Santiago

I spent 3 weeks in Santiago. I enjoy the city, a lot of park, very walkable compared to Asian countries. People are very nice and easy to talk to. The city is kind of expensive (about 30-35$ for a good airbnb, 15-20$ for a restaurant).
BUT the real problem is the safety. According to local people, since about 2023, the safety became very bad.

I'm a DN since 12 years and I have travel in probably 50 countries, including dangerous one. I didn't feel safe in Santiago unfortunately, and that's why I don't plan to come back soon.
First day, I saw a chase between police and a guy on a motorbike, who just stole a phone. Police bumped the bike in front of me (like 3 meters away from me), and then they fighted in the street.
Second day, I notice a weird guy on a bike, who probably wanted to steal my phone. I was careful. 15 minutes later, in another street, the same guy appears 1 metter away from me, in the sidewalk with his motorbike, rushing on me to try to steal my phone.
The guy was following me since all this time! As foreigners here, we are target N°1.
I was extra careful so I noticed him and just had the time to put my phone behind my back, so he couldn't catch it. Then he doesn't even run away, he just u-turn, stop 5 meters from me, and stare at me for 5 seconds, probably to see if he can try again or attack me. I was ready to fight, so he chose to leave peacefully without stress, going to find another target.
Third day, 2 guys tried to steal my laptop in starbucks while I was vaping outside a few metters away (but I was looking at my computer from outside they couldn't do it).
I have a lot of examples like this, which made my stay not very peaceful.
I consider Santiago as more dangerous than Medellin, Lima, Mexico, Asuncion, Buenos Aires, Quito, Panama city.

As a 35yo white european male, dating was easy, girls are nice, pretty, no drama. If you like tattoo and piercing you will be happy there.
I don't regret my stay, but be extra careful abour safety.

Don't let yourself be discouraged by the reviews here! Most of them are untrue and very negative and actually they made me skip Santiago in 2022. I came to spend a month in February 2024 and it was amazing! Everyday I got impressed by how nice this city feels. I've been in every latam country apart from Venezuela. Santiago is for sure one of the best. The city is very developed, clean and organized at the same time has a lot of shops, nice architecture, museums, bars and places with a soul. It's safer than most Latam countries and the quality of life is very high (also better than in all of the latam countries). It's not expensive, I'd actually place it as cheaper than most (it's for sure cheaper than Brazil, Medellin, groceries are cheaper than most of the latam countries, uber probably more expensive). The city has a very good metro line, bike itau rentals, allowing you to go everywhere and is very walkable and bikeable, lots of parks and nice streets. There are also many places that you can visit around the city, with 1 hour to the nice beaches and 1 hour to nice mountains. About the common thing in those reviews "boring" - every big city needs to be discovered, one needs to learn where to go out, which park is nice etc. Santiago is no different than that. Once you learn how to manouver it, it becomes very lively and exciting. Some examples of party areas are: Manuel Montt, Lastaria (bars), Bellas Artes. The digital nomad scene is not very big compared to e.g. Buenos Aires or Medellin, but does it mean that's a bad thing? Sometimes it's even better because it's easier to make friends in 10 person groups than 200 drunk people groups. There are many international communities thriving here just check the meetup app which offers language exchange meetups or internations community where people organize for multiple meetups during the week, such as sunset hiking etc.

Unfortunately this was supposed to be the best economy in LATAM but what I found instead was a very over priced for what you get experience. People are rude in general, until you get to meet them personally, and the country is way behind in infrastructure, innovation and culture that most countries around it. Not worth your time and money at all.

Good for a short visit, bad for anything longer than a week. Foods and airbnbs are expensive than neighbouring countries.

Beautiful, boring, and expensive. Also, if you have a northern European pedigree, expect lots of stares. Met some cool folks in my 3 weeks here, but I probably wouldn't return.

Expensive and organized by Latin American standars. It's possible to ski nearby so that's very fun. Great startup scene. Gastronomy is also great. Nightlife is very boring.

People are obsessed with American living way. Everything is in Malls, from store to restaurants. You will need a car or taxi to get there. Renting apartments will be extremely complicated as you will need to show your income, paid taxes, etc. You can always use Airbnb, but you will pay 3-4 times more then what is worth. Everything is overpriced for what you will get. Food in restaurants is 5/10, if you will buy in stores, expect most of it imported from Europe, USA and other countries. Fun factor is almost zero to nothing, the most boring place. The vibe is depressive, my feeling after 3 weeks here, can be best expressed by Edvard Munch picture The Scream.

Unless you're outdoorsy Santiago will be a quite boring place, as the other reviewers say. Expensive and ugly too.

It's funny that these 3 reviews are about Santiago being boring. I was born there but moved to the US at 2 years old, when I returned to Santiago as an adult, I too found it to be extremely boring. I thought for a long time that there was something wrong with me for feeling that way about the city i was born it, but these reviews confirm it is boring. Besides that I am going next week to see how fast the internet is and if i can work from there

I lived in Santiago for a year and I can confidently say that it is THE most boring place I´ve ever been to. It´s super expensive, the air quality is very bad, terrible food (I can´t stress that enough) and very boring and welcoming people. I don't see any reason why anybody would go there as an expat or digital nomad, tbh.

I’ve been living in Santiago since 2019… and I complete agree with the review calling Santiago boring and expensive. Unless you already have friends here, save yourself money and time and look for other cities in Latam.

Maybe I’m a bit unfair here, but Santiago is so... boring. People don’t look so happy and aren’t welcoming, city has nothing special, currency with so many zeros is hard to get used... didn’t have a bad time, but it wasn’t great either. Just dull. Maybe I’m wrong and in a long term it worth it, but it lacks authenticity and don’t even compare to other cities in Latin America such as Mexico City or even Buenos Aires, both cheaper and funnier.