Sights in Chile
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La Sebastiana
Bellavista’s most famous resident artist was Pablo Neruda, who made a point of watching Valparaíso’s annual New Year’s fireworks from his house at the top of the hill, La Sebastiana. Getting here involves a hefty uphill hike, and the climbing continues inside the house – you’re rewarded on each floor with ever more heart-stopping views over the harbor. The best of all are from Neruda’s crow’s nest study. Unlike at Neruda’s other houses, you can wander around La Sebastiana at will, lingering over the chaotic collection of ship’s figureheads, glass, 1950s furniture and artworks by his famous friends. Just don’t go behind the bright pink bar, which was reserved for…
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Palacio de la Moneda
Chile's presidential offices are in the Palacio de la Moneda. The ornate neoclassical building was designed by Italian architect Joaquín Toesca in the late 18th century, and was originally the official mint – its name means 'the coin.' The north facade was badly damaged by air-force missile attacks during the 1973 military coup when President Salvador Allende – who refused to leave – was overthrown here. A monument honoring Allende now stands opposite in Plaza de la Constitución.
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El Tatio Geysers
El Tatio is ringed by volcanoes and fed by over 80 gurgling geysers and a hundred gassy fumaroles. Contrary to popular opinion it is not the world's largest geyser field, but the third largest. The best time to see the geysers is 06:00, so make sure you wipe the sleep from your eyes if you want experience the awesome spectacle.
Watch your step - in some places, visitors have fallen through the thin crust into underlying pools of scalding water and suffered severe burns. Dress in layers: it's toe-numbingly cold at sunbreak but you'll bake in the van on the way back down.
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Cerro Concepción
Cerro Concepción is one of the most delightful of all Valparaíso's neighborhoods, with its brightly painted corrugated iron facades and pitched roofs. To get there, take the city's oldest elevator, Ascensor Concepción (also known as Ascensor Turri) from the corner of Prat and Carreño, across from the Reloj Turri (clock tower).
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Parque Nacional Huerquehue
A gem of the area, Parque Nacional Huerquehue protects 12,500 hectares (30,888 acres) of rivers and waterfalls, alpine lakes and araucaria forests. It's easily accessible and has an array of trails. Conaf sells decent trail maps at the entrance, where there's a Centro de Educación e Intepretación Ambiental (park information office).
The Los Lagos trail (one way 3-4hr; 9km/5.5mi) switchbacks through dense lenga forests with rushing waterfalls, then enters solid stands of araucaria surrounding a cluster of pristine and placid lakes.
Most hikers turn back at Lago Verde and Laguna el Toro, the largest of the cluster, but continuing on the northern loop to Lago Los Patos and…
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La Chascona
When poet Pablo Neruda needed a secret hideaway to spend time with his mistress Matilde Urrutia, he built La Chascona (loosely translated as 'messy hair'), the name inspired by her unruly curls. Neruda, of course, was a great lover of the sea, so the dining room is modeled on a ship's cabin and the living room on a lighthouse. Guided tours take you through the history of the building and the collection of colored glass, shells, furniture and artworks by famous friends that fills it – sadly much more was lost when the house was ransacked during the dictatorship. The Fundación Neruda, which maintains Neruda's houses, has its headquarters here and runs a lovely cafe and gift…
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Valle de la Luna
Watching the sun set from the exquisite Valley of the Moon is an unforgettable experience. From atop a giant sand dune, you can drink in spectacular views as the sun slips below the horizon and a beautiful transformation occurs: the distant ring of volcanoes, rippling Cordillera de la Sal and surreal lunar landscapes of the valley are suddenly suffused with intense purples, pinks and golds.
The Valle de la Luna is named after its lunar-like landforms eroded by eons of flood and wind. The valley is San Pedro's most popular organized tour, with trips leaving in good time to explore before sunset.
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Museo de Colchagua
Along with dealing arms, Carlos Cardoen has made a name for himself as a hard-core collector. The fruit of his passion is the incredible Museo de Colchagua, the largest private museum in Chile. The collection includes pre-Columbian anthropomorphic ceramics from all over Latin America; weapons, religious artifacts and Mapuche silver; and a whole room of huasos cowboy gear. Steam-driven machinery, winemaking equipment and a re-creation of Colchagua’s original train station fill the huge courtyard, and adjoining display rooms showcase old carriages and vintage cars.
