If disco makes you think John Travolta and leather fringe, prepare to widen your definition: in Chile, the disco is the club that will keep you dancing all night long. Learn how to party like a Chilean and do not hit the clubs until the wee hours of the morning, when the places fill up and the real show begins.
And if you’re staying in a shared hostel, make sure you have established the “lock-out” hour with the owner to avoid any unpleasant surprises after your night on the town.
Let’s looks at the club scene in five of Chile’s biggest cities;
Santiago
A whole new side of Chile’s cosmopolitan capital comes to light once the sunsets. University students, young professionals, and international tourists make Santiago’s club scene a rapidly evolving and always an interesting blend.
Barrio Bellavista is a classic nightlife hub, including gay-friendly dance clubs, a reggae club or two, and plenty of places to drink an affordable beer.
Barrio Brasil is popular with Chilean university students and a certain bohemian-intellectual crowd, while downtown Santiago hosts a selection of discos with crossover appeals.
If you want to party among the young and beautiful, head to Providencia, Las Condes or even up to Vitacura, where the cover charges may be as much as double the cost but where you will find a good variety of DJs and dance moves, so be it.
Valparaso and Vina del Mar
The sister cities by the sea make up the second-largest population center in Chile, and while Valparaiso proudly identifies itself as the grungier of the two, the distinction is not so marked at night. Both cities offer a rockstar diversity of nightclub options, characterized by a generally young clientele and lots of live music.
Nightclubs abound in this city near the hills Cerro Concepcion and Cerro Alegre. What look like abandoned buildings by day become trendy, multi-story dance halls by night, just look for the long lines of university-age kids and you will not miss them. You can also find a plenty of clubs in the shadow of the hill Cerro La Carcel, on Subida Ecuador.
Concepcion
Settled on the River Bio Bio and filled to brimming with university students, Concepcion is one of Chile’s most outstanding cities, with a wealth of nightlife options priced to fall within a student budget. Head to Barrio Estacion along Avenida Prat, across from the old train station, where you will find everything you need for an evening in the bohemian city restaurants and bars for a good dinner and mellow conversation while you wait for the closeby discos to heat up, plenty of popular dance clubs where you can dance the night away, and a hotel to call home the next morning.
La Serena
Even though the pretty seaside city has plenty of university students during the school year, La Serena defies being pigeon-holed as a college town because it really starts to heat up during summer vacation, when Chileans and international tourists flock to its sandy beaches.
Precisely, the best time to enjoy La Serena nightlife is during the summer months of December to March. A string of nightclubs extends along the seafront, reaching past the lighthouse and all the way up to Barrio Ingles in the nearby city of Coquimbo.
You will not find many hostels in the neighborhood, however, so plan on taking a cab back to the city center at the end of the night
Iquique
Iquique is quickly turning into one of Chile’s most popular beach resorts, and nothing says “vacation” like a day on the beach and a night out dancing. The best clubs and discos in the city are clumped in the Bajo Molles neighborhood, where you can find a wide range of music and levels of intimacy.
Plan on paying for a taxi at the end of the night, though, as there are not many lodging options nearby and it is not easily accessible by public transportation.
"A lot of places to go out for a drink" - Petrov from Russia
