Santiago

An old funicular works up this hill north of the centre. Below the statue at the summit the whole basin and the range behind it open up.

Inside an iron framed hall of 1872, fishmongers and kitchens share the floor. The middle tables cost more and the side alleys are where locals sit.

The city was founded on this spot, ringed now by the cathedral and the post office. Chess games run at one side of it at all hours.

Bookshops, small theatres and cafes line a cobbled street. At the weekend antique stalls take over the middle of it.

Records and belongings from the years of military rule are set out in order of time. A wall of carved names fills one side of the building.

The tallest building in South America puts its viewing floor on level 62. Glass runs on all sides, so the basin is taken in by walking a full circle.

The poet Neruda built this house with rooms kept narrow and low like a ship's cabins. A channel of water in the yard carries its sound into every room.

Large paintings cover the walls of the houses and change every few months. When night comes the bars of this quarter fill up.

Ninety minutes by car reaches an Andean valley holding hot springs and a glacier. The road is narrow with many bends and does not drive easily.

Forty minutes out of the centre, cabernet sauvignon plots run one after another. Water off the Andes is led into them through open ditches.

A small rocky hill said to be where Valdivia founded the city in 1541. Paths climb past the Neptune fountain stairs and a little fortress to a lookout turret on top. A cannon fires once every noon, so knowing the time saves a jump nearby.

Built as the mint, hence a name meaning "coin". The air force bombed it during the 1973 coup, and it now houses the president's office. An underground cultural centre beneath the forecourt shows exhibitions without any need to enter the palace.

Indigenous art of the Americas in the old royal customs house by the Plaza de Armas. Andean textiles, ceramics and Mapuche wooden figures fill separate floors. The basement Chile room is kept dim, and at first only the outlines of the cases show.

Opened in 1910 for the independence centenary, inside Parque Forestal. A tall central hall rises under a glass roof, and Chilean painting runs in chronological order. The back half of the building is the contemporary art museum, entered from the opposite side.

A big produce market across the Mapocho river from the fish market. Fruit, vegetables, beans and dried chillies are stacked and sold by the crate. In the lane of small kitchens at the back, a traders' lunch plate costs half the downtown price.

A neighbourhood of old furniture workshops and antique dealers along Avenida Italia. Design shops and cafes fill the back courtyards of low single-storey houses. Most sit deep inside those patios, so peering through doorways is how you find them.

Wealthy families lived in this western district during the 19th century, leaving two-storey mansions and narrow terraced alleys called pasajes. Murals and small theatres scatter around Plaza Yungay. Few tourists come, and late at night the streets empty out.

A ski resort high in the Andes east of Santiago; the switchback climb up from the city needs just over 2 hours. The season runs from June to September. The road has more than forty hairpins, so anyone prone to carsickness takes a front seat.

A huge burial ground in Recoleta, opened in 1821, where Salvador Allende and the singer Victor Jara lie. Avenues of marble mausoleums are laid out in blocks like a small city. Unless you pick up a map at the main gate, finding a given grave is hard.

An old museum in a neoclassical building inside Quinta Normal park. Suspended over the central hall is a great whale skeleton, and Chile's plants and animals are grouped by region. Other museums share the park, making an easy half-day loop.

A craft market laid out like a village of adobe workshops beside the white Los Dominicos church. Potters, leatherworkers and lapis cutters make and sell in their own stalls. Los Dominicos station, the end of Metro Line 1, lies within walking range.

Roughly one hour by car west of Santiago, this village has a kiln in nearly every household. Pottery shops crowd the main street, mixed with restaurants selling plate-sized giant empanadas. At weekend lunch, Santiago families pack the place.