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Iglesia de San Francisco
The first stone of the austere Iglesia de San Francisco was laid in 1586, making it Santiago's oldest surviving colonial building. Its sturdy walls have weathered some powerful earthquakes, although the current clock tower, finished in 1857, is the fourth. On the main altar look for the carving of the Virgen del Socorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), which Santiago's founder Pedro de Valdivia brought to Chile on his 1540 conquistador mission to protect him from attacks.
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Isla Magdalena
Isla Magdalena has thriving Magellanic penguin colonies. Five-hour tours on the Melinka ferry land for an hour at the island and depart the port on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from December through February. Confirm times in advance. Book tickets through Turismo Comapa ([tel] 200-200; www.comapa.com; Magallanes 990) and bring a picnic.
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Mercado Cardonal
As colorful as Valparaíso’s trademark houses – and built almost as high – are the fruit and vegetable displays in the Mercado Cardonal, bordered by Yungay, Av Brasil, Uruguay and Rawson. Ground-floor stalls spill out onto the street, while upstairs is taken up by cheap seafood restaurants. Whole families of cats are on constant leftover-fish patrol.
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Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
If your kids have a taste for the bizarre, check out the dusty stuffed animals (we’re talking taxidermy, not teddies) in the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, where displays look almost as old as the fossils they contain.
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Casa Solar de los Madariaga
Dating from 1875, and looking good for it, the adobe mansion Casa Solar de los Madariaga contains furnishings and artifacts from an influential family who made its money exporting chinchilla.
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La Vega Central
Raspberries, quinces, figs, peaches, persimmons, custard apples… if it grows in Chile, you’ll find it at La Vega Central. Go early to see the hollering vendors in full swing.
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MAM Chiloé
Castro’s spacious MAM, features innovative works by contemporary Chilean artists, many of them Chilotes. It’s a fair hike from town, but worth it if you’re an art buff.
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Cerro San Cristóbal
Bellavista entrance (Pío Nono 450, Barrio Bellavista; Baquedano); Providencia entrance (Av Pedro de Valdivia & El Cerro, Providencia; Pedro de Valdivia) The best sweeping views over Santiago are from the peaks and viewpoints of the Parque Metropolitano, better known as Cerro San Cristóbal. At 722 hectares, the park is Santiago's largest green space, but it's still decidedly urban: a funicular carries you between different landscaped sections, and roads through it are aimed at cars rather than hikers. The park lies north of Bellavista and Providencia and has entrances in both neighborhoods.
A snowy white 14m-high statue of the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción towers…
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Parque Nacional Villarrica
This national park is one of the most popular in the country because of its glorious mix of volcanoes and lakes. Its proximity to Pucón makes Villarrica accessible for everyone - from bus trippers to climbers, skiers and hardcore hikers. The park's highlights are the three volcanoes: Villarrica, Quetrupillán and Lanín.
The park's 60,000 hectares (148,263 acres) are officially divided into three sections called Rucapillán, Quetrupillán and Puesco, and are crisscrossed with an array of hikes from quick day jaunts to long multi-day traverses.
The hike up to the smoking, sometimes lava-spitting crater of Volcán Villarrica is a popular full-day excursion, leaving Pucón…
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Volcán Villarrica
It may seem shocking that so many people live and go about their daily chores in the shadow of the smoking and rumbling Volcán Villarrica. The 2847m-high cone is a basaltic volcano with an open crater and a violent history that includes at least four fatal eruptions. Carbon dating has determined that Villarrica had a massive eruption around 1810 BC.
The first historically recorded eruption was in AD 1558 and since then, the volcano has had small to medium eruptions on well over 50 occasions. The largest modern eruptions were in 1640, 1948 and 1971.
That 1971 eruption opened a 4km-wide fissure, spurting out some 30 million cubic meters of lava and displacing several…
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Parque Nacional Torres del Paine
Jutting out 2800m (9186ft) above the Patagonian steppe, the Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) are spectacular granite pillars that dominate the landscape of what is arguably South America's finest national park. These breathtaking spires are flanked by the summit of Paine Grande (3050m/10,000ft) and the sharp tusks of black sedimentary peaks known as Los Cuernos (The Horns).
