Uber pickup location at SCL?
 

My first time to SCL is coming up and I'm wondering where Uber drivers would normally pick up riders? I don't speak Spanish and prefer not to exchange money, so using Uber much much preferred. I appreciate any experiences or feedback.

They probably need to park in the regular lot and will be waiting for you in person holding up a sign with your name after you leave customs.


FYI:

The official airport taxis (not the rabble taxistas who bother you when you leave customs), you can book and pay with credit card at their desks before you leave customs or also outside in the public area after customs. Since you don't tip taxistas in Chile, no cash changes hands and you will pay a cheaper price than Uber.

You will need to get Chilean Pesos though as the USD is not widely accepted in Chile outside the tiny sector of the tourist industry that caters to North Americans.

(The following info applies to US issued ATM debit cards as I have heard some UK and Euro issued cards mysteriously aren't charged a Chile-side fee)
I recommend withdrawing from a BancoSecurity ATM (the only ATM that doesn't charge a Chile-side fee) or BancoEstado ATM (the only ATM that allows larger than 200000 pesos per withdraw which allows you to minimize the 4000 peso per withdraw hit) in the city.

I'll second the "get and pay for your airport taxi" inside and not take UBER recommendation. UBER seems very expensive to/from SCL, the past few times I checked.

You'll be offered a fixed or metered fare at the taxi counter. Get the fixed one and pay right there (when you provide your hotel name or neighborhood name, they'll price accordingly).

If you are returning to SCL, some hotels will allow you to charge their car service to the room ($$$).

Thanks for the feedback! ^ I'm not worried about price, just convenience. I won't be anywhere where I need cash during my visit so won't be getting any cash.

To confirm, will a first-time-visiting non-Spanish-speaker with only credit cards have any problems using a local taxi as described above? Any firms I should use to be sure no problems with language or cards? Any other gotchas?

The guys at the official taxi operators are bilingual . The drivers may or may not be...But there is no guarantee that an Uber driver will be bilingual either.

If I can give a hotel name to someone who will understand it and take my credit card, that'll work. Uber doesn't require language because I can input the destination in the app.

The from-airport transport, no problem. You should inquire about your return to SCL (if you are returning to SCL) when you purchase your airport--->city trip because you might have difficulty making a reservation with them for the return. Their websites don't always function well, and calling will be difficult.

My few UBER "within the city" experiences have been fine. You could also take UBER back to the airport.

As far as your " I won't be anywhere where I need cash during my visit so won't be getting any cash" statement, as much as I'm not going to give advice (and so I won't), I'll state my own thoughts on the matter. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere that I don't have the means to get where I need to be should there be some incident of whatever, i.e., the credit card networks go down, my phone is stolen, UBER has an app failure, etc." But those are just thoughts for myself and not intended to be advice for anyone else. ;)

My trip is quite short and almost all of it will be at a hotel or client site (driven by local colleagues). :) I will wing it as I don't really need Chilean currency. I do think I'll try the local taxis at SCL, if there's no problem with language and cards I'm cool with that.

Another option you might want to explore is easy taxi, which is a more useful app in Chile in my experience. Most Chileans do not speak English (at all), and many taxi drivers are quite bold in trying to rip off foreigners, so be careful (though the risk of this is less on an app, as you can see exactly where you are on the map). Taxi drivers are by far the worst in this regard, other people are far more honest.

For convenience and due to the language barrier, simply getting a taxi at one of the counters in the airport is advised. They are professional, clean, and convenient, if not a bit expensive. There are also buses that are very, very cheap and just fine for about 1.600 CLP last time I took one (6 months ago).

In 15 years of travel to Chile, the only bad taxis I've ever had have been in the past few years in the Bellavista barrio at night. I either won't get in them when they try and give me a fixed ripoff price, or call them out when they have a phony meter or don't turn the meter on altogether. Of course, I know where I'm going and what the approximate fare should be, so a couple of times they've told me not to pay (for fear of me notifying the police).

Unfortunately, I have seen quite a bit of tomfoolery firsthand. A good friend of mine, who was quite the yankee from Indiana, would often ride with me in taxis back from Las Condes/Providencia. The taxistas would automatically see him and get dollar signs in their eyes, but he knew the game better than they did, so as soon as they'd try to charge him 20, 30k pesos for a simple ride, he would flag down the nearest carabinero, and suddenly the price would be a normal one. Or a shouting match. This happened to us, I would say at least 5-6 times very conservatively speaking between 2009/10 and 2013ish. I can rattle off many more stories, like for example a very gringoish friend of mine who came to visit from N. Carolina. I watched him like a hawk while he was here, and the minute he gets in a taxi by himself, the taxidriver tells him the 20k peso note he gave to pay was only a 5k or somesuch nonsense and soaks him for more. Anyway, I know far more, including one tragically expensive event with Japanese visitors. You can guess how that went.

Anyway, I am not trying to scare anyone at all. Just saying there are a lot of really unethical taxis out there in Chile, but mr. friendly carabinero will be on to them the second they see the situation is clearly fraudulent. I mostly avoid them because I am 1) antisocial and 2) buses/metro goes almost everywhere anyway, and I am just flaite like that.

I ended up going for an Uber out of the airport as when I landed and opened the app I could see the airport swarming with them. Driver was great, I think it was 22k from the airport to El Golf. As expected, no problems with language since destination was put in app.

The guy I got had parked his car on the drive approaching the arrivals area, maybe 100 metres from where I walked out. When I saw that his car wasn't moving after he accepted the ride, I started walking toward him, and he apparently did the same as we met halfway–he had a whiteboard with my name on it.

Zero fuss and very easy, I was quite pleased. Next time I come I may check out Uber Wine, which is apparently an on-demand wine tour service run through Uber. There were two available near me in El Golf around midday, interesting service to be sure. Thanks all for the advice.

I have been to Denmark four times. Total of more than two weeks. I have never changed Euros or Dollars to Kroner and never needed Danish cash.

I have also been to Chile for a total of at least two weeks, and I would not dream of trying to get by with no pesos. Even if you manage to go only to international hotels and tourist restaurants, imagine what you are missing at local markets, local transport, and local shops. On my last visit I bought several lapis lazuli figures for my children from a lady who carves them at her home in the country and brings them into Santiago on Saturday and Sunday to sell from a table, in a vacant lot. She was able to tell me all about where the stone comes from, how the figures are made, etc.

Of course, you could also buy them at the duty free shop at SCL...:rolleyes:

My wife and I are landing at SCL at noon on Saturday March 5th and was also wondering about Uber vs Taxis vs Private Transport vs Buses in getting us to Valparaiso that day. I'm seeing Private Transport for US$155-180 and a taxi charge of $85-110 (according to Rome2Rio). I'm also seeing some what looks like a quality bus ride for $10pp but not sure that I want the hassle of going to town, finding the bus station, etc. Does $85-110 sound close to what an official airport taxi might charge to go to Valpo?

A couple of years ago, when my rental car wasn't available upon arrival (and every other company was sold out), I made a deal with a guy to drive us to Viña - it was about $90 after a bit of back y forth (and the USD was weaker then) - so that pricing does seem in the ballpark.