Ahu Tongariki

Chile

　　The monumental Ahu Tongariki has plenty to set your camera's flash popping. With 15 imposing statues, it is the largest ahu ever built. The statues gaze over a large, level village site, with ruined remnants scattered about and some petroglyphs nearby; some figures include a turtle with a human face,...

Rano Raraku

Chile

　　Known as 'the nursery,' the volcano of Rano Raraku, about 18km from Hanga Roa, is the quarry for the hard tuff from which the moai were cut. You'll feel as though you're stepping back into early Polynesian times, wandering among dozens of moai in all stages of progress studded on...

Orongo Ceremonial Village

Chile

　　Nearly covered in a bog of floating totora reeds, the crater lake of Rano Kau resembles a giant witch's cauldron and is a wild greenhouse of endemic biodiversity. Perched 300m above, on the edge of the crater wall on one side and abutting a vertical drop plunging down to the...

Parque Nacional Patagonia

Chile

　　Dubbed as the Serengeti of the Southern Cone, the 690-sq-km Parque Nacional Patagonia features Patagonian steppe, forests, mountains, lakes and lagoons. Located 18km north of Cochrane, this new national park was an overgrazed estancia. Tompkins Conservation (www.tompkinsconservation.org) began its restoration in 2004. Now it's home to flamingo, guanaco, huemul (endangered...

Iglesia San Pedro

Norte Grande

　　The recently restored Iglesia San Pedro is a delightful little colonial church built with indigenous or artisanal materials: chunky adobe walls and roof, a ceiling made from cardón (cactus wood) resembling shriveled tire tracks and, in lieu of nails, hefty leather straps. The church dates from the 17th century, though...

Museo Naval

Norte Grande

　　Take in the artifacts salvaged from the sunken Esmeralda at this small museum inside the haughty colonial-style customs house, built in 1871 when Iquique was still Peruvian territory. Peru incarcerated prisoners here during the War of the Pacific, and the building would later see battle in the Chilean civil war...

Torre Reloj

Norte Grande

　　This 1877 clock tower takes pride of place on Iquique's main square. ...

Casino Español

Norte Grande

　　The prize for the showiest building in Iquique goes to this Moorish-style place from 1904, on the plaza's northeast corner. The gaudily tiled creation is now a club and restaurant. Go at meal times for a look at the interior with its dazzling tile work, coffered ceilings and fanciful murals....

Museo Regional

Norte Grande

　　Iquique's former courthouse now hosts the catch-all regional museum, which earnestly re-creates a traditional adobe altiplano village and also exhibits masked Chinchorro mummies and elongated skulls. Photographs explore Iquique's urban beginnings, and a fascinating display dissects the nitrate industry. ...

Centro Cultural Palacio Astoreca

Norte Grande

　　Originally built for a nitrate tycoon, this 1904 Georgian-style mansion is now a cultural center, which exhibits contemporary work produced by local artists. It has a fantastic interior of opulent rooms with elaborate woodwork and high ceilings, massive chandeliers, a gigantic billiard table and balconies. ...

Muelle de Pasajeros

Norte Grande

　　Hour-long boat tours around the harbor leave from Iquique's 1901 passenger pier, just west of the Edificio de la Aduana. The tour floats past the Boya Conmemorativa del Combate de Iquique, a buoy marking the spot where the Esmeralda sank in a confrontation with the ironclad Peruvian Huáscar. It also...

Museo Corbeta Esmeralda

Norte Grande

　　This replica of sunken Esmeralda, a plucky little Chilean corvette that challenged ironclad Peruvian warships in the War of the Pacific, is Iquique's new pride and glory. The original ship was captained by Arturo Prat (1848–79), whose name now graces a hundred street maps, plazas and institutions. Guided tours (reserve...

Plaza Prat

Norte Grande

　　The city's 19th-century swagger is hard to miss on Iquique's central square. Pride of place goes to the 1877 Torre Reloj clock tower, seemingly baked and sugar-frosted rather than built. Jumping fountains line the walkway south to the marble-stepped Teatro Municipal, a neoclassical building that has been hosting opera and...

Parroquia Nuestra Señora de Dolores

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　Check out the cool iconography at Viña's oldest church, built and rebuilt between 1882 and 1912. ...

Artequin

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　This children's museum has plenty of play areas and a big workshop for art classes. There are a few reproductions of masterpieces from the 15th to 20th centuries, including paintings and sculptures by both Chilean and international artists. ...

