3.04/5
839 reviews
Photo by Francisco Kemeny via Unsplash

Santiago

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boring

expensive

countries

nice

latam

guy

reviews

cheaper

bad

weeks

good

safety

day

phone

bike

steal

careful

medellin

buenos

Santiago generates mixed reactions among travelers and digital nomads. Many reviewers mention the city is very boring, with limited nightlife and lacking a strong cultural or entertaining atmosphere. This is a recurring theme, noted even by those born there. Dining is generally reviewed poorly, considered overpriced and lower quality, with much of it being imported. Despite this, Santiago is regarded as one of the more organized and clean cities in Latin America, with a good public transport system, walkability, and well-maintained parks. Some reviewers highlight its proximity to both beaches and mountains as a clear plus, especially for outdoor lovers.

Affordability is debated: while some find it more expensive than other Latin American cities, others feel it’s relatively cheaper, especially for groceries. A common negative theme revolves around safety. Multiple accounts detail attempted theft and an increase in street crime in recent years, even from seasoned travelers, making this a significant concern.

There is also mention of Santiago not having a large digital nomad scene, though this can be a positive or a negative depending on personal preferences. It's relatively easy to meet people through smaller events and language exchanges, but those seeking big DN communities may find it lacking.

Overall, Santiago might suit people seeking structure and outdoors access, but less so those looking for vibrant culture or affordable living.

AI-generated summary of reviews
1 year ago

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.

2 years ago

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.

3 years ago

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.

4 years ago

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

4 years ago

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.

4 years ago

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.

4 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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

5 years ago

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

5 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

6 years ago

✅ Very clean

✅ Well organized

✅ Walkable city

✅ Good metro and bike infrastructure

✅ Great parks and outdoor access

✅ High quality of life by LATAM standards

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Very boring

❌ Very expensive

❌ Safety concerns

❌ Poor air quality

❌ Bad food

❌ Overly mall-centric

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the summer

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ People don't speak English well

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

2781°
warm

2475°
warm

2577°
warm

2170°
mild

1763°
cool

1661°
cool

1457°
cool

1864°
cool

1966°
mild

2373°
mild

2577°
warm

Real (median)

2780°
warm

2475°
warm

2576°
warm

2170°
mild

1763°
cool

1661°
cool

1457°
cool

1864°
cool

1966°
mild

2373°
mild

2577°
warm

Humidity

nice
41%

nice
46%

nice
42%

nice
44%

nice
49%

nice
45%

nice
53%

nice
43%

nice
39%

nice
37%

Most common

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
2mm

dry
3mm

dry
6mm

dry
1mm

dry
32mm

dry
44mm

dry
1mm

rainy
90mm

dry
29mm

dry
4mm

dry
1mm

dry
0mm

Cloud

pockets
15%

pockets
13%

pockets
25%

cloudy
68%

cloudy
70%

pockets
32%

cloudy
68%

pockets
34%

pockets
14%

Air quality

clean
43 US AQI

clean
29 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
25 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
32 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
42 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
14 UVI

avoid sun
12 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
11 UVI

avoid sun
13 UVI

Remote workers

5,200 people

2,970 people

5,133 people

3,533 people

3,300 people

3,092 people

2,788 people

3,000 people

2,400 people

5,291 people

3,733 people

4,590 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

Based on Santiago's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

Help pick the best photos for Santiago and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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✈️9h

$3,371 / mo

21 Mbps

Argentina

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 15° 59° 15° 60° AQI 25

✈️2h

$3,409 / mo

🌇 Also went here540 people

Lima

Peru

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety bad

Tap to open

🌫 Feels 28° 82° 25° 78° Barely AC AQI 52 😷

✈️3h

$1,846 / mo

🌇 Also went here332 people

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72° AQI 56 😷

✈️16h

$8,237 / mo

🌇 Also went here300 people

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69° AQI 45

✈️17h

$5,173 / mo

🌇 Also went here277 people

Bangkok

Thailand

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 39° 102° 31° 87° Has AC AQI 66 😷

✈️24h

$1,669 / mo

🌇 Also went here339 people

4,800 remote workers in Santiago now, of which 5+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

🎒 Nomad Score™	3.04/5 (Rank #715) 839 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍4 liked it 👎10 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $2,298 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 17 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 A bit cold: 17°C62°F (feels 17°C63°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 70%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 54 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 27 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
👩 Safe for women	Great
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Great
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Medium: $1,500 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 8k ppl/km² (1 per 11x11m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Chile
🗓️ Average trip length	11 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	17 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 17°C 62°F + 😊 Comfy (70%) = feels 17°C 63°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 54 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 27 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Ñuñoa
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Recoleta
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 CLP in USD	USD 1.03
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	CLP 100,000 = USD 103
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Connectas
💻 Best alt. coworking space	CoworkingLatam
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
🦷 Fluoride added	💧 Yes, fluoridated
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	6,700,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$17,995 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 11x11m (121m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 47% 👱‍♀️ 53%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 80% 👱‍♀️ 20%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Vivastreet
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	LAN
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	KLM

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,298 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,562 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$3,130 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$894 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$772 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,902 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$538 / month
🏠 Median home price	$168,464
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$36 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$62 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$125 / month
🍛 Dinner	$10
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$10,925 / year
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$3 / trip

Santiago

4,800 remote workers in Santiago now, of which 5+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

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