Hotel in Santiago

[Racdan]

We are staying in Santiago for three days in January after a South American cruise on Marina. Has anyone got any suggestions for a good comfortable:) hotel near to the tourist sites, restaurants etc., I have been searching various travel sites and have become overwhelmed with the number of hotels in the different areas. As CC members have been very helpful in the past I thought this would be the place for recommendations.

 

Many thanks

[ginabab]

I would stay at a hotel near a hoho bus stop and buy a 2-day ticket and get around that way

[brazilgirl]

The Santiago Grand Hyatt is an excellent hotel... Taxis are plentiful and not very expensive and the grounds of the hotel are beautiful. A hoho bus is a good option as well.

 

The onsite restaurants are very good as well.

 

One of the highlights of our visit was a private trip to an observatory for stargazing and wine... Fascinating! We met some very interesting people and had a memorable evening. They picked us up at the Hyatt.

Edited August 20, 2016 by brazilgirl

[bitob]

Try the ports of call boards. You will find many hotel recommendations there

 

 

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[RachelG]

We stayed at the intercontinental. Very nice hotel and we got upgraded from a regular room to a 2 bed, 2 bath suite. I should have brought the entire family as it was way larger than our first house. Also it is easy walking to very nice dining and shopping, in an area safe to walk at night.

[JoePDX]

We stayed at the Hotel Orly. Nice boutique hotel in the upscale Providencia neighborhood. Lots of resaurants nearby and just a few blocks to the subway. We took cabs to more distant sights.

Edited August 21, 2016 by JoePDX

[Flatbush Flyer]

We are staying in Santiago for three days in January after a South American cruise on Marina. Has anyone got any suggestions for a good comfortable:) hotel near to the tourist sites, restaurants etc., I have been searching various travel sites and have become overwhelmed with the number of hotels in the different areas. As CC members have been very helpful in the past I thought this would be the place for recommendations.

 

 

 

Many thanks

 

 

Santiago is a beautiful capitol city. But it is pretty much the same as many other worldwide second to third tier cosmopolitan capitols. By contrast, Valparaiso is a unique and vibrant town worth a few days visit to get up close and personal with its multifaceted culture. You may want to reconsider your post cruise focus.

[Cahpek]

We are staying in Santiago for three days in January after a South American cruise on Marina. Has anyone got any suggestions for a good comfortable:) hotel near to the tourist sites, restaurants etc., I have been searching various travel sites and have become overwhelmed with the number of hotels in the different areas. As CC members have been very helpful in the past I thought this would be the place for recommendations.

 

Many thanks

 

 

Our travel agent included as part of the South American cruise/travel package 3 days stay at the Panamericano Hotel in the city centre. Good air-conditioning, although the breakfast left quite a lot to be desired (especially compared to the quality breakfast you get on cruise ships!)

 

The above hotel also had free pc and internet stations, although they might not have it on every floor, and if they did , the computers did not always work. They did not have free wifi. I think officially, it was supposed to be rated "4 Stars", but it may arguably not be up to Four Stars standard in other countries. At least it was decent and clean.

 

By the way, the standard of cuisine/cooking in Chile is BELOW what you would expect in North America, Europe, Australia or Asia. So, after your Oceania Cruise, expect to be disappointed with your meals in Santiago. It's one way to loose weight after having eating a bit too much of the good food you have on the Marina!

 

Having said that, Santiago is a very beautiful city, with grand buildings and statues. The city gives a feeling of Madrid, Spain, but with a South American "twist"!

 

TRANSFER CONSIDERATIONS.

 

Besides accommodation, have you arranged transfer from your ship (presumably docking at) Valparaiso to Santiago? The distance is 115.2km and about 1hr 25mins driving time.

 

The puzzling thing was , while there seemed to be quite a number of transfer services between Santiago (or Santiago airport) and Valparaiso, there were paltry few services in the opposite direction!

 

We found on Google a German guide who called himself "Michael, The German

Pirate" who met us in his car at Valparaiso port. Michael spoke fluent English. He took us to some interesting attractions in Valparaiso, plus wineries for wine-tasting in the Casablanca valley on the way to our hotel in downtown Santiago. For the entire trip, I think he charged us around US$100-120 per car (if we remember correctly). We checked other guides and they charged quite a lot more.

 

There are also transfer vans/taxis waiting outside the passenger terminal in Valparaiso port that will take you to Santiago. You may need to haggle with the drivers - so bear in mind the above price, so you do not get overcharged.

 

PASSING THROUGH CUSTOMS

 

Another important thing when you arrive at Valparaiso port is the custom rules. They are absolutely obsessed with preventing anyone from taking food and plants into the country.

 

They even have sniffer dogs to check your luggage. If they find any trace of food or plants, you would be very heavily fined, which would not be a nice way to start your visit to Chile!

 

On one cruise docking in Valparaiso, before we arrived, I washed the inside of my suitcase three times and checked there was no food or plant items, not even a sweet wrapper ! In spite of that, the sniffer dogs smelled something- it might have had been the scent of a previous packet of biscuits/cookies left in the suitcase from a previous trip, even though that wrapper had since been discarded. The customs had to open my suitcase , and although they found nothing, I felt as if I was caught doing something bad passing through Checkpoint Charlie in the old days of East Berlin !!!!

 

So, please, please be aware of these issues before you dock in Valparaiso.

 

Enjoy your visit to Chile.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Cahpek

[DOJO466]

We stayed at the Hotel Orly. Nice boutique hotel in the upscale Providencia neighborhood. Lots of resaurants nearby and just a few blocks to the subway. We took cabs to more distant sights.

 

We too stayed at the Orly. The hotel itself was fully booked but for the price of a single hotel room they gave us an apartment that was their property and it was diagonally across the street. It was wonderful. Liguria restaurant was a few steps from hotel and was fantastic. We would stay there again.

[Cahpek]

I reread my above message and realised some mistakes:

 

1) The Hotel Panamericano "may" have wifi (but am not sure)

 

2) I did not wash my suitcase three times, I only cleaned it and checked it thrice!

 

3) I mispelled the word "wrapper" as "wrappe" !

 

Oops. Sorry!

[marbobz]

CHL hostels