Best Place to Exchange Money in Santiago

Where to change money in Santiago

Santiago's casas de cambio cluster in the centre around Agustinas, Huérfanos, Morandé and Paseo Ahumada. In January 2026 Carabineros arrested a man there who had lured tourists with a better rate and made off with their money; police advise using established shops only. Chile's tourist board notes that the rate you get may differ from the Central Bank's reference figure, so look that up first. We found no exchange office confirmed by two independent sources, so we name none.

• Casas de cambio, Agustinas and Huérfanos, Santiago Centro - Walk into a proper shopfront, check the boards at a few of them, and count your pesos at the counter.
• Bank cash machines, Paseo Ahumada and nearby streets - The simplest way to get pesos. The FCDO says muggers pick out people coming away from cash machines or exchange offices, so put the money away before you step outside.

Changing money at the airport

Arturo Merino Benítez airport (SCL) is in Pudahuel, west of the city. We could not check the operator's pages for exchange desks or cash machines, so none are listed here; arrive with a card that works abroad.

Centropuerto buses run from Los Héroes on Metro Line 1 and take about 40 minutes; the company quotes CLP 2,300 one way or CLP 3,900 return, payable in cash or by card at its airport counters and by card on board in town. Turbus runs airport coaches from Terminal Alameda and Pajaritos, and ordinary RED buses 444 (from La Cisterna) and 555 (from Pajaritos) charge the normal bus fare. A Metro line to the airport was announced in June 2025, but works are not due to finish until 2032. The FCDO warns that unlicensed airport taxi drivers have added digits to fares and used card readers with unreadable displays, so take an official taxi and see the amount before you hand over your card.

ATMs and cards in Santiago

Travel-money guides report that Chilean cash machines charge a foreign card a flat fee for each withdrawal, whatever the amount, and cap single withdrawals fairly low. No bank or news source confirms the figures, so we do not quote them: check the fee shown before confirming, and take out bigger amounts less often.

If a machine or card terminal asks whether to charge you in pounds, choose pesos, so that your own bank sets the rate. Keep some small notes for markets, ferias and tips.

Paying for transport in Santiago

The Metro, Tren Nos and RED buses share one fare system. Red Movilidad, which runs it, lists Metro fares of CLP 735 in the low period (6:00-6:59 and 20:45-23:00), CLP 815 in the valley period and at weekends, and CLP 895 at peak times (7:00-8:59 and 18:00-19:59); a bus costs CLP 795 at any hour. One payment covers up to two transfers within 120 minutes.

Since 13 February 2026 Metro and Tren Nos gates have accepted a tap from Visa and Mastercard cards and phone wallets and pay the same adult fare as with Bip!. Red Movilidad says cards from 97 countries were used in the first fortnight, British ones among the most frequent. Buses are not yet included (the aim is to add them by the end of 2026), so buy a Bip! card at a Metro ticket office and top it up there or at station machines, or pay by QR code from the Red or BancoEstado app.

Good to know

• Restaurants, bars and cafés with table service must suggest a tip of at least 10 per cent on the bill, Chile's Labour Directorate explains; you pay it unless you say otherwise, so it is voluntary.
• Hotels registered with the tax authority (SII) do not charge VAT to foreign tourists with no home or residence in Chile when they are paid in foreign currency. The SII does not say which documents a hotel will want, so ask when you book.
• Pickpocketing, distraction thefts and muggings are common in Santiago, the FCDO says, including at airports, hotels and bus stations; keep phones and bags off café tables.