Driving in Chile (in and around Santiago). Is it difficult?

Question

I cant drive a manual car very well and renting an automatic car is too expensive.

Hoping that driving around Santiago is easy. Is it?

Ive driven in big cities like los angeles, san francisco, and milan (IT). How similar is the traffic situation in the city?

Answer 1

Santiago is not a difficult city to drive around, compared to Lima or Mexico City which are simply chaotic. The traffic is well organized and one of the biggest advantages of all Chile is that the policemen (carabineros) are very well organized and everyone respects them a lot as they wont accept any bribes from anyone. However, I've  never rented a car when I've been to Santiago as I found the public transportation system to be one of the best on the world. The subway or Metro has the cleanest stations I've ever seen and the subway itself is reliable, safe, clean and fast. The buses may be quite a problem now with the new system in place (Transantiago) but overall they seem to work well. If you are renting a car, I recommend you check on webs like map quest or any chilean map, the map of Santiago so you are familiarized with the streets (the city itself and main avenues go from east to west). It's pretty easy to read, Santiago is a city which has very good road conditions and again, the police are great. If you've driven in LA, of course you will be able to drive in Santiago!

Answer 2

Hi, I am Chilean

Santiago is a great city, but driving here, isn't difficult (for own experience), to drive a car in its streets is cool (especially east zone). however in center or west zone is a few bad for hole in the streets, called "eventos" too.

Exist "autopista central", is a highway into of Santiago.

This highway is called Américo Vespucio. Exist others as Panamerica Sur, etc. They are very modern, however you should pay for use its. this sistem of payment is called "Tag".

Luck friend

Answer 3

I am Chilean and let me tell you, BE CAREFUL, the roads are very organized BUT people are very agressive while driving. A lot of people gets run over every year.TRANSANTIAGO is currently c**p. The transportation system USED to be very good but with the implement of TRANSANTIAGO everything got messy. Bring a map with you. Maps are easy to understand in Santiago. Send me an email if you need help. AGAIN, people ARE very agressive while driving. BE CAREFUL WITH BUS DRIVERS. THEY ARE VERY RUDE AND WILL NOT YIELD. I have driven in LA many times, you should be fine if you are careful.

Answer 4

We drove a big Ram 3500 through Chile and in Santiago. Comming all the way from Texas, Mexico and all the Central American countries, driving through Ecuador and Peru, driving in Chile looked like .... driving in heaven. No kidding. We did not find the drivers agresive. Not at all. A two lane road was a two lane road, not made a 3, 4 or 5 'lane'  road, cars next to each other squezing in at every small hole between you and the other car in front, behind or next to you.  I dont recall  any one honking their horn unlike the rest of C&S America in whatever situation, no 'fingers' or other bad signs, no shouting or calling names. Never had problem with the police. We drove from crossing at the Peruvian border down to the Lake district for crossing into Argentina, so quite some miles.

Answer 5

You don't want to dive in Santiago... To crazy, Better to take mass transportation, or walk.  Plus it is difficult to find gas stations...