Castillo Wulff

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　Pretty Castillo Wulff, built by a prominent Valparaíso businessman in the early 20th century, hangs out over the sea: pass through the art exhibitions to the tower at the back, where you can peer through the thick glass floor at the rocks and waves below. ...

Cerro Castillo

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　A fantastic barrio for an afternoon stroll, with lovingly restored mansions, great city lookouts, a small 'castle' and the summer palace of the President of Chile. To reach the top of the hill, take the Bajada Britania (near Castillo Wulff) or Vista Hermosa (off Calle Valparaíso). ...

Museo de Arqueología e Historia Francisco Fonck

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　The original moai (an Easter Island statue) standing guard outside the Museo de Arqueología e Historia Francisco Fonck is just a teaser of the beautifully displayed archaeological finds from Easter Island within, along with Mapuche silverwork and anthropomorphic Moche ceramics. Upstairs are old-school insect cases and taxidermied Chilean fauna. ...

Parque Quinta Vergara

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　Nowhere is Viña's nickname of the 'Garden City' better justified than at the magnificently landscaped Parque Quinta Vergara, which you enter from Errázuriz at the south end of Libertad (here called Eduardo Grove). It once belonged to one of the city's most illustrious families, the Alvares-Vergaras. 　　Their residence was the...

Jardín Botánico Nacional

Valparaíso & the Central Coast

　　There are over 3000 plant species in the nearly 400 hectares of parkland that comprise Chile's Jardín Botánico Nacional. It's 8km southeast of the city center; take a taxi or catch bus 203 from Viña along Calle Alvarez to Puente El Olivar, then cross the bridge and walk about 500m...

Catedral de Puerto Montt

The Lakes District

　　Built entirely of alerce in 1856, this church, located on the Plaza de Armas, is the town's oldest building and one of its few attractive ones. ...

Casa del Arte Diego Rivera

The Lakes District

　　A joint Mexican-Chilean project finished in 1964, the upstairs Sala Hardy Wistuba specializes in works by local artists, sculptors and photographers. Also houses a small cafe and an excellent boutique. 　　It's named after famed Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera as a nod to the Mexican people who helped established...

Av Angelmó Street Stalls

The Lakes District

　　Along busy, diesel-fume-laden Av Angelmó is a dizzying mix of streetside stalls (selling artifacts, smoked mussels, cochayuyo – an edible sea plant – and mysterious trinkets), craft markets and touristy seafood restaurants with croaking waiters beckoning you to a table. Enjoy the frenzy, but keep on going… 　　The best-quality crafts...

Monte Verde

The Lakes District

　　A small child's footprint discovered in a marshy field 28km west of Puerto Montt turned the archaeological world on its head in 1975 – evidence of human settlement in the Americas suddenly predated the long-accepted Clovis paradigm by roughly 1000 years. Located on the banks of Chinchihuapi Creek, the site...

Museo Histórico y de Armas

Arica

　　Atop Morro de Arica, this museum recounts a key battle that took place on this hillside in 1880 during the War of the Pacific. There'a a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century weaponry. ...

Ex-Aduana de Arica

Arica

　　Eiffel designed this former customs house. Prefabricated in Paris, it was assembled on-site in 1874, with walls made of blocks and bricks stacked between metallic supports. As the city's cultural center, it hosts a smattering of exhibitions and has an impressive 32-step wrought-iron spiral staircase. At the time of writing...

Catedral de San Marcos

Arica

　　This Gothic-style church has a threefold claim to fame. First, it was designed by celebrated Parisian engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, before his success with the Eiffel Tower. Second, it was prefabricated in Eiffel's Paris shop in the 1870s (at the order of the Peruvian president) then shipped right around the...

Cuevas de Anzota

Arica

　　About 10km south of the center, the serene beaches give way to an area of jagged cliffs, rocky shorelines and caves that were used by the Chinchorro culture some 9000 years ago. A new coastal walk takes you through the area, with staircases leading up to lookout points, and fine...

Ferrocarril Arica-Poconchile

Arica

　　One part of the old rail line that linked Arica with La Paz, Bolivia, has been restored, allowing you to ride a tourist train that runs once a week between Arica and the Lluta Valley town of Poconchile, some 37km to the northeast. The 1950s vintage train cars currently depart...

