San Cristóbal Hill

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Cerro San Cristóbal, also known as Tupahue, is a hill in northern Santiago, Chile. It rises about 880 meters above sea level and stands roughly 300 meters higher than the city, making it the third‑highest point in Santiago after Cerro Manquehue and Cerro Renca.

The hill’s name comes from Spanish explorers who named it for Saint Christopher; Tupahue is its original Mapuche name. In 1903 the Mills Observatory began on the summit (today the Manuel Foster Observatory, twin of the Lick Observatory). At the top there is a sanctuary to the Immaculate Conception with a large statue of the Virgin Mary. The statue is about 14 meters tall, sits on a pedestal 8.3 meters high (the total height is around 22 meters), and weighs about 36,610 kilograms. The area also has an amphitheater and a small chapel. Pope John Paul II prayed there and blessed the city on April 1, 1987. The statue is lit at night and can be seen from across Santiago.

Near the statue you’ll find an amphitheater and a small chapel. At the foot of the hill are the Chilean National Zoo and a Japanese garden, and higher up are two municipal pools, Tupahue and Antilén. Cerro San Cristóbal houses Santiago’s largest public park, the Santiago Metropolitan Park (Parque Metropolitano).

You can reach the summit by walking from the foothills (about 45 minutes with a 300-meter climb), by car via the park road, by the Funicular de Santiago (base next to the Zoo at the north end of Barrio Bellavista), or by the Teleferico cable car at the Oasis station in the northeast. The cable car operated from 1980 to 2009, was rebuilt, and reopened in November 2016 with 46 cabins (8 for bicycles, strollers, or wheelchairs) and six-person cabins. The project cost about US$9.5 million.