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Tours in Santiago |
Plaza de Armas (Arms Square)
Since colonial times, Santiago's focus has been its spacious main square, the Plaza de Armas. Surrounded by grand colonial public buildings, most notably the Metropolitan Cathedral and the ornate Correos Central (central post office), it acts as a haven from Santiago's often oppressive traffic. A central corral of Chilean palm trees shades courting couples, vendors and tourists. Local artists display their latest canvasses in the square and on weekday evenings the square is the scene of a thriving Santiago institution when locals set up trestle tables and pit their wits against each other in fiercely contested chess matches.
Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum)
The colonial Palacio de la Real Audiencia houses the absorbing Museo Histórico Nacional, which has a fine series of chronological exhibits on Chile's development from the colonial period through to independence and the modern era, ending abruptly with the military coup in 1973. There is a small exhibit on Chile's indigenous culture.
Plaza de Armas
Tel: (02) 411 7000/10.
Website: www.dibam.cl/historico_nacional
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1730.
Admission charge.
Palacio de la Moneda (Moneda Palace)
Once the official mint, la Moneda became the presidential residence in 1846. While Chile's head of state no longer lives on site, the building's presidential offices are still used. The bombing of Moneda Palace by air force jets during General Augusto Pinochet's coup against Salvador Allende's Marxist government in 1973 remains an enduring image of the 20th century. Allende took his own life in this building with a gun given to him, according to local legend, by Fidel Castro. Visitors can stroll along the courtyard that runs through the middle of the building and can arrange to visit the interior with an advance booking (see below).
Avenida Bernardo O'Higgins (Alameda), Calle Morandé and Calle Teatinos
Tel: (02) 690 4236.
Website: www.gobiernodechile.cl
Opening hours: Tours need to be arranged in advance.
Free admission.
Casa Colorada (Coloured House)
This 18th-century colonial mansion just off the Plaza de Armas is an attraction in itself, with its elegant facade and rose-coloured walls. It also houses the Museo de Santiago (Santiago Museum), which has amateurish but informative displays on the city's history from pre-Columbian times to the development of today's modern sprawl.
Calle Merced 680
Tel: (02) 633 0723.
Website: www.munistgo.cl/colorada/p1.htm
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1800, Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1100-1400.
Admission charge.
Museo Casa La Chascona (La Chascona House Museum)
Nobel-Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda's Santiago pied à terre is situated in the lively Bellavista neighbourhood. A series of small buildings, rather than a single house, La Chascona has been meticulously restored since it was vandalised by supporters of General Pinochet and now houses a collection of Neruda's possessions. Visitors are taken on a guided tour (Spanish or English) through the house, where the history behind the furniture and possessions is explained.
Fernando Márquez de la Plata 0192
Tel: (02) 777 8741.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge.
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art)
If you only have time to visit one museum in Santiago, make sure this is the one. The Museum of Pre-Colombian Art houses a world-class collection of artefacts from Latin America's pre-Hispanic civilisations. Located in a handsome colonial building, the Palacio de la Real Aduana (Royal Customs House), it exhibits intricately crafted artwork in ceramics, metals, textiles and wood. Tastefully presented and meticulously cared for, the items on show give a unique insight into the lost cultures of the Maya, Aztecs, Incas and other groups which once dominated this vast continent.
Bandera 361
Tel: (02) 688 7348.
Website: www.precolombino.cl
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge.
Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts)
This fine arts museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century copy of Paris' Petit Palais, shows the city's aspirations to lift itself out of the cultural wilderness. It occupies an entire block in the Parque Forestal area and has Chile's best collection of painting and sculpture. It regularly hosts exhibitions by contemporary artists from Chile and abroad. Perhaps the most interesting displays are from the early colonial artists charting the growth of the modern nation.
Parque Forestal
Tel: (02) 633 4472 or 0655.
Website: www.dibam.cl/bellas_artes
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1850.
Admission charge.