El Morro de Arica

Arica

　　This imposing coffee-colored shoulder of rock looms 110m over the city. It makes a great place to get your bearings, with vulture-eye views of the city, port and Pacific Ocean. This lofty headland was the site of a crucial battle in 1880, a year into the War of the Pacific,...

Museo de Sitio Colón 10

Arica

　　See the 32 excavated Chinchorro mummies in situ at this tiny museum below El Morro. They were discovered when an architect bought this former private home with the intention of converting it into a hotel. You can gape at the glass-protected bodies as they were found, in the sand below...

Instituto de la Patagonia

Punta Arenas

　　Pioneer days are made real again at the Patagonian Institute's Museo del Recuerdo, part of the Universidad de Magallanes. The library has historical maps and a series of historical and scientific publications. Any taxi colectivo that is heading to the Zona Franca will drop you across the street. ...

Museo Río Seco

Punta Arenas

　　The pet project of the Caceres brothers, this funky homespun museum is a delightful detour for fans of natural history. Imaginative displays use fine naturalist drawings and painstakingly restored skeletons of seabirds, sea lions and whales to give a picture of life on the strait. Call ahead before visiting, as...

Museo del Recuerdo

Punta Arenas

　　On display are a collection of antique farm and industrial machinery, a typical pioneer house and shearing shed, and a wooden-wheeled shepherds’ trailer. ...

Plaza Muñoz Gamero

Punta Arenas

　　A central plaza of magnificent conifers surrounded by opulent mansions. Facing the plaza’s north side, Casa Braun-Menéndez houses the private Club de la Unión, which also uses the tavern downstairs (open to the public). The nearby monument commemorating the 400th anniversary of Magellan’s voyage was donated by wool baron José...

Casa Braun-Menéndez

Punta Arenas

　　Facing the Plaza Muñoz Gamero’s north side is the Club de la Unión, which houses the former Palacio Sara Braun, now known as the Casa Braun-Menéndez. ...

Museo Regional de Magallanes

Punta Arenas

　　This opulent mansion testifies to the wealth and power of pioneer sheep farmers in the late 19th century. The well-maintained interior houses a regional historical museum (ask for booklets in English) and original exquisite French-nouveau family furnishings, from intricate wooden inlaid floors to Chinese vases. In former servants’ quarters, a...

Museo Naval y Marítimo

Punta Arenas

　　A naval and maritime museum with historical exhibits that include a fine account of the Chilean mission that rescued Sir Ernest Shackleton’s crew from Antarctica. The most imaginative display is a replica ship complete with bridge, maps, charts and radio room. ...

Cementerio Municipal

Punta Arenas

　　Among South America’s most fascinating cemeteries, with both humble immigrant graves and flashy tombs, like that of wool baron José Menéndez, a scale replica of Rome’s Vittorio Emanuele monument, according to author Bruce Chatwin. See the map inside the main entrance gate. 　　It’s an easy 15-minute stroll northeast of the...

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón

Puerto Varas

　　The imposing and colorful 1915 Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón, overlooking downtown from a promontory, is based on the Marienkirche of the Black Forest, Germany. ...

Paseo Patrimonial

Puerto Varas

　　Many notable constructions in town are private houses from the early 20th century. Grab a city map at the tourist office to follow the Paseo Patrimonial, a walking tour of historic homes listed as Monumentos Nacionales. Several of these houses serve as hospedajes, including the 1941–42 Casa Schwerter (Del Carmen...

Museo Histórico

Puerto Natales

　　Worth a quick visit, this is a crash course in local history, with archaeological artifacts, a Yaghan canoe, Tehuelche bolas (throwing weapon) and historical photos. ...

Reloj Turri

Valparaíso

　　Where Prat and Cochrane converge to become Esmeralda, the Edificio Turri narrows to the width of its namesake clock tower, the Reloj Turri. This is one of the most iconic buildings in old Valparaiso, dating back to the 1920s. ...

Ascensor El Peral

Valparaíso

　　The recently revamped Ascensor El Peral starts from near the Tribunales (Law Courts) just off Plaza Sotomayor and continues to Cerro Alegre, home to the Palacio Baburizza (1916), which now contains the city's Museo de Bellas Artes. ...

Cementerios 1 & 2

Valparaíso

　　The city's most illustrious, influential and infamous residents rest in peace in Cementerios 1 and 2, where the tombs look like ornate mini alaces. Nearby is the Cementerio de Disidentes, where English and European immigrants were buried. 　　The views from here are worthwhile in themselves. If you're up for the...