Gay Santiago: our guide to the best gay bars, clubs and hotels

Fiesta Barcelona is one of the oldest gay monthly parties happening in various venues in Santiago and also in neighboring Viña del Mar. It's also famous for being one of the best electro-pop and EDM parties in Santiago. Pop fans like me will also love the occasional Britney and Spice Girls hits they throw into the mix.

This party is an example of why we love Chileans so much. The guys who come here are hot! Shy as well – at least compared to their Argentinian cousins, which makes them even more endearing in our opinion. For the latest parties happening, check out their Facebook page and also the Super Fiesta Barcelona Instagram.

The Taurus Group organise electro gay parties in Santiago. This is where the best electro house DJs will perform, which has included the likes of Renato Cecin, Isaac Escalante and the excellent Nina Flowers (from Ru Paul's Drag Race). One of the things we love about the Taurus parties is that they often team up with Scruff, which means the crowd is slightly older than Barcelona and has a stronger bear presence.

The Taurus parties happen at different venues each month like Ex Bunker. Check their Facebook page for the latest info about the next event.

Whether it's Pride, Carnival or mid-summer, a Toby party is the place you need to be! The crowd here is more mixed with music ranging from pop to electro and the odd reggaeton anthem as well. Toby parties are more spectacular with performers, drag queens and some very handsome Speedo-clad exotic dancers.

The Toby parties take place at different locations every month, usually at Ex Bunker, Femme Club and Fausto. For the latest information, check out their Facebook page.

Contramano is our other favourite restopub to head to as a “la previa” – Chilean slang for pre-dancing drinks. It's not as big as Station, but on weekends, we recommend checking out some fascinating alternative cabaret-style shows. During weekday nights they have “After Work Happy Hour” drink promotions which attract a rather handsome crowd of suited ‘n' booted Chilean lads! Contramano also has its own designated area just for single guys – one to bear in mind if you're a solo traveller looking to connect with one (or two!) locals.

Contramano is open Wednesday to Sunday evenings from 8pm until around 3am. It is located at Bombero Núñez 388.

Bar 105 is a cutesy, cozy gay bar for men. Despite its size, it always draws quite a large crowd. For us, Bar 105 was our favorite gay bar to start the evening before heading to Farinelli or Dionisio. Bar 105 is most famous for its infamous night called “Dark Room” every Thursday from 10pm!

Bar 105 is only open from Wednesday to Saturday evenings until around 5am. We recommend heading here from around 11am, especially on weekends otherwise you'll be drinking solo! Bar 105 is located at Bombero Nuñez 105 right in the heart of Bellavista.

Despite the name, the only castrato singing you'll hear at Farinelli is the sound of the drag queens cackling at the tops their voices. These queens are extremely fierce, serving you the best drag shows in town! Forget our complaints about the Chilean accent/slang we mentioned at the start of this article – just wait till you hear gay Chilean slang thrown at you…Now that's taking your Spanish to a WHOLE new level! Farinelli has a table/seat style setting for the drag shows which start each evening from around 11pm. Trust us, it's worth it. Even if your Spanish is limited, you'll love it here especially as the queens make every effort to throw in plenty of English jokes to incorporate everyone.

Farinelli is open Tuesday to Sunday evenings from 10:30pm until around 4/5am. It is located at Bombero Nuñez 68.

The Dionisio Divas also slay big time in Santiago! This gem of a place is one of the oldest gay venues in Santiago, owned by the same team behind Farinelli. Local drag queens start out their careers here before joining the circuit of entertainers we see each night in places like Farinelli. The shows are more local than those at Farinelli so you may struggle to understand if you don't speak much Spanish. Though to be honest, even with our basic level of Spanish, trying to understand the Chilean gay slang was nearly impossible!

Dionisio is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 9 pm until around 4/5 am. The shows start at around 11 pm. Dionisio is located at Bombero Nuez 111.

Station Restobar is one of the largest gay hangouts in Santiago. We love it because it's one of the few gay places in Bellavista that is busy before 10pm! Each time we came here there was always a large crowd of (very cute!) gay guys hanging out in the large terrace area. The food at Station is pretty good too. We usually got a few tortilla Españas to compliment our Pisco Sours. Note that as this is a “restobar”, you will be obliged to order food with your drinks due to the city's strict licensing laws.

Station RestoBar is only open from Tuesday to Saturday evenings until around 3/4am. It is located at Antonia Lopez de Bello 64.