Trails meander through emerald forests, alongside and over roaring rivers, past radiant blue glaciers, azure lakes and up to jaw-dropping lookouts. You can hike into the vast openness of the steppe, heading to less-visited lakes and glaciers. Part of Unesco's Biosphere Reserve system since 1978, it…
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Ascensores
It's possible to spend hours riding the 15 ascensores (also known as funicular elevators), built between 1883 and 1916, that lead up into the hills and meandering back alleys of Valparaíso. Some of the ascensores are remarkable feats of engineering. From the flat city center the ascensores creak at an improbable angle up to the tumbling chaotic cerros (hills), with their steep labyrinthine roads, crumbling mansions and kaleidoscopic rooftops.
Take Ascensor Concepción, the city's oldest elevator, to the beautiful Cerro Concepción, or take Ascensor El Peral to the Museo de Bellas Artes in Cerro Alegre, or ride the Ascensor Cordillera to the Museo del Mar Lord Cochrane in…
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Huilo-Huilo Reserva Natural Biosfera
The road to Puerto Fuy on Lago Pirihueico parallels Río Huilo Huilo, which tumbles and falls through awe-inspiring scenery. Huilo-Huilo Reserva Natural Biosfera, encompassing 1000 sq km of private land, has developed the area for low-impact ecotourism and runs two spectacularly insane hotels: La Montaña Mágica, a Frodo-approved spire with a fountain spewing from the top and full of kitschy furniture and supernatural design touches; and the new Hotel Baobob, a Gaudi-inspired inverted cone suspended in the treetops with a restaurant serving international cuisine with Mapuche touches. The reserve offers numerous outdoor adventures (trekking, climbing, mountain biking,…
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Edificio de la Aduana & Museo Naval
Meter-thick walls enclose this haughty colonial-style customshouse, built in 1871 when Iquique was still Peruvian territory. Peru incarcerated prisoners here during the War of the Pacific, and the building would later see battle in the Chilean civil war of 1891. The Aduana houses a small naval museum with artifacts salvaged from the sunken Esmeralda, a plucky little Chilean corvette that challenged ironclad Peruvian warships in the War of the Pacific.
The ship was captained by Arturo Prat (1848-79), whose name now graces a hundred street maps, plazas and institutions. In an impassioned speech aboard the Esmeralda, Prat swore to die in battle and challenged his officers to…
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Parque Nacional Conguillío
The centerpiece of Parque Nacional Conguillío, an Unesco Biosphere Reserve, is the Volcán Llaima (3125m), one of Chile's most active volcanoes. Llaima means ‘Blood Veins’ in Mapudungun and that’s just what tourists visiting the park got on New Year’s Day 2008. Since 1640, Llaima has experienced 35 violent eruptions. In other words, this monster likes to cough up blood.
Despite the firespitting, this wonderful park, created in 1950 primarily to preserve the araucaria (monkey puzzle tree) and 608sq km of alpine lakes, deep canyons and native forests, has reopened.
You can access Parque Nacional Conguillío from three directions. The first, and shortest (80km), is…
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Río Liucura Valley
This richly verdant valley offers myriad termas (hot springs), El Cañi nature sanctuary and views of the silver-ribbon Río Liucura. El Cañi is proof that citizens can affect conservation of old-growth forests. When logging threatened the area in 1991, Fundación Lahuen purchased land to develop a park for education and to protect 400 hectares (988 acres) of araucaria forest.
A hiking trail (9km (5.5mi); 3hr) ascends the steep terrain - the first 3km (1.8mi) is very steep - of lenga and araucaria to arrive at Laguna Negra.
On clear days, the lookout - another 40 minutes - allows for spectacular views of the area's volcanoes. In summer, when the trail is easier to find,…
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Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende
Picasso, Miró, Tápies and Matta are some of the artistic heavyweights who gave works to the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende. Begun as a populist art initiative during Allende's presidency – and named in his honor – the incredible collection was taken abroad during the dictatorship, where it became a symbol of Chilean resistance. The 2000 works finally found a home in 2006, when the Fundación Allende bought and remodeled this grand old townhouse. The permanent collection sometimes goes on tour and is replaced by temporary exhibitions, and there's a darkened room with an eerie display of Allende's personal effects. Guided tours (email ahead) visit the basement,…
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