ademanuele

We will be in Santiago a few days before and after an Antarctica cruise and wondered whether we will be able to get away without the Chilean peso and just use contactless/credit card. I suspect transport and restaurants will be fine, any situations where cash is advised?

Eastbay1K

Taxis you hail on the street, some tipping, some small vendors.

ademanuele

Sounds like we will be OK with a small amount of currency, We'll probably use Uber when needed. I think we can pre-pay taxis from the airport within the terminal?

M60_to_LGA

I would recommend obtaining at least some local currency wherever you go, just in case something unexpected happens. Maybe you need to hop a bus or grab a street cab. Maybe you wander into a street market and find a random tchotchke you didn't know you needed but now can't live without. Maybe you're dying of thirst and you need to buy a bottle of water at the kiosko on the corner. I would think a couple of hundred bucks maximum, and you can always use the remainder on a nice dinner or random stuff at the airport on your way home

Eastbay1K

Yes, just go to a taxi booth inside the airport and pay with a CC - a fixed fare to your location.

yulianman

I always have some cash in my wallet, but it stays there for weeks.
Even in the smallest kiosks you can pay with debit/credit.

I would say to have a few pesos... maybe around $ 20.000 (20-30 usd)

ademanuele

We are in Santiago and did not get any currency in the end (mainly because we did not get to find an ATM when we arrived at our hotel, though we subsequently noted there are plenty around if we did need cash). After 2 days we have found that everywhere seems to take contactless, the only place we were caught out was with the Santiago Metro (at La Moneda), which was cash only (to buy the bip! card and add credit). We went back to the main road and took an Uber which was very inexpensive and not much more that the Metro. I guess we could have withdrawn some cash for use as described above, but in truth you can get away without. Santiago a great place to spend a few days, very hot (35C) at this time of year and will be a shock when we fly to Punta Arenas on Friday to pick up our ship to Antarctica.

Marysmith0901

Cards work in a lot of places, but having some cash is smart. Small cafes, street vendors, or local markets usually prefer cash. Also, taxis might be cash-only. I'd say have a bit of both to be safe.

anc305

I have not been to Chile for years ( maybe 20 years ? - AA was still flying 767s with 1st class cabin ) . I have 34k peso from my last visit . 10k , 5k and 2k notes. Should these old notes still be ok to use or have new notes been issued ?

Eastbay1K

The 5.000 and 2.000 are now plastic. But the old ones are probably ok - but no guarantees.

anc305

Thanks Eastbay1k . If they are not ok is there a place to exchange them ? I know its not much money , but I have done it in other countries just to get a flavour of the local bureaucracy.

:D!

Hey, someone like me. I've done this in 25 countries now. It appears to be straightforward for Chile (I haven't made any plans to visit yet, but I've already accumulated about 50k old pesos in preparation):

https://www.billetesymonedas.cl/Info...nedasNew#menu2

yulianman

You can go to the Central Bank in Santiago and change there.

lamphs

Curious re: ATMs, specifically in Santiago. Used a Santander ATM. "Are you a foreigner?" (rather than simply allowing me to accept English). Does this affect the Santander fee - local vs. foreigner? It doesn't make a difference at the end of the day because the fee (in this case almost $9 USD) is reimbursed. The answer may be useful for other travelers as this may be a case where exchanging cash at the airport may be a better deal for those who don't have ATM fees reimbursed.

(I ask because I've been to several venues here where the entrance fee is higher for foreigners.)

Eastbay1K

Your card simply will not work (at least generally) if you don't click the foreigner button for your transaction. Like the machine is dialing 011 before an international call