Iglesia de San Francisco (Church of St Francis)
Just off Santiago's hectic main thoroughfare, the thick walls of the Iglesia de San Francisco, with the adjacent Franciscan Monastery, provide a peaceful haven from the downtown traffic. The church was originally built in the late 16th century by Chile's conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, and it has survived regular earthquakes (although its tower has gone through several incarnations). It is one of Santiago's oldest buildings and the adjacent former monastery houses the Museo Colonial San Francisco (Colonial Museum of St Francis), which contains a collection of ecclesiastical art dating from the colonial era.
Avenida Bernardo O'Higgins (Alameda) 834
Tel: (02) 639 8737.
Website: www.museosanfrancisco.cl
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1330 and 1500-1800, Sun 1000-1400.
Free admission (church); admission charge (museum).
Santiago Parks
Santiago's has four large, attractive parks that offer spectacular views of the Andes as well as welcome respite from the city's traffic. All of the following parks are free and are open from dawn to dusk. The landscaped hill, Cerro Santa Lucía, to the east of the downtown area, was where the city was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541. The original settlers were also besieged here by indigenous warriors shortly after the city's founding. Beautifully landscaped (the park was transformed by 19th-century Santiago mayor, Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna), it is popular among courting couples by day. From its summit there are uninterrupted views of the Andes, while the tree-lined avenues around its slopes are perfect for a stroll.
Parque Metropolitano de Santiago contains Cerro San Cristobál - a pine-forested spur of the Andes and Santiago's largest open space. At its summit, a 14m- (46ft-) high white statue of the Virgin Mary dominates the horizon. Pope John Paul II held mass here in 1987 to celebrate his only visit to Chile (much criticised because of the Pinochet regime's human rights record). Its forested slopes are crisscrossed by hiking trails, and facilities include a public barbecue area, two outdoor swimming pools and a modest zoo. The most convenient way to reach the summit is by the funicular railway that leaves from the terminal on Calle Pío Nono in the Bellavista area. There is also a cable car that connects Pedro de Valdivia Norte with the top. Roads lead up the hill from Pedro de Valdivia Norte, Pío Nono or La Pirámide.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Santiago's beautiful people would come to Parque Quinta Normal for a promenade. The area was in decline, but there has been a recent injection of cash and popularity after a new Metro station opened just next door. The park retains a peaceful Mediterranean feel and is a good place to take a stroll while waiting for a train at the nearby Estación Central. The park also provides the setting for some rather neglected attractions, including four museums, all of which have seen better days. The best of the bunch is the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (National Museum of Natural History), where an extensive but dusty collection of fossils, flora and fauna, mostly gathered within Chile's borders, is housed in an impressive neo-classical building.
Parque O'Higgins, also a one-time preserve of Santiago's elite, nowadays attracts visitors of more modest means. Within its confines is an amusement park and the Museo del Huaso. A huaso is a Chilean cowboy, rather like the Argentinean gaucho, and this museum is dedicated to Chile's rural communities.
Cerro Santa Lucía
Calle Subercaseaux
Cerro San Cristobál
Calle Pedro de Valdivia or Calle Pío Nono
Funicular operates: Mon 1300-2000, Tues-Sun 1000-2000.
Cable car operates: Mon 1430-1900, Tues-Fri 1230-2000, Sat and Sun 1030-2030.
Parque Quinta Normal
Calle Matucana
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
Tel: (02) 680 4615 or 4624.
Website: www.dibam.cl/historia_natural
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1730.
Admission charge; free on Sun.
Parque O'Higgins
Avenida Via Norte Sur
Museo del Huaso
Tel: (02) 556 1927.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1400.
Free admission.
Mercado Central (Central Market)
A wrought-iron structure (shipped out piece by piece from England in the 19th century) is home to Santiago's Central Market, on the south bank of the Rio Mapocho. With a bustling fish market on the outside, it is the restaurants within that have become the real attraction. Some of the central options under the high ceiling are a bit of a tourist trap - but many visitors don't mind paying for the memorable atmosphere.
Calle Puente and Calle San Pablo, near Plaza de Armas
Opening hours: Dawn to late afternoon.
