Oh, not my first time there! Favorite place of all time, Ambrosia. An absolute do not miss it experience. And there have been some others that are quite good – I enjoy visiting Mercado La Vega (and grabbing snacks at one or another stand) and Mercado Central (favorite spot to date, Richard, El Rey de la Mariscada. A stop at El Hoyo for perníl and a terremoto wouldn’t be amiss. A classic sandwich from Fuente Alemana is an experience (you might want to order “half the usual mayonnaise” depending on your feelings about the condiment). I have more on my list that I didn’t get to as well!

You can always check out my recommended travel dining on our map of the places we’ve been (limited to the previous eight years, more or less, so things drop off as time goes on, like my earliest visits to Santiago).

I’m not sure about crime in general, though I would say this is the first time visiting Santiago that I found myself feeling a bit uneasy at times on the streets, so though we didn’t witness anything, and people kept saying it was safe to walk around, there was just an air that something was off. The center of town is covered with political graffiti post all the protests – not just public buildings, but apartment buildings, people’s homes, restaurants, every available surface seems to have become a canvas for defacing. Outside of the center – in the nicer areas, you wouldn’t know anything was different from visits in past years – other than just generally fewer people out and about it seemed. Then again, the sun was just scorching the few days we were there.

We haven’t thought about day trips yet – but we consider ourselves warned.

By coincidence, the UK government has just updated its travel advice for Chile. Summary: crime on the up. We don’t panic about this kind of stuff. How did you feel there? I would presume the usual don’t-stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb advice holds!