Plaza de Armas is the heart of historic Santiago and one of the best places to understand the history of the city. The plaza is a huge open square with a fountain in the center, filled with trees and benches, and surrounded by some very important historic buildings.
Just west of Barrio Brasil in Santiago lies Barrio Yungay. I walked through the area after exploring Barrio Brasil. It seems to be much less explored than Barrio Brasil but has some architectural gems.
Barrio Brasil is a neighborhood in Santiago just west of the historic city center. It was once home to a lot of aristocratic families. Its streets are dotted with several beautiful mansions and buildings built in the early 20th century.
The most historic cemetery in Santiago is General Cemetery (Cementerio General), which I visited twice in two months.
I had some time to kill after seeing La Serena, so I decided to jump on a bus and head to the neighboring town of Coquimbo. I thought it would be an interesting place to check out because it’s a port city that was settled by a lot of English immigrants in the 1800s.
The peaceful city of La Serena has a few nice colonial churches to visit. Some of them date back to the 16th century. All of them are located within walking distance of Plaza de Armas in the city center.
La Serena is a peaceful city on the Chilean coast, about six hours drive north of Santiago. It’s free of high-rises and traffic, small and compact, and cheap compared to Santiago. In the city, there’s not much left from the colonial days, but enough things to see to keep someone occupied for more than half a day.
The main road through the historic city center of Santiago is called Alameda. Sort of. The official name is Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins, but that’s a mouthful, so locals call it Alameda.
One of the areas I had to walk a lot through in Santiago is Parque Forestal. There are a few decent things to see around the boundaries of the park.
I thought it would be a good idea to check out the best and most well-known of the wine producing areas in Chile, the Colchagua Valley. Chile has an excellent wine industry, and Chilean wines have been getting noticed more and more the past few years.