When I was working in Santiago de Chile, it was hard to plan in advance because I never knew whether or not I’d be working or if I had the energy to go somewhere after a stressful week. Cerro Santa Lucía is a good place to go if this happens to you! However if you’re a tourist, I think it’ll be interesting nonetheless to visit this if you’ve the time. Cerro San Cristóbal is way better, so if you only have time to visit one, forget Santa Lucía!
And what to do in Cerro Santa Lucía? It’s a great place to go for a walk or just hang out, you’ll see many Chileans just sitting in the grass, relaxing. There’s also a viewpoint in the top of the hill for you to see a little bit of the city in a different perspective.
Honestly there’s nothing over the top interesting here but I enjoy walking and something so accessible (metro station right underneath) cannot be disregarded.
If you do end up visiting Santa Lucía, a small tip for you regarding souvenirs: everyone talks about buying souvenirs in “Los Dominicos”, while I totally agree that you should visit “Los Dominicos”, if you’re not interested in something very specific, you’ll probably find it much cheaper in Santa Lucía’s market. You just need to cross to the other side of the road from the Cerro! You’ll be surprised about the price difference for the same thing between these two markets.
Have you ever visited this Cerro? What did you enjoy most?