With Patagonia in the South and Atacama desert in the North of Chile, people tend to spend less time in the center of the country, based on what we’ve heard before coming here. Some would even say to skip the middle part, because there is not so much to do. I have to disagree with that. True, it is a different experience going from natural wonders and adventures back to city life, but its still worth a visit, especially because the central part has beautiful places, too. For us,  Santiago was the first stop there (obviously because we flew in there from PuntaArenas), we then did a day trip to Cajon del Maipo and finally made our way to Valparaiso, which is just 1,5 hours away. 

Santiago

We spent two days in Santiago at Forestal hostel, which is located just a short walk away from Estacion Baquedano as well as Calle Merced (location is really good), which has a bunch of nice hipster restaurants and cafes. It’s a nice hostel, it was, however, not super social, but the staff was super helpful with our tours that we wanted to book and they organize club nights including predrinking every now and then. The rooms are alright, we had, however, so many bugs flying around and a really weird smell – definitely not the fanciest room I’ve stayed in. As we arrived in the afternoon, all we did during our first day was finding a grocery store and eating hotdogs at Hogs Salchicheria on Merced. In the evening, we joined in on the predrinking a little bit, listened to the music of the receptionist and called it an early night, as we really wanted to go to Cajon del Maipo the next day. 

On our second day in Santiago, we wanted to catch the free walking tour (there is one at 10 and one at 3pm every day), missed it however because we still had t buy our bus ticket to Valparaiso for the evening (I know, we are so organized haha but to be fair, they told us the wrong location to buy it). Instead, we just did some exploring by ourselves, which was totally enough for the time being in the city. My favorite place in Santiago was for sure Castillo Hidalgo and Mirador Cerro Santa Luisa. It’s kind of like a garden/park where you can climb up a tiny mountain and have a nice view over the city. Another need thing to do is Mercado Central (if you are into sea food, you can definitely find a proper meal there) where you can grab some food, or just go and visit Plaza de Armas or chill at Parque Forestal. You could, f course also go and visit San Cristobal on the hill, but we were too lazy and couldn’t be bothered. 

Santiago is a nice hub and starting point to stay for a few days, there are, however, definitely some better options surrounding the city. But you can have some good food, enjoy the nightlife, which is apparently good and soak in some hipster vibes in the area of Merced. 

Cajon del Maipo

One of the guys that we met back in el Calafate recommended this day trip to us and I am so happy that we got to see this beautiful place. The guide picked us up around 6:30 am and together with a group of Brazilians and Argentinian tourists, we made our way to Cajón del Maipo. It’s approximately 2 hours away from Santiago and relatively close to the Argentinian border (there you can actually see, how narrow Chile actually is). cajón del Maipo is a gorge, which is host to the mountain reserve El Maradona Natural Monument. From there, you can access the San Francisco glacier and Lagune Morales. We had two hours to walk around the lagoon, which doesn’t sound like too much to do, but it was a beautiful walk and the water together with th reflection of the water was amazing. After the walk, the guide took us to a more reserved location further down, where we were served snacks and wine and had a great view over the gorge. It is just a half day trip, but it’s so worth it. Only downfall was, that the guide mainly spoke in Portuguese because the majority in the group was from Brazil. But he tried to at least make an effort to explain some things in English (and he gave us wine, hallo!). 

Valparaiso 

Hands down, my favorite city experience so far. People that know me know that I highly appreciate any kind of street art and graffiti (and take a shit load of pictures of it, too), so Valpo was already high up on the list. Then, it is also a harbor city, thus right on the water so that was an additional plus. We stayed in the city for three days and booked Hostal Po, which is just a 5 minute walk away from Plaza Sotomayor and Unimarkt. This hostel has probably the most comfy beds I’ve ever slept in, they serve ok breakfast and have a nice rooftop Terrasse, which is nice to have dinner on or just chill with a drink in the evening. Only downfall – not enough plugs in the rooms and no lights for every bed (seriously something that i don’t understand, in addition to sucky wifi haha). 

For our first day, we decided to first explore our surroundings a little bit and walked across the city center. There is just so much to see, hills with colorful houses and as I said – lots of street art. Because of that, we decided to do the Valparaiso street art tour (daily at 3:30pm), which brings you to all the hidden places of the city, up the hills with a beautiful view over Valpo and you learn all the different trips and styles of Valpos street artists. 

At nights we sat with a couple of people from the hostel to just have some beers and wine. The hostel also provide wristbands that give you cheaper (or free, not sure) entrance to some of the clubs in th city, so ideal when going out. 

Th next day, we initially wanted to take the free walking tour (after sleeping in and watching too many episodes of designated survivor haha) at 3 pm, but when we arrived, the guides never showed up, even though we were a smaller group of people, all waiting there. Make sure to double check with your hostel if it’s really the meeting point, because apperantly we weren’t the only ones misled by the information given to us. Instead, we walked a little through the streets and then took the Ascensor up the hill (it’s really cheap, just 300 pesos one way). From the hill, you have a nice view over the harbor and the rest of the city, you can buy some food, some souvenirs or just chill out. 

So, as you can see, there is quite a lot to see in the central part of Chile (and I am sure we did not even cover half of it), and if you have a couple of days to spare, go there and enjoy. We took the night bus from Valparaiso down to Pucón, which is a really chill 12h bus ride, but I wouldn’t have want to miss Valpo and Cajon del Maipo for sure.