Santiago

The best 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 on one side, while a teleférico (cable car) swoops you away on the other.

Exquisite pottery from most major pre-Columbian cultures is the backbone of Santiago's best museum, the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. As well as dozens of intricately molded anthropomorphic vessels, star exhibits include hefty Maya stone columns, towering Mapuche totems and a fascinating Andean textile display.

Santiago's wrought-iron fish market is a classic for seafood lunches (and hangover-curing fish stews like the tomato- and potato-based caldillo de congrio, Pablo Neruda's favorite). Skip the touristy restaurants in the middle and head for one of the tiny low-key stalls around the market's periphery.

This striking cultural and performing-arts center – named for Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – is an exciting addition to Santiago's art scene, with concerts and performances most days. Drop by to check out the rotating art exhibits on the bottom floor, the iconic architecture that vaults and cantilevers on the inside and looks like a giant rusty cheese grater from the street, the little plazas, murals, cafes and more.

Barrio Italia has rapidly transformed over the last decade into Santiago's most electric neighborhood with funky cafes, provocative art galleries and hip new hotels lining the parallel avenidas Italia and Condell. A hub of the city's nascent coffee culture, it's a great place for lunching and brunching (and one of the only neighborhoods hopping on a Sunday morning).

Shopping is one of the main draws here; independent booksellers, antique restorers and local fashion designers all hawk their made-in-Chile goods at miniature shopping arcades that are plotted out like mazes in the rooms of historic homes. Exceedingly trendy, it retains much of its blue-collar character.

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.

In Santiago, the life and soul of the carrete (nightlife) is Barrio Bellavista. By 10pm tables inside and outside of its many bars are filled with rowdy groups of Santiaguinos giving their all to the previa (preclub drinking). Many of the restaurants and clubs in Bellavista also double as drinking spots.

The identical watering holes along Pío Nono are basic and ultracheap – tall beers are the standard order. Both the drinks and the crowds are a bit more sophisticated along Constitución, Mallinkrodt and Antonia López de Bello, peppered with arty cocktail bars. Further west, Bombero Núñez is home to a handful of more underground bars and clubs, including some of Santiago's best gay nightlife.

Although the bars and cafes inside Patio Bellavista are a bit bland, they're just about the only places open on Sunday nights.

Modeled on European setups, Valle Nevado boasts almost 30 sq km hectares of skiable terrain – the largest in South America. It's also the best-maintained of Santiago's resorts and has the most challenging runs. A variety of beginner runs make it good for kids too.

Rich greenery lines the steep, rocky walls of this stunning gorge of the Río Maipo. Starting only 25km southeast of Santiago, it's popular on weekends with Santiaguinos, who come here to camp, hike, climb, cycle, raft and ski. Increasingly trendy restaurants, new microbreweries and a big winery mean that overindulgence is also on the menu.

November to March is peak rafting season as glacier meltwater brings Class III or IV rapids to the Río Maipo; ski bums and bunnies flock here June to September; and hiking, horseback riding and lunching are popular year-round.

Plans for a hydroelectric station here could have serious consequences for the region's ecosystem. So take advantage of this pristine natural playground; it's an easy getaway from the capital city by car or public transportation.