When we learned that the tallest building in South America was Gran Torre Santiago, we just had to pay a visit during our stay in Chile’s bustling capital.
We are always on the lookout for the tallest, largest, oldest, and smallest things around the world. And with its 300 meters height, Gran Torre Santiago is the tallest building in all of South America! So, we naturally had to go by.
In this blog post, we will share our experiences from South America’s tallest building and give you all the information you need to know about Gran Torre Santiago, so you can make the trip yourself (such as ticket prices, opening hours, and how to get there).
Visiting Gran Torre Santiago is honestly one of the best things you can do in the capital of Chile! So don’t miss out!
Now let’s get started on this blog post about South America’s tallest and most impressive building.
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About Gran Torre Santiago
Gran Torre Santiago is Spanish for the “Great Santiago Tower” – and we assure you it is great! It’s also known as “Sky Costanera”, which is the name of the observatory deck in the top of Gran Torre Santiago.
As we just mentioned, it stands 300 meters tall with 62 floors and is therefore the tallest building in South America, and it’s the second tallest building in all of Latin America (which includes Central America in the equation). It’s safe to say that Gran Torre is one of Chile’s most famous buildings.
The man who designed the skyscraper is the famous Argentine-American architect César Pelli. He was also one of the main architects behind the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, which is another amazing building that we’ve been lucky to visit during our travels.
The construction of Gran Torre Santiago began in 2006 and was completed in 2013.
The skyscraper is part of the Costanera Center Complex, which we quickly learned was a shopping mall. It’s funny how these skyscrapers are located in malls – just like we learned that Petronas Twin Towers was part of KLCC shopping mall.
So, you will find the entrance to Gran Torre Santiago in the ground floor of Costanera shopping mall by looking for the name of the observation deck, “Sky Costanera”.
Before your visit to Gran Torre Santiago
Before we share our own experience in South America’s tallest building, we want to share some practical information in case you want to visit the skyscraper yourself. So here are the directions, opening hours and ticket prices of Gran Torre Santiago in 2023.
How to get to Gran Torre Santiago
It’s super easy to get to the Gran Torre from anywhere in Santiago.
We took the red metro line from Santa Lucia Station (Santiago City Center) to Tobalaba Metro Station.
From Tobalaba you only have a 2-minute walk to the Costanera Center Complex where you’ll find the building. If you don’t know which way to go, just look up and follow the big skyscraper!
Ticket prices for Gran Torre Santiago in 2024
You can either book your ticket online or just go straight to Gran Torre Santiago and buy your ticket on arrival. There is no difference in price whether you buy the ticket online or at the ticket office.
Here are the ticket prices to Gran Torre Santiago in 2024:
| Ticket Types | Ticket Prices 2024 |
|---|---|
| Adults (13+ years old) | 16.000 CLP |
| Children (4-12 years old) | 6.000 CLP |
| Small Children (0-3 years old) | FREE |
Opening hours to Gran Torre Santiago in 2024
Gran Torre Santiago is open every day from 10 AM to 10 PM.
However, the ticket office closes at 9 PM, so make sure to make it up to the Sky Costanera observation deck before this hour.
Is there a time limit for how long you can visit
Nope! We stayed at the viewpoint for as long as we wanted.
If you want to know some more practical information before your visit, you can learn more at the Sky Costanera website.
Going up the tallest building in South America
Now that you have all the practical information about the building, we want to share our little experience of going up South America’s tallest building.
Where is the entrance?
It was a beautiful sunny day during Chile’s summer when we decided to visit Gran Torre Santiago.
We made it to the Costanera Shopping mall and looked around for the entrance to the Grand Tower. We actually got lost in the mall, so in the end we asked around for the Sky Costanera entrance in our broken Spanish.
Once we found the Sky Costanera entrance, we were surprised that there were no other tourists. We expected to see a line but there was literally no one there. Maybe this was due to the fact that we visited Santiago in February 2020 when the Chilean people were still protesting against the government.
Anyways, everything went smooth.
We bought our tickets, passed through a security check, and went straight up the elevator to the Sky Costanera observation deck.
360 views at the observation deck
We were delighted to find that only a handful of other tourists were there. We literally had the top of the building to ourselves!
Even though I, Cecilie, was happy not to be surrounded by big tourist crowds, it still took me some time to appreciate the great views over Santiago… Because I’m a chicken when it comes to heights. I guess some things never change.
