Experimental restaurants, a sophisticated arts scene and a general, all-round nod to eccentricity make Chile's mountain-fringed capital one of the most intriguing cities in South America.
Small enough to discover in a long weekend, Santiago is made up of several easily navigable neighbourhoods, all radiating their own special character.
Considered a cultural heartland, the leafy Lastarria district offers pleasant pavement cafes and distinctive boutique hotels, many housed in the few colonial-style buildings spared by a succession of devastating earthquakes.
Influenced by neoclassical French architecture, the grand Singular Santiago is one of the most spacious and atmospheric hotels in the city. Sip coffee in an elegantly cluttered lounge supervised by waiters attired in smart waistcoats, or zip right up to the 21st century at the hip rooftop cocktail bar.
Many museums and historical buildings can be found in the 16th century Plaza de Armas, the city's main square, where old men furrow brows over games of chess beneath the shadow of the ornate 18th century Metropolitan Cathedral.
But a more offbeat attraction is La Chascona ("wild mane of hair"), the house built in the mid-1950s by Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda for his lover Matilde, who had striking curly red locks. Like the man himself, the property is wonderfully eccentric: a secret doorway links the dining area and bedroom, allowing the host to surprise guests or disappear for a quick nap; and decorations include an enormous pair of men's brogues, once used by a shoe shop to advertise their wares to the illiterate.
The poet, along with his friend, social activist and singer Violeta Parra, has also posthumously inspired a dinner/dance show not far from his house in the same Barrio Bellavista district. De Pablo a Violeta (depabloavioleta.com) skips, hops and strums through the cultural history of Chile, exploring dance, music, food and wine from different regions. Stick around afterwards to enjoy a limitless bar, as folklore bands do their best to lift the roof on one of the area's typical 100-year-old houses.
HORSE RIDE ACROSS THE PATAGONIAN STEPPES
Patagonia's vast, windswept steppes and jagged granite mountains are a playground for outdoor enthusiasts. But softer souls can also enjoy the environment, without having to pitch a tent or set up a portaledge.
The town of Puerto Natales, close to the popular Torres del Paine National Park, benefits from several upmarket and ambitious design hotels.
The Singular Patagonia (sister to their Santiago property) is set within the walls of a former early 20th-century abattoir, where heavy, iron British-made machinery is still displayed in a walk-through museum. A 5km distance from town, the property has its own pier with boat trips operating to the fjords.
Recalling life in the area's historic estancias, where European pioneers made their money from sheep farming, the Remota's 72 rooms line long corridors connected by a `sheep channel'. The roof has been shaped to resemble a drying rack for wool, and wind-bent picket fences surround the property.
Aside from trekking in Torres del Paine (a one-hour-and-20-minute drive away), visitors can take a horse-riding excursion to nearby Sierra Dorotea. Led by a gaucho wearing a traditional boina beret and characteristically nonchalant expression, riders on hardy Criollo horses venture up the grassy mountainside to sheer drop viewpoints and forests burned silver by 70km/h gusts.
The experience ends in a lichen-draped clearing, with the ritual of lighting a fire and drinking mate. A small gourd filled with herbal tea literally does the rounds, passed in a circle until the last person says thank you, a signal they've had enough.
CRUISE THE SOUTHERN ICE FIELDS
Glaciers cover 2.7 per cent of Chile's long, snaking surface, and dipping into the country's icy fjords is made easy on a short four-day/three-night cruise.
A family business for more than three decades, the Skorpios III navigates the Southern Ice Field.
Sailing from Puerto Natales, a city close to top tourist attraction Torres del Paine and one of the key access points to Patagonia, the Kaweskar voyage sidles up to the honeycomb ridges of Amalia Glacier, deposits passengers on the rocks close to El Brujo Glacier, and salutes a cavalcade of frozen behemoths along the Calvo Fjord.
The trip continues north to the Montanas Fjord, where multicoloured icebergs crack and hiss in a bay below Herman Glacier, and moraine-soiled peaks of Alcina Glacier resemble baked tips of a lemon meringue pie.
Weather in the fjords is generally dull and rainy, but grey skies actually cast these icy showstoppers in their best light, bringing out their characteristic blue hues. At least, that's what Captain Kochifas and his optimistic staff say to passengers.
From the birdsong wake-up calls, to a chart illustrating global warming using underwear as a scale (with bloomers and a thong at either extreme), slapstick humour gently pervades every aspect of the journey. Comfortable en-suite cabins carry 90 passengers, enough to be convivial without being claustrophobic, and food is several notches above top restaurant standard.
TAKE A BALLOON RIDE ABOVE THE ATACAMA DESERT
Stretching more than 4,000km, Chile spans extremes of temperature and topography. In the north lies the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, where surreal rock formations, sky-soaring geysers and shimmering white salt flats have sparked a growing tourist industry.
Most resorts are based around the town of San Pedro on a high plateau 2,400m above sea level. At the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa, low-lying cabins are set against a backdrop that flips between flaming red rocks and diamond-studded, starry skies as the clock turns from day to night. Adventurous activities bookend the day, with long lunches and spa treatments enjoyed in-between. Hike through the Dali-esque dunes of the Valley of the Moon, watch flamingoes settle on the Atacama Salt Flats, or study stars through a telescope on the hotel's observation deck.
