Chile's capital was founded in 1541, by the Spanish captain Pedro de Valdivia, on the banks of the Mapocho river in the middle of the Central Valley. At the foot of the Andes Mountains, the city stands 543 meters above sea level and 62 miles from the sea. Approximately five million people live here, which is one third of the country's total population. In recent years it has witnessed the rapid rise of modern, iridescent buildings that stand alongside traditional neighborhoods and homes built in the past century.

Santiago is one of the financial metropolis of Latin America and Chile's cultural center. Top quality hotels, excellent restaurants, tourist agencies and all kinds of services and activities are at the tourist's disposal.

The capital is also attractive because of its privileged location, as it is close to the coastal cities and to the Andes Mountains. In this sector, no more than two hours away, there are excellent ski resorts, beaches and fertile valleys with vineyards.

Attractions
History
Santiago began as a fortified encampment, known by the name Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura, the furthest-flung post of the Spanish empire. For over two centuries, Santiago remained the only city in Central Chile, while great farms known as haciendas formed the basis of rural society. During the late 18th century, European architects began to grace the capital with elegant works such as the Palacio de la Moneda, the largest Neoclassical construction in Colonial Arnedea. Revolutionary ideas were quick to brew in this increasingly libertarian atmosphere, and on Septernber 18, 1810, independence was declared in the Real Audiencia building, adjacent to Santiago's historic Plaza de Armas.

Independence brought new-found wealth to Chile principally from the nitrate fields of the north. This led to the construction of several monumental works that were to completely transform the capital. The creation of extensive parks and gardens, a fine arts museum, and new bridges over the Mapocho river were among the most important works of this era. In the late twentieth century, unprecedented economic growth has added scores of high rises and spotless residential neighborhoods to Santiago's panorama of historic architecture.

City life
Today, Santiago is a clean, modern city, with an exceedingly pleasant Mediterranean climate, abundant parks and plazas, and an efficient public transportation system, the Metro. An active program of art exhibitions, theater and dance provide a fitting complement to Santiago's wealth of fine restaurants. The areas of principal interest to visitors include the historic city center or centro, the bohemian arts district of Bellavista, the modern, attractive commercial district and sidowalk cafes of Providencia, and the sparkling new high rises of Las Condes and Vitacura, the Banios Altos (higher-income neighborhoods).

Modern inhabitants
Modern Santiago is a dynamic, engaging city that surprises visitors with its familiarity, on the one hand, and its unimagined variety and industriousness, on the other. The economic success of the past decade has produced a upwardly-mobile class of executives who clearly understand mixing pleasure and hard work, as a lunchtime visit to Santiago's frenzied centro or upscale El Bosque sector will demostrate. Meanwhile, the capital remains the heart of more traditional culture, derived from the meeting of country and city life. Vendors from the surrounding farms sell their wares in open markets, artisans transforms traditional motifs into more modern designs, dance and music recall the rural past of the majority of the capital's inhabitants. In Santiago, you get all types - but always with a smile.

Gastronomy
Santiago reunites the very freshest products from all corners of Chile: lobsters from Isla Robinson Crusoe, shellfish from Chiloe, fruit and wins from the Central Valley, tropical fruit from the north and beef from the Lake Region. These products form the basis for a wonderful variety of quality restaurants.

For the most traditional of Chilean cuisine, visitors can dine with locals among the hubbub of the open-air Mercado Central, or be treated to a demonstration of the traditional cueca dance while eating such regional specialties as pastel de choclo.

More modern tastes may be sated at any number of fine dining establishments, including Peruvian, Italian and Cuban food, Thai, French and Indian, sushi and nouvelle cuisine, including some charming, difficult-to-define theme restaurants. In general, seafood is a big favorite, with fine Chilean wines - at reasonable prices- to wash it down.

Shopping
Again, the keyword here is variety: shoppers in Santiago have the opportunity to purchase items ranging from traditional artisans' baskets, ceramics, and wooden carvings, to high fashion, fine leather goods and jewelry. One required stop is the Graneros del Alba market, in Los Dominicos, where visitors can browse Chile's finest collection of quality handicrafts. In the Bellavista district, numerous boutiques specialize in hard-carved works in lapizlazuli, a semi-precious stone. Visitors with more modem tastes can shop till they drop at stylish mails such as Alto las Condes.

Activities
Golf
Santiago boasts a number of quality private golf courses. Guests at the capdal's finest hotels can play the 18-hoie courses at La Dehesa, Lomas de La Dehesa, Prince of Wales, Santo Domingo and Coya country clubs, where the mild climate of the Central Valley keep the links open year-round.

Horse racing
For centuries, the great hacienda owners of the Central Valley have brought their finest Chilean thoroughbreds to Santiago for much-appreciated derbies, and on selected afternoons, the Club Hipico and the Hipodromo Chile fill up with eager race fans. Besides just being great fun, these events provide a rare, insightful glance into Chile's rich legacy of rural-based aristocracy.

Wine tours
Santiago lies in the heart of Chile's wine-producing region, with no fewer than 4 distinct valleys and 8 separate wineries lying in the capital's immediate surroundings.

This region boasts a nearly ideal climate for winemaking, with well-drained volcanic and fluvial soils, high levels of solar radiation, a long growing season and a great vacation between daytime and nighttime temperatures all combining to promote the healthy formation of sugars. Meanwhile, the rootstock employed here, brought from Europe (especially France) in the latter half of the 19th century, includes the only vines in the world to have escaped the disastrous Phylloxera plague that destroyed millions of acres of vineyards in Europe and California. As a consequence, Chilean vines have a productive life of over a hundred years, compared with a mere thirty in Phylloxera-infested regions.

Wine tours in Santiago typically visit the vineyards and wine cellars of well-known wineries such as Concha y Toro, Cousiño Macul, Santa Carolina and Undurraga, several of which feature well-manicured parks and elegant mansions from around 1900. Most, but not all, sell export wines directly to the public.