Since colonial times, Santiago's focus has been its spacious main square, the Plaza de Armas. Surrounded by grand colonial public buildings, most notably the Metropolitan Cathedral and the ornate Correos Central (central post office), it acts as a haven from Santiago's often oppressive traffic. A central corral of Chilean palm trees shades courting couples, vendors and tourists. Local artists display their latest canvasses in the square and on weekday evenings the square is the scene of a thriving Santiago institution when locals set up trestle tables and pit their wits against each other in fiercely contested chess matches.
Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum)
The colonial Palacio de la Real Audiencia houses the absorbing Museo Histórico Nacional, which has a fine series of chronological exhibits on Chile's development from the colonial period through to independence and the modern era, ending abruptly with the military coup in 1973. There is a small exhibit on Chile's indigenous culture.
Plaza de Armas
Tel: (02) 411 7000/10.
Website: www.dibam.cl/historico_nacional
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1730.
Admission charge.
Palacio de la Moneda (Moneda Palace)
Once the official mint, la Moneda became the presidential residence in 1846. While Chile's head of state no longer lives on site, the building's presidential offices are still used. The bombing of Moneda Palace by air force jets during General Augusto Pinochet's coup against Salvador Allende's Marxist government in 1973 remains an enduring image of the 20th century. Allende took his own life in this building with a gun given to him, according to local legend, by Fidel Castro. Visitors can stroll along the courtyard that runs through the middle of the building and can arrange to visit the interior with an advance booking (see below).
Avenida Bernardo O'Higgins (Alameda), Calle Morandé and Calle Teatinos
Tel: (02) 690 4236.
Website: www.gobiernodechile.cl
Opening hours: Tours need to be arranged in advance.
Free admission.
Casa Colorada (Coloured House)
This 18th-century colonial mansion just off the Plaza de Armas is an attraction in itself, with its elegant facade and rose-coloured walls. It also houses the Museo de Santiago (Santiago Museum), which has amateurish but informative displays on the city's history from pre-Columbian times to the development of today's modern sprawl.
Calle Merced 680
Tel: (02) 633 0723.
Website: www.munistgo.cl/colorada/p1.htm
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1800, Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1100-1400.
Admission charge.
Museo Casa La Chascona (La Chascona House Museum)
Nobel-Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda's Santiago pied à terre is situated in the lively Bellavista neighbourhood. A series of small buildings, rather than a single house, La Chascona has been meticulously restored since it was vandalised by supporters of General Pinochet and now houses a collection of Neruda's possessions. Visitors are taken on a guided tour (Spanish or English) through the house, where the history behind the furniture and possessions is explained.
Fernando Márquez de la Plata 0192
Tel: (02) 777 8741.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge.
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art)
If you only have time to visit one museum in Santiago, make sure this is the one. The Museum of Pre-Colombian Art houses a world-class collection of artefacts from Latin America's pre-Hispanic civilisations. Located in a handsome colonial building, the Palacio de la Real Aduana (Royal Customs House), it exhibits intricately crafted artwork in ceramics, metals, textiles and wood. Tastefully presented and meticulously cared for, the items on show give a unique insight into the lost cultures of the Maya, Aztecs, Incas and other groups which once dominated this vast continent.
Bandera 361
Tel: (02) 688 7348.
Website: www.precolombino.cl
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge.
Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts)
This fine arts museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century copy of Paris' Petit Palais, shows the city's aspirations to lift itself out of the cultural wilderness. It occupies an entire block in the Parque Forestal area and has Chile's best collection of painting and sculpture. It regularly hosts exhibitions by contemporary artists from Chile and abroad. Perhaps the most interesting displays are from the early colonial artists charting the growth of the modern nation.
Parque Forestal
Tel: (02) 633 4472 or 0655.
Website: www.dibam.cl/bellas_artes
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1850.
Admission charge.
Iglesia de San Francisco (Church of St Francis)
Just off Santiago's hectic main thoroughfare, the thick walls of the Iglesia de San Francisco, with the adjacent Franciscan Monastery, provide a peaceful haven from the downtown traffic. The church was originally built in the late 16th century by Chile's conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, and it has survived regular earthquakes (although its tower has gone through several incarnations). It is one of Santiago's oldest buildings and the adjacent former monastery houses the Museo Colonial San Francisco (Colonial Museum of St Francis), which contains a collection of ecclesiastical art dating from the colonial era.
Avenida Bernardo O'Higgins (Alameda) 834
Tel: (02) 639 8737.
Website: www.museosanfrancisco.cl
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1330 and 1500-1800, Sun 1000-1400.
Free admission (church); admission charge (museum).
Santiago Parks
Santiago's has four large, attractive parks that offer spectacular views of the Andes as well as welcome respite from the city's traffic. All of the following parks are free and are open from dawn to dusk. The landscaped hill, Cerro Santa Lucía, to the east of the downtown area, was where the city was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541. The original settlers were also besieged here by indigenous warriors shortly after the city's founding. Beautifully landscaped (the park was transformed by 19th-century Santiago mayor, Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna), it is popular among courting couples by day. From its summit there are uninterrupted views of the Andes, while the tree-lined avenues around its slopes are perfect for a stroll.
Parque Metropolitano de Santiago contains Cerro San Cristobál - a pine-forested spur of the Andes and Santiago's largest open space. At its summit, a 14m- (46ft-) high white statue of the Virgin Mary dominates the horizon. Pope John Paul II held mass here in 1987 to celebrate his only visit to Chile (much criticised because of the Pinochet regime's human rights record). Its forested slopes are crisscrossed by hiking trails, and facilities include a public barbecue area, two outdoor swimming pools and a modest zoo. The most convenient way to reach the summit is by the funicular railway that leaves from the terminal on Calle Pío Nono in the Bellavista area. There is also a cable car that connects Pedro de Valdivia Norte with the top. Roads lead up the hill from Pedro de Valdivia Norte, Pío Nono or La Pirámide.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Santiago's beautiful people would come to Parque Quinta Normal for a promenade. The area was in decline, but there has been a recent injection of cash and popularity after a new Metro station opened just next door. The park retains a peaceful Mediterranean feel and is a good place to take a stroll while waiting for a train at the nearby Estación Central. The park also provides the setting for some rather neglected attractions, including four museums, all of which have seen better days. The best of the bunch is the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (National Museum of Natural History), where an extensive but dusty collection of fossils, flora and fauna, mostly gathered within Chile's borders, is housed in an impressive neo-classical building.
Parque O'Higgins, also a one-time preserve of Santiago's elite, nowadays attracts visitors of more modest means. Within its confines is an amusement park and the Museo del Huaso. A huaso is a Chilean cowboy, rather like the Argentinean gaucho, and this museum is dedicated to Chile's rural communities.
Cerro Santa Lucía
Calle Subercaseaux
Cerro San Cristobál
Calle Pedro de Valdivia or Calle Pío Nono
Funicular operates: Mon 1300-2000, Tues-Sun 1000-2000.
Cable car operates: Mon 1430-1900, Tues-Fri 1230-2000, Sat and Sun 1030-2030.
Parque Quinta Normal
Calle Matucana
Museo Nacional de Historia Natural
Tel: (02) 680 4615 or 4624.
Website: www.dibam.cl/historia_natural
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1730.
Admission charge; free on Sun.
Parque O'Higgins
Avenida Via Norte Sur
Museo del Huaso
Tel: (02) 556 1927.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1400.
Free admission.
Mercado Central (Central Market)
A wrought-iron structure (shipped out piece by piece from England in the 19th century) is home to Santiago's Central Market, on the south bank of the Rio Mapocho. With a bustling fish market on the outside, it is the restaurants within that have become the real attraction. Some of the central options under the high ceiling are a bit of a tourist trap - but many visitors don't mind paying for the memorable atmosphere.
Calle Puente and Calle San Pablo, near Plaza de Armas
Opening hours: Dawn to late afternoon.
View Our Airport Guides for Santiago:
(Santiago) Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport