Choose from 124 Fun Things to Do in Chile
ShowingFilter 121-124 of 124 listings.
Plaza Muñoz Gamero
This historic town square is among the most popular destinations in the Magallanes Region because of its unmistakable energy and close proximity to some of Punta Arenas' major attractions. Travelers can easily walk from Plaza Munoz Gamero to Casa Braun-Menendez, the Sociedad Menendez Behety and the local cathedral, and many visitors agree that the best handmade crafts in town can be found here.
Walking the plaza takes only a few minutes, but most visitors gather at park benches or relax in the shade of trees to take in the sights and sounds of local life. Local folklore states kissing the statue of Magellan's feet is good luck, so visitors looking to change their fortune should be sure to do so before leaving the plaza. A central information center also offers travelers maps and recommendations, making this a perfect first stop on a trip to Punta Arenas.
Practical Info
Sociedad Menendez Behety is located on the east side of the square, and beautiful old mansions can be found to the plaza's north. Travelers looking to explore the stalls of local vendors and shop for handmade crafts should arrive any time before dusk, when merchants close up shop and head home for the evening.
Address: Punta Arenas, Chile
From $ 58
MontGras Winery
The brainchild of brothers Hernan and Eduardo Gras, and partner Cristian Hartwig, MontGras Winery opened in 1993. Using state-of-the-art technology, the award-winning winery is best known for its full-bodied syrah, malbec, carmenere, and cabernet sauvignon wines.
The Basics
Wine lovers can peek behind the scenes of the winery in Palmilla and discover its winemaking process on one of a number of a guided tours. One tour includes a walk around the vineyards, a visit to the wine cellar, and a guided wine tasting, while another excursion offers hands-on experience in the vineyards to try picking, selecting, and treading grapes. You can even create your own wine blend during a special workshop