A gay night out in Bellavista on Friday and Saturday evenings will almost always end up at Ex Bunker at some stage in the night! Friday is more a mixed dance night with men of all ages. Saturday is the big night here and definitely our favourite gay evening in Santiago, particularly when they host one of the big parties like Barcelona or Toby. There are drag shows happening throughout the night with live DJs and, of course, plenty of haaawt Chilean guys dancing away. Always a guaranteed fun night out here says we! 

Bunker is only open Friday and Saturday evenings from midnight until around 5am, however, we suggest arriving from around 2am onwards to avoid dancing solo! Bunker is located at Bombero Nuez 159.

Ex Femme is the other main gay club of Santiago which crowds flock to at weekends. When we went out on Saturday evenings in Santiago, we'd usually switch between Femme and Bunker depending on where the crowds were hanging out at. Ex Femme is more focused on Tech House music in its main dance hall but also had a smaller second room for us pop queens to dance away to Britney and Katy Perry! We found the crowd at Femme to be a little bit younger than Bunker. On nights when Femme is hosting a big party like Toby, then this is the place to be!

Ex Femme is located at Bombero Nuñez 169. It is only open on Saturday evenings from around midnight until around 5/6am.

Il Divino is a super-club, one of the largest gay clubs in not only Santiago but in the whole of South America! It reminded us a lot of our experience at the Theatron gay club in Bogota. Il Divino has a capacity for up to 3,000 gays spread over 3 large dance halls with a mix of cabaret, exotic dancers and visual/artistic performances (ooh er…). Il Divino is a pretty epic gay night out in Santiago!

Il Divino parties only happen on Friday and Saturday evenings from midnight until around 5am. It is located around 20-30 minutes taxi ride from central Santiago on Route 60, Kilometro 16 exit Espacio Broadway, in the Pudahuel area.

Club Soda is a smaller gay club in Bellavista. It's a more local and mixed crowd for both gays and gals. We loved Club Soda more for the music, which focused on reggaeton and the latest Latino pop hits. One tip our friends told us before going – connect with them on their social media and ask to be put on their guest list to skip the queue. They also have a Facebook Club Soda Group, which we recommend joining to connect with locals, but you'll need some basic Spanish.

Club Soda is open from Wednesday to Saturday evenings from midnight until around 5am. It is located at Antonia Lopez de Bello, 125.

Illuminati is one of the cooler, hipster gay clubs in Santiago, or as our friends put it, ‘the trendier alternative to Bunker'. It's a quite a young crowd here, mainly gay guys and gals in their 20s and some in their 30s. One of their most popular nights is the Wednesday “Oliver Miercoles” party which is very studenty with lots of cheap drink offers. As cheesy pop queens, we love the music here – Ariana, Pink, Christina, Britney…flawless!

Illuminati is open Tuesday to Saturday evenings from midnight until around 4/5am. It is located at Antonia Lopez de Bello, 131.

I also misread it as Fisto – a bad wind-up joke to poor unassuming Seby that stuck throughout our stay in Santiago… rest assured, it's not that at all! Fausto means “magnificent” in Spanish, and it's in fact one of the oldest gay clubs in Santiago (going strong since 1979). Fausto is most famous for drag queens, who not only perform here throughout the night but also act as “hosts”. Many local drag queens start out their careers here and test their latest routine to the live crowd. Of course, be sure to expect lots of handsome topless musclemen, live DJs and exotic dancers all dancing away to the latest Latino pop hits. Note for otter boys: on Friday evenings Fausto has one of the best bear parties in Santiago.

Fausto Discotheque is open Wednesday to Sunday evenings from midnight until around 4/5am. It is located at Avenida Santa María 832 in the Providencia neighbourhood.

Sometimes also called XLimon, this is the playground for students, younger gay guys and their fans. It's also one of the fewest gay bars/clubs that we found in Santiago (I think probably the only one!) that's open on a Monday, which makes it very unique! Our friends told us that Monday is also the best night because that's when all the hairdresser boys like to hang out here. In terms of music, Latino hits and reggaeton lead the way with the young pretty crowd – anytime a Shakira hit came on, the squeals of pleasure made us giggle! Find out more, including all their drinks promotions on the (very thirsty!) Limon Santiago Instagram gallery.

Limon is open every day from 11pm until around 4/5am. It is located at Dardignac 142.

