The Funicular Up San Cristobal Hill

how to take funicular cerro san cristobal hill santiago chile

The funicular up to the viewpoint of San Cristobal Hill was on my to-do list with a question mark behind it. When Santiago turned out to be less exciting than I expected, I figured I’d go ahead and tick it off. Let me say now, it isn’t a must do. It is cheap, and the views are nice. Besides that, unless you’re keen on funiculars, there’s not much to it. At the top you are first met by a viewing area and souvenir stalls. If you proceed up the staircases you find to the right, it will take you past kiosks, cafes and the likes, up to a church and a virgin statue. Straight it looked like a lot of parkland lay ahead. An alternative to the funicular is hiking up, driving or doing another cable car (Teleferico).

Getting there, I decided to walk over from my hotel in Bellas Artes. It took a while, longer than I thought it would, but it was a really good idea, as it took me through the neighbourhood of Bellevista – an area of plenty and impressive street art, and also, by the look of it, restaurants and bars, perfect for a night out.

Website: funicularsantiago.cl ~~ parquemet.cl

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12 thoughts on “The Funicular Up San Cristobal Hill

  1. There are some interesting things to see in Santiago and I found out about them on a walking tour. I thought the best views of the city were from Sky Costanera.

    1. Sky Costanera sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. Did you do the free city walking tour? I saw flyers for them at the hostel, but I didn’t have time to join. Met a couple a the airport who had done one, and liked it a lot. Had I had time, I would have joined.

    1. Street art was great! When the view is stunning, it is worth it, but it must be “out of this world” 😀

  2. Thanks for an honest post! We’ll be travelling through next year with our kids. Safe to say that they are funicular fans, so we’ll probably find ourselves going up this! #farawayfiles

    1. Yes, to me it wasn’t more than another big city. Not much to see and do, than walk the streets. Probably more exciting to live there than to visit as a tourist.

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