the way. For girls don't know but shopping's mall could be a good spot.
3. Research about your bank. In Santiago, you can do everything from your debit card so research on that and avoid cash.