Blondie is quite a large gay club spread over 4 rooms – 2 large and 2 small offering quite a diverse mix of music including 80s/90s pop, Chilean Punk, and electronic. For us, Blondie had a very alternative feel, with a varied crowd of punks, goths, kitsch…and Seby! Yup, this was my Seby's favorite gay club in Santiago. Although this is a Shakira/Britney/Rihanna-free zone, my wild, crazy Frenchman loved the atmosphere at Blondie a lot. It's relaxed, chilled yet heaps of fun!

Blondie is only open on Friday and Saturday evenings from 11:30pm until 5am. It is located at Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 2879.

Sarita Colonia has to be rated as one of our favorite gay restaurants in the world. This gay-owned gem right in the heart of the Bellavista gay scene is quirky af and also (unsurprisingly!) one of Santiago's most highly-rated restaurants. Get this: the theme is “Peruvian transvestite” with the most eclectic mix of kitsch art and sculptures! Sarita Colonia was a real person – a Peruvian lady with the ability to make miracles happen. Well, the restaurant certainly makes miracles happen – entering here, it feels like you've entered Alice in Wonderland. It's pretty spectacular! The food is also excellent – well prepared and delicious – those ceviches! But: this is one very popular restaurant that you DO need to book a few days in advance!

El Toro is another popular gay restaurant located opposite Sarita Colonia. It's more rustic but has one of the best steaks in the city. We loved it more for the outdoor covered seating area which is the perfect spot to people watch and see who's out in town! We also like El Toro as a place to come in the afternoon for early cocktails before heading over to meet friends at Station. If, like us, on our first night in Santiago you tried to get into Sarita Colonia and realized you needed a reservation, this makes a decent alternative for dinner.

Chile's seafood is famous and the Mercado Central is one of the best places to come for the tastiest and freshest seafood ever! It's open every day until around 5pm, which makes it more of a lunch stop. There are many small restaurants and small food courts in the Mercado Central that you can easily spend a few hours just immersing yourself in this foodie paradise. We also love the Mercado Central for its unique architecture and the fact that it is a real live fish market with a buzzy exciting atmosphere.

Whether you do this yourself or with a tour, we strongly recommend spending a few hours filling your Instagram with the bright and colourful street art murals in the Bellavista neighbourhood. A lot of effort goes into some of them – we stopped and watched one group preparing a new mural which took them the best part of 3 days to complete it! One of the best ways to take it all in is on a bike tour of Santiago which as well as the street art of Bellavista also includes visits to the Presidential Palace, Parque Forestal and a few food markets.

If it's a clear day, head up to the summit of Cerro San Cristóbal via the funicular. The city views from the top are impressive as you get to see the Andes in the background. The ride up on the funicular is also a lot of fun – the back seats are the best. At the top, we visited the pretty Japanese Gardens and also the Rio-like statue that overlooks the city (except it is not a statue of Christ but of the Immaculate Conception). The funicular entrance is located near La Chascona in Bellavista so handy to tie in the two together. Another handy tip is to book a funicular tour before heading up – it's inexpensive, skips the queues and also includes a guided tour.

Another place to head for terrific views is the Costanera Tower aka the Gran Torre Santiago. Standing proud at 300m/980ft, the Costanera is the tallest building in all of Latin America! When we first saw it from afar, we thought we were hobbits heading to Mordor – it has that look about it don't you think? Level 61 and 62 is where to head for the panoramic viewing platform, ideally at sunset. You can book your tickets in advance to save time and skip the queues. Also in the Costanera Tower is a large 6-floor shopping mall in case you want to top up your travel outfits.

Chilean wine is world-famous, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. The Maipo Valley is one of the best places to visit around Santiago – it has some of the best wineries in the country and is close enough to the city to visit as part of a day trip. We recommend booking a wine tour experience to a winery like Concha y Toro, which includes your hotel pick up, a tour of the winery and of course, the best part, the wine tasting! This is also the best place to buy a few bottles to take back home as a souvenir.

La Chascona in Bellavista was Pablo Neruda's romantic hideaway with his wife Matilde, as portrayed in the 1995 movie “Il Postino”. Today La Chascona is a museum offering a fascinating insight into this man's pretty extraordinary life. Neruda was a famous Chilean politician and Nobel prize-winning poet, with a very extravagant, eclectic and quirky taste for interiors! We recommend getting the audio and following the path it recommends. Along with La Chascona, Neruda had many houses across Chile including La Sebastiana in Valparaiso and Isla Negra in El Quisco.