Visit Santiago

Providencia

2.1 miles from city centre

A 24-hour hive of activity. During the day, errand-running Santiaguinos scuttle past busy cafés. Cash registers at the Drugstore Mall and Costanera Center ker-ching with the sound of retail therapy. And at nightfall, fun-seekers quaff cocktails on busy Orrego Luco Street, before moseying down to Bellavista for a late-night boogie.

Places to stay from £5 per night

Santiago City Centre

In the city centre

History is everywhere here. Go and see for yourself from the top of Santa Lucia Hill. Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral impose with old-world grandeur, and Palacio de la Moneda bears the scars of conflicts past. And for a trip back to the days before cameraphones – and even conquistadors – head to the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art.

Places to stay from £9 per night

Las Condes

4.8 miles from city centre

Money flows like the rushing Mapocho here. Known affectionately as “Sanhattan”, this area’s high-rise flats are home to Santiago’s well-heeled and well-paid. Contribute to the cash flow by splashing some pesos in Parque Arauco Mall and Los Domínicos Market. Or climb up to Aguas de Ramón Park to breathe the mountain air high above the rat race.

Places to stay from £23 per night

Bellavista

0.8 miles from city centre

Bellavista brims with bohemian charm. Sleepy streets and colourful houses hold artists’ studios and indie theatres. Snap up a lapis lazuli trinket before coming over all poetic at Pablo Neruda’s old pad. Scale San Cristobal Hill for a peerless panorama and come back down to earth with a bump (or a hefty glass of “piscola”) in a Bellavista bar.

Places to stay from £5 per night

Vitacura

5.2 miles from city centre

The whiff of privilege is everywhere in leafy Vitacura. On Nueva Costanera Street, stiletto-sporting “señoritas” totter past designer outlets. Impeccably uniformed schoolchildren march to and from their private academies and gardeners trim the lawns outside plush abodes. And in Parque Bicentenario, joggers and dog walkers lap up a life of leisure.

Places to stay from £37 per night

Recoleta

0.7 miles from city centre

The other side of the river. That’s what the indigenous Mapuche used to call Recoleta, and it’s where they were sent to live once Santiago was claimed for Spain. Today’s Recoletanos hail from all over Latin America, giving the place a cosmopolitan splash of colour. Speaking of colours, La Vega Market is a veritable artist’s palette of fresh fruit.

Places to stay from £11 per night

El Golf

3.5 miles from city centre

This district takes its name from the exclusive Los Leones Golf Club. Once known for its elegant townhouses, that image was shanked into the rough when urban planners built upwards and multinationals set up shop in the resulting skyscrapers. There’s a smattering of embassies too, ensconced in what’s left of El Golf’s old mansions.

Places to stay from £71 per night