The observation deck in Gran Torre Santiago has a great 360 view over the city. Being hundreds of meters above Chile’s capital was just incredible! Santiago is such a great metropolis! Apparently more than 6 million people live in the capital of Chile, which is equivalent to the amount of people that live in all of Denmark (where I’m from).
We learned that there is actually an upper floor from the main viewpoint. Apparently, this is the open air floor. Yes, you heard it right! There is no roof here, so if it rains, you get wet. It’s incredible to stand in this height and feel the air from outside. What an impressive design!
Cold beers in Gran Torre Santiago’s restaurant
Exploring the incredible views over Santiago made us thirsty.
Luckily for us, there is a restaurant in this skyscraper! What?!
So we had an epiphany – when would we again ever have the chance to drink an ice cold beer at an almost 300 meters height in South America’s tallest building? Probably never. So, we bought an overpriced (but delicious!) beer in Gran Torre Santiago.
I even had one of my favorite Belgian beers – Hoegaarden.
We really recommend anyone visiting Gran Torre Santiago to go and have a drink in the restaurant. It will be one of your most memorable drinks! And when will you ever have this opportunity again?
Why we really enjoyed Gran Torre Santiago
We want to end this blog post by sharing why we really loved our visit to this building – and obviously have dedicated a full blog post to.
First of all, we basically had the whole place to ourselves! We never had to wait around for other people, stand in line or be interrupted in any way. Being there alone also meant a lot of great photo opportunities!
Second, there was no time limit. If you read my post on the incredible Petronas Twin Towers, you’ll learn that you only have a limited time at each viewpoint. In Gran Torre Santiago, you can stay as long as you want! There is no pressure and you actually have time to enjoy all the different views from the observation deck.
Lastly, there is a restaurant at the top! We couldn’t help ourselves, we just had to sit down and enjoy a drink in the tallest building in South America.
We overall think that you get a lot of value out of your money. The views are just amazing, you have all the time you need to explore, you aren’t bothered by big tour groups, and you have the chance to enjoy a cold beer.
What’s not to like?
We hope you enjoyed this blog post about South America’s tallest building – Gran Torre Santiago! Feel free to ask me any questions about the skyscraper in the comment, and we’ll do our best to give you a good answer.
Also, make sure to book your ticket beforehand if you want to plan ahead.
South America is one of the most incredible continents that we’ve been to. If you’re thinking about visiting but want to know more about the overall safety – then make sure to read my blog post about Is it safe to travel in South America? SPOILER ALERT! The answer is yes – so start packing!
Thanks for reading this blog post! Make sure to check out my other blog posts from Chile.
We planned to be in Chile in May before Covid-19 hit. I’m so excited to read your stories- the pictures make me want to go even more! Hoegaarden is one of my favorite beers as well so I’ll make sure to have one in your honor when we finally make it to Gran Torre!
Chile has so much to offer! From Penguins in Patagonia to the driest place on earth in the Atacama desert. Sounds great Becky! Cheers 😁
wow I didn’t even know this existed and I have been to santiago twice!
There is always a reason to go back 😉 Enjoy Rosh!
This is so cool! I love that there is a restaurant at the top. Living in Chicago for 8 years has made me LOVE restaurants in high rises and on roof tops, so this will definitely be something we visit when we make our way to Chile.
Sounds great Sarah! I didn’t look at the food menu, so I don’t know what they offer except for beer but it’s probably worth to give it a try 😊
I’ve never heard of this building! Shocking since it’s the largest on the continent. I have actually been to the Petrina’s Towers and loved them, so I’m sure I’d like a visit here.
I never heard about it either. I loved Petronas Towers too, and they’re even made by the same architect. I hope you get to visit Ashley 😊
Wow, that sounds very cool. The view is no doubt spectacular. I’ve never been to Chile or to South America, for that matter, but hope to one day. The tallest buildings I have been in are the Sears tower in Chicago, the CN tower in Toronto and the former World Trade Centers in NYC. Not sure how they all match up in regard to height, but the views from each have been amazing’
Cool! I would love to visit some more skyscrapers, I just love the view you get over a city 😊 Enjoy South America someday!
Wow the views look amazing! I’ll definitely put this on the list for when I visit Chile, hopefully when we can travel again.
Great Yasmine! Chile has so much to offer. Enjoy! 🙂