Daniela Fernandez worked as a sommelier in Barcelona before moving to Santiago for five years before moving to Santiago in 2012. She now runs wine tours through the Maipo and Casablanca valleys. We met at a cafe in Barrio Lastarria to talk about why tourists skip Santiago and why they shouldn't.
Wine. I was working in Barcelona, surrounded by Rioja and Priorat, and a Chilean colleague kept pouring me Carmenere and Cabernet Franc from Maipo Valley. I couldn't believe the quality-to-price ratio. A bottle that would compete with $40 European wines was selling for $5,000 CLP — five dollars.
I came for a two-week research trip. By day three, I was staring at the Andes from a vineyard in Maipo, drinking a Carmenere that tasted like blackberries and pepper, and thinking: this is the most underrated wine region in the world. I moved six months later.
Fourteen years in, the Andes still stop me mid-sentence on clear mornings.
Why do tourists skip Santiago?
Everyone goes to Patagonia, Atacama, or Easter Island. Santiago gets treated as an airport — land, sleep, fly somewhere else. It's one of the great travel injustices.
Santiago has world-class wine valleys within an hour. A UNESCO World Heritage port city (Valparaiso) 90 minutes west. Andean canyons with hot springs 90 minutes east. The best seafood market in South America. Free museums. A food scene that's improving faster than any other South American capital.
And the Andes. My god, the Andes. When the air is clear — autumn and winter are best — you walk out of a cafe and there's a 5,000-meter snow-capped mountain filling the eastern sky. No other major city in the world has that backdrop.
Best neighborhood for visitors?
Lastarria, no question. Tree-lined pedestrian streets, independent bookshops, sidewalk cafes, and two free museums within walking distance (Bellas Artes and MAC). The GAM cultural center always has something on. Cerro Santa Lucia is a 5-minute walk — free park with city views, open 9AM-7PM.
It's Santiago's most charming neighborhood, and it has that European-cafe-culture feel without the European prices. A cortado and a pastry: $3,000-4,000 CLP ($3-4).
Bellavista is great for nightlife — Pio Nono street. Providencia for upscale dining. Las Condes for shopping. But Lastarria is where I'd stay.
Talk to me about Chilean wine — what should visitors know?
Three things.
First: Chile's signature grape is Carmenere, not Cabernet Sauvignon (though Chilean Cab is excellent). Carmenere was thought to be extinct — it was wiped out in France by phylloxera in the 1860s. Turns out some vines had been misidentified as Merlot in Chile and survived. It was "rediscovered" in 1994. Now it's Chile's identity grape: dark fruit, green pepper, spice, and a smoothness that makes it approachable for people who find Cabernet too aggressive.
Second: buy wine at supermarkets. Lider, Jumbo, and Santa Isabel have wine sections that Europeans would weep over. Excellent bottles for $3,000-5,000 CLP ($3-5). Reserve bottles for $5,000-10,000 CLP ($5-10). Gran Reserva for $10,000-15,000 CLP ($10-15). These are wines that export for $20-40.
Third: visit the valleys. Maipo is closest (45 minutes south) — Concha y Toro tours from $18,000 CLP. But Casablanca (90 minutes west) is my favorite for whites: Kingston Family, Bodegas RE, and Emiliana Organico are all worth visiting. Book directly with the wineries — organized tours from Santiago run $40,000-80,000 CLP for a full day with transport and 3-4 wineries.
What about the food?
Mercado Central is the starting point. The iron-and-glass building from 1872 is beautiful, and the seafood is extraordinary. But — and this is crucial — avoid the restaurants in the center aisle. Those are tourist traps with inflated prices and aggressive hosts who try to pull you in.
Go to the perimeter stalls. Donde Augusto is the most famous, but Tio Willy and the smaller operations are often better and cheaper. Order caldillo de congrio (conger eel stew, $8,000-12,000 CLP) — Pablo Neruda wrote a poem about it. Or paila marina (mixed seafood stew, $10,000-15,000 CLP).
For the best non-seafood meal: La Fuente Alemana on Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins does the legendary lomito — a steak sandwich with avocado, tomato, sauerkraut, and mayo ($6,000-8,000 CLP) that locals line up for.
And don't miss "once" — Chilean afternoon tea. Between 5-6PM, Chileans sit down for tea with bread, avocado, cheese, and ham. It's a meal disguised as a snack. Cafe Colonia on MacIver Street does a traditional once spread for $5,000-8,000 CLP.
Chilean Spanish — how bad is it?
If you learned Spanish in Mexico or from a textbook, prepare for confusion. Chileans speak fast, drop the 's' from endings, and use slang that doesn't exist anywhere else.
Survival guide:
Don't worry. Chileans are patient with foreigners. They know their Spanish is... distinctive. Smile, attempt your textbook Spanish, and they'll meet you halfway.
What do tourists get wrong?
They don't go to the Museo de la Memoria. It's a free museum about the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) — testimonies, photographs, artifacts. It's heavy. It's essential. Understanding modern Chile requires understanding what happened here. The museum is beautifully designed and deeply respectful. Allow 2-3 hours.
They also don't try pisco sour. Everyone in Peru claims pisco sour is Peruvian, and every Chilean will argue it's Chilean. I'm not getting into that debate. But Chilean pisco sour uses Chilean pisco (sweeter, more fruity than Peruvian) and it's delicious. Try it at a bar on Pio Nono for $4,000-6,000 CLP.
Your perfect Santiago day?
Morning: walk to Cerro Santa Lucia — a small hill park right in the center with city views. Free. Then coffee in Lastarria.
Late morning: Mercado Central for caldillo de congrio. Sit at a perimeter stall. Watch the vendors shucking oysters and filleting fish.
Afternoon: Museo de Bellas Artes (free, housed in a Beaux-Arts palace) or Museo de la Memoria (free, moving and important).
Evening: walk to Bellavista. La Chascona (Pablo Neruda's house, $8,000 CLP — his collections are eccentric and wonderful). Then dinner and pisco sours on Pio Nono.
Cost for that day: maybe $20,000 CLP ($20 USD). For a full day in a capital city with Andean views, world-class seafood, free museums, and a poet's house.
Will you ever leave Santiago?
I go to Barcelona once a year to visit friends. The wine is excellent there too. But when the plane descends over the Andes on the return — those white peaks stretching to the horizon, the valley city glowing below — I know I chose right.
Santiago isn't loud about its qualities. It doesn't shout. But the Andes are always there, the wine is always extraordinary, and the people have a warmth that operates underneath a slightly reserved surface. Once they trust you, Chileans are the most generous people I've met.
For the best timing, read why autumn is Santiago's secret season. And if you're deciding between South American capitals, our Santiago vs. Lima breakdown covers food, day trips, and budget. Wine lovers should also consider the Casablanca Valley en route to Valparaiso.
Come for a week. See the mountains. Drink the wine. And when someone says "cachai?" at the end of a sentence, just nod and smile. You'll figure it out.
