Where to Base Yourself in Chile as a Digital Nomad

The capital sits in a valley below the Andes, with a clean metro, leafy residential neighbourhoods and the country’s coworking spaces, best hospitals and international flights. Providencia is the usual first choice: central, safe, walkable and on two metro lines. Bellavista and Lastarria have the bars, theatres and restaurants, and Ñuñoa is quieter, cheaper and more local. Ski resorts are a day trip in winter and the Maipo and Casablanca wine valleys are close by. The downsides are cost, theft in the centre and winter smog. See the Santiago digital nomad guide.

Valparaíso is a port city of painted houses on steep hills, linked by stairways and old funiculars, with a UNESCO-listed historic quarter, murals everywhere and a creative crowd. Most foreigners live on Cerro Alegre or Cerro Concepción. Viña del Mar, 20 minutes away on the coastal train, is flatter, tidier and safer, with beaches and gyms. Both are about two hours from Santiago by bus. Street crime is a bigger problem in Valparaíso than in most of Chile, and many old houses are cold and damp in winter. See the Valparaíso digital nomad guide.

Chile’s second-oldest city is a relaxed coastal place in the north, with a long beach, colonial churches and a mild, dry climate that changes little through the year, though summer mornings are often cloudy. The Elqui Valley inland has pisco distilleries and some of the clearest night skies in the world. It has fibre, good shops, a regional hospital and flights to Santiago, but a small foreign community and few places to cowork. Prices rise in January and February, when Chilean holidaymakers arrive.

A small lake town in the Araucanía region, below the smoking cone of Villarrica volcano, with hot springs, rafting, hiking in Huerquehue National Park and skiing in winter. It’s busy and cheerful in summer and very quiet from May to September, when it rains a lot and many businesses close. Internet in town is fine for video calls; outside it, check before you rent. Temuco, about 90 minutes away, has the nearest big hospital and the airport with most flights.

A tidy town of wooden German-style houses on Lake Llanquihue, facing the perfect cone of Osorno volcano. It has good cafes and restaurants, a settled community of Chilean and foreign remote workers, and fibre in town. Puerto Montt airport, about 30 minutes away, has flights to Santiago and Patagonia, and the town is the start of the Carretera Austral and ferries to Chiloé. Winters are long, wet and grey.

A university city of rivers, wetlands and riverside markets in the south, with a young population, craft breweries and a lively culture. It’s cheaper than Puerto Varas and Pucón, with fibre and a regional hospital, and the Pacific coast and forests are close by. It’s one of the wettest cities in Chile, so it’s best from December to March.

• Start in Santiago to sort a SIM and your visa extension, and to see if Chile suits you.
• Follow the seasons. Spend summer in the south and the lakes, and winter in Santiago or the north.
• Check the heating before you rent anywhere outside the north; most houses have no central heating.
• Check the internet before you rent in the Lake District, especially outside town centres.
• Book early for January and February, when Chile’s summer holidays fill the coast and the lakes.