This autumn, there'll be even more action in the skies with the introduction of hot air balloon rides above the Valley of the Moon.
Small enough to discover in a long weekend, Santiago is made up of several easily navigable neighbourhoods, all radiating their own special character.
Considered a cultural heartland, the leafy Lastarria district offers pleasant pavement cafes and distinctive boutique hotels, many housed in the few colonial-style buildings spared by a succession of devastating earthquakes.
Influenced by neoclassical French architecture, the grand Singular Santiago is one of the most spacious and atmospheric hotels in the city. Sip coffee in an elegantly cluttered lounge supervised by waiters attired in smart waistcoats, or zip right up to the 21st century at the hip rooftop cocktail bar.
Many museums and historical buildings can be found in the 16th century Plaza de Armas, the city's main square, where old men furrow brows over games of chess beneath the shadow of the ornate 18th century Metropolitan Cathedral.
But a more offbeat attraction is La Chascona ("wild mane of hair"), the house built in the mid-1950s by Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda for his lover Matilde, who had striking curly red locks. Like the man himself, the property is wonderfully eccentric: a secret doorway links the dining area and bedroom, allowing the host to surprise guests or disappear for a quick nap; and decorations include an enormous pair of men's brogues, once used by a shoe shop to advertise their wares to the illiterate.
The poet, along with his friend, social activist and singer Violeta Parra, has also posthumously inspired a dinner/dance show not far from his house in the same Barrio Bellavista district. De Pablo a Violeta (depabloavioleta.com) skips, hops and strums through the cultural history of Chile, exploring dance, music, food and wine from different regions. Stick around afterwards to enjoy a limitless bar, as folklore bands do their best to lift the roof on one of the area's typical 100-year-old houses.
HORSE RIDE ACROSS THE PATAGONIAN STEPPES
Patagonia's vast, windswept steppes and jagged granite mountains are a playground for outdoor enthusiasts. But softer souls can also enjoy the environment, without having to pitch a tent or set up a portaledge.
The town of Puerto Natales, close to the popular Torres del Paine National Park, benefits from several upmarket and ambitious design hotels.
The Singular Patagonia (sister to their Santiago property) is set within the walls of a former early 20th-century abattoir, where heavy, iron British-made machinery is still displayed in a walk-through museum. A 5km distance from town, the property has its own pier with boat trips operating to the fjords.
Recalling life in the area's historic estancias, where European pioneers made their money from sheep farming, the Remota's 72 rooms line long corridors connected by a `sheep channel'. The roof has been shaped to resemble a drying rack for wool, and wind-bent picket fences surround the property.
Aside from trekking in Torres del Paine (a one-hour-and-20-minute drive away), visitors can take a horse-riding excursion to nearby Sierra Dorotea. Led by a gaucho wearing a traditional boina beret and characteristically nonchalant expression, riders on hardy Criollo horses venture up the grassy mountainside to sheer drop viewpoints and forests burned silver by 70km/h gusts.
The experience ends in a lichen-draped clearing, with the ritual of lighting a fire and drinking mate. A small gourd filled with herbal tea literally does the rounds, passed in a circle until the last person says thank you, a signal they've had enough.
CRUISE THE SOUTHERN ICE FIELDS
Glaciers cover 2.7 per cent of Chile's long, snaking surface, and dipping into the country's icy fjords is made easy on a short four-day/three-night cruise.
A family business for more than three decades, the Skorpios III navigates the Southern Ice Field.
Sailing from Puerto Natales, a city close to top tourist attraction Torres del Paine and one of the key access points to Patagonia, the Kaweskar voyage sidles up to the honeycomb ridges of Amalia Glacier, deposits passengers on the rocks close to El Brujo Glacier, and salutes a cavalcade of frozen behemoths along the Calvo Fjord.
The trip continues north to the Montanas Fjord, where multicoloured icebergs crack and hiss in a bay below Herman Glacier, and moraine-soiled peaks of Alcina Glacier resemble baked tips of a lemon meringue pie.
Weather in the fjords is generally dull and rainy, but grey skies actually cast these icy showstoppers in their best light, bringing out their characteristic blue hues. At least, that's what Captain Kochifas and his optimistic staff say to passengers.
From the birdsong wake-up calls, to a chart illustrating global warming using underwear as a scale (with bloomers and a thong at either extreme), slapstick humour gently pervades every aspect of the journey. Comfortable en-suite cabins carry 90 passengers, enough to be convivial without being claustrophobic, and food is several notches above top restaurant standard.
TAKE A BALLOON RIDE ABOVE THE ATACAMA DESERT
Stretching more than 4,000km, Chile spans extremes of temperature and topography. In the north lies the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, where surreal rock formations, sky-soaring geysers and shimmering white salt flats have sparked a growing tourist industry.
Most resorts are based around the town of San Pedro on a high plateau 2,400m above sea level. At the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa, low-lying cabins are set against a backdrop that flips between flaming red rocks and diamond-studded, starry skies as the clock turns from day to night. Adventurous activities bookend the day, with long lunches and spa treatments enjoyed in-between. Hike through the Dali-esque dunes of the Valley of the Moon, watch flamingoes settle on the Atacama Salt Flats, or study stars through a telescope on the hotel's observation deck.
This autumn, there'll be even more action in the skies with the introduction of hot air balloon rides above the Valley of the Moon.
Source: AAP
