Chile Forum

It is much safer for a women to travel alone in Chile than in the United States. In fact, I would not recommend anyone travel alone in the States.

Even in Santiago you will often see women walking on the street at say 2 or 3 A.M., or at least groups of women.

By the way, hitchhiking is basically the most common form of public transport in most of the rural areas. Would not recommend it in most of the central regions, but just about everywhere else in Chile it is very common. Hell, down the Patagonia I use to get to my favorite fly fishing spot every evening outside of town by hitchhiking. I was picked up (no not arrested) several times by the police, including the chief of police. In fact, it is considered kind of rude to drive by someone hitchhiking on the side of the road and not pick them up if you have space. I have jumped in vans and backs of trucks with like 6-8 people. I might also add however, that if you spend more than a week or two in those communities you will likly know everyone on a first name basis anyway, so it is not exactly like getting picked up by stranger and the murder rates in those communities are around 1-3 people ( measured in recorded history, not by the year, day, or hour).