Christmas and New Year in Chile: parties and fireworks on the coast

1. End-of-year public holidays in Chile

In Chile, 25 December and 1 January are irrenunciable public holidays, 8 December is a holiday too, while 24 and 31 December remain ordinary days that are celebrated in the evening. Irrenunciable holidays are the strictest in the Chilean calendar, so it is better to have done your Christmas Eve shopping beforehand.

This year, 25 December falls on a Friday, so the long weekend runs from 25 to 27 December. The 1 January that follows is also a Friday, which gives a second long weekend to recover from the night of the 31st.

For Christmas Eve shopping, Santa Isabel and Líder are among the cheapest supermarkets. In Santiago, La Vega Central remains the place for summer fruit; in Valparaíso, the Mercado Cardonal; in Viña del Mar, the Mercado Municipal for fish and seafood.

2. Christmas in Chile: Nochebuena, viejo Pascuero and pan de pascua

The heart of Christmas in Chile is the cena de Nochebuena on the evening of 24 December: the family gathers around the table and waits for midnight to open the presents. The 25th, a public holiday, mostly serves to extend the celebration and rest.

Father Christmas has his own name here: the viejo Pascuero. Some families also go to the misa del gallo, the midnight mass. And since it all happens in the middle of the austral summer, the setting changes: garlands and the tree sit alongside light clothes and evenings spent outdoors.

Pan de pascua and cola de mono

Two classics appear on every end-of-year table. Pan de pascua is the Chilean Christmas cake, made with ginger, honey and candied fruit: it shows up in bakeries and supermarkets well before the 24th. Cola de mono is the Chilean Christmas drink, the one you will almost certainly be offered if you spend a December evening with Chileans.

For an international student, Christmas is often a chance to experience a Chilean family celebration from the inside, at the home of a friend, a classmate or a housemate's family. Others spend it among international friends, around a big improvised table. Both versions have their charm, and many students keep a very clear memory of that first Christmas in a T-shirt.

3. Año Nuevo en el Mar: the fireworks of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar

The big Chilean New Year event is called Año Nuevo en el Mar: at midnight, Valparaíso and Viña del Mar fire their fireworks together over the bay, and the whole waterfront becomes one huge open-air grandstand.

What the last edition looked like

• About twenty minutes of show, with more than 28,000 shots.
• 16 firing points shared between the two cities: around ten on the Valparaíso side, fired from the sea, notably off the Espigón and Coco Loco, and 7 on the Viña del Mar side, 6 at sea and 1 on land.
• Fireworks with low noise impact ("bajo impacto sonoro"), a detail that comes up in the official announcements.
• A popular fiesta on Plaza Sotomayor, in Valparaíso, with Dionisio y su cumbia, Los Viking 5 and other bands.

Because the fireworks are fired from the sea, both shores of the bay enjoy them, from the plan of Valparaíso to the borde costero of Viña. It is one of the rare moments of the year when the two cities really are a single party.

And this year?

At the time this guide is written, the programme for the coming night of the 31st has not yet been announced by the two municipalities. Valparaíso has already awarded its fireworks contract for the coming editions, but the plan can change right up to the last moment: one year, the company chosen by Viña was rejected eight days before the date, then replaced. The reflex to have in December: follow the official announcements from Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.

4. New Year in Santiago, under the Torre Entel

In Santiago, New Year found a big free event again last year: the Torre Entel party, on the Alameda, back after seven years away.

The programme was memorable: 1,000 drones in the sky, 7,000 monotiros, live music and a free show open to everyone. For many people in the capital, it was the return of a tradition they had not seen for a long time. Whether it will return this year has not been confirmed: here too, announcements usually come as the holidays approach.

The rest of the night carries on in the neighbourhoods that already come alive in the evening all year round, such as Bellavista and Lastarria. And once the holidays are over, student life picks up its weekly appointment again: Miércoles Po', the Wednesday night for exchange students, their favourite. Flatmaters students get free entry all semester.

5. Getting home after the fireworks: metro, Merval and micros

On the night of the 31st, Chilean public transport adapts its timetables, and this year's have not been published yet: the safest approach is to follow the announcements from Metro de Santiago and EFE Valparaíso as New Year's Eve approaches.

Last year, the Santiago metro extended its service after midnight on some stations only, and EFE Valparaíso reinforced the Tren Limache-Puerto, the Merval, for Christmas and New Year. These are landmarks, not a promise for this year.

On the coast

Between Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, the Merval is the backbone of the evening: the stations of both cities, from Puerto to Viña del Mar via Recreo and Miramar, are in the same fare zone, and contactless bank cards are accepted on board. The micros of Gran Valparaíso, on the other hand, are still paid in cash: keep some coins on you. The details of lines and fares are in the guides to getting around Valparaíso and getting around Viña del Mar.

In Santiago

On the metro, you can pay with your Bip! card or directly with a contactless bank card; on Red buses, bank cards are not yet accepted, so you need your Bip!. Uber, DiDi and Cabify complete the offer for late returns. Everything is explained in the guide to getting around Santiago.

6. The holidays far from home, in a shared house

For many exchange students, Christmas and New Year in Chile are the first holidays spent away from their family, and they take another shape: among housemates, friends from university and people met during the evening.

In Chile, the shared casa is very common among exchange students, often with a patio or a terrace, the obvious spot for a summer asado. Some organise their own Christmas Eve there, others join a Chilean family for Nochebuena, others head to the coast for the night of the 31st. There is no right way to spend these evenings: many students simply say they are among the strongest memories of their semester.

And for the midnight call to the family back in Europe, a Chilean line that works well helps: the comparison is in the article on the SIM card in Chile.

If you are planning your semester

The homes offered on Flatmaters are rented for the semester (5 months) or for the year (10 months), and everything is rented furnished. Booking is done online, from the listing: you pay the deposit, the equivalent of one month's rent, and nothing else, and the contract is signed electronically by the owner as soon as the booking is confirmed, so before you leave. The earlier the better, to have a wider choice. The full process is explained in how it works, and the team behind it introduces itself on the about page.

7. Frequently asked questions