Santiago Trip Planning & Itineraries

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Compared to other cities in Latin America, Santiago feels distinctly European. Its stately, dignified boulevards and neoclassical architecture, swanky high-rise suburbs, efficient metro system and, above all, general state of orderliness reflect a culture that is hard-working, prosperous and business-minded.

Santiaguinos tend to be polite, well-dressed (a little too conservatively perhaps) and somewhat restrained, despite their predilection for staying out late.

A socialist museum? Don't tell Kissinger

Having begun in 1971 with donations from artists around the world in sympathy with Chile's socialist experiment, Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende went underground after the coup of 1973 - the entire collection spent 17 years in the warehouses of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, awaiting the return of civilian rule.

Originally of Portuguese descent, the prominent Cousiño-Goyenechea family enjoyed successes in wine and coal and silver mining that enabled them to build Santiago's most glorious mansion, Palacio Cousiño, dating from 1871.