Last year civil unrest started in the city, it was rather dangerous for a while in the city center. However the city centre is not necessarily the business district, the main business district is in El Golf, Las Condes but some offices are downtown or in other locations. If you’re interested you can read more about it here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Chilean_protests
Bureaucracy is bad…getting things done can be slow depending on what you want to do/what your company support system is. Getting a bank account, even a basic one, can be a nightmare. Usually on a expat posting it’s relatively easy.
Supermarkets, clothing, appliances are expensive but you can go to a ferria (open green grocer market) for wonderful fresh and cheap vegetables.
Health insurance and superannuation is included with your job and you can choose, in my experience, world class hospitals and medical care, if you have the insurance or cash to pay. Look up Clinica Las Condes and Clinica Alemana. This also will depend on how you are hired, expat, local, contractor etc.
If you don’t speak Spanish, it will be difficult but easy enough to get a tutor to come to you or even better start with duolingo before you leave.
COVID has had a huge impact here, lots of permits needed to leave your home, curfews, military in certain areas etc I suspect this will ease out when the vaccine is administrated.
If you don’t like driving (like me) live close to a metro station. However if you child is going to Nido, the most popular international school, live close to it because your social life will center around that. That will mean you live in the suburbs and no public transport. You can however have a bus pick them up if you live in a more central location. I think the (private) school bus system goes to El Golf from Nido and not further.
The good!
Wonderful wine until you can’t drink anymore and well priced.
If domestic staff are something you are interested in you can hire some one to do almost anything at a reasonable price. Make sure you employ legally, sure you can get someone cheaper but why? The biggest mistake I see people make is this.
Great skiing about 1.5 hours from Santiago but don’t expect Europe or USA/Canada amenities.
Wonderful trips to the beach or a vineyard for the weekend.
Really great trips to Isla de Pascua/Easter Island, Mendoza, Pucon, Patagonia, Buenos Aires.
Weather is just sunshine everyday, maybe a few cloudy days in July.
Very child friendly, no one Is bothered if you have a child with you, in fact they generally love children and will go out of their way to be helpful.
If you think you are serious about making this move, join Discover Chile and also English Speaking Moms Chile on Facebook. Lots of helpful people, sometimes there are people who are not helpful but I just ignore them and move on.