Community in Santiago

Everything that is not a restaurant, a hotel or a ticketed attraction: language exchanges, running and cycling clubs, coworking spaces, yoga and padel groups, volunteer projects, and the practical guides you need when you arrive. It is the section for people spending time in Santiago rather than passing through.

Sport and work are the two reliable routes. Running clubs meet at Parque Bicentenario and Cerro San Cristobal, padel and football groups organise through club apps, and the coworking spaces around Providencia and Las Condes run regular social events. Language exchanges in Bellavista and Lastarria are the low-commitment starting point.

It helps enormously, but plenty of groups run bilingually, particularly the expat-founded running clubs, the international schools' parent networks and the larger coworking communities. Sport needs the least language of all. Anything neighbourhood-led, from a junta de vecinos to a local volunteer project, will be in Spanish.

A RUT number, because almost everything else depends on it: bank accounts, phone contracts, long-term leases and gym memberships. Alongside that, a prepaid SIM on the day you land, a Bip! card for transport, and temporary accommodation while you work out which neighbourhood actually suits you.

Barrio Italia and Barrio Yungay both retain a genuine neighbourhood identity, with independent businesses, residents associations and street festivals. Nunoa around Plaza Nunoa is the classic middle-class barrio with deep local roots. Providencia is the easiest landing pad for newcomers without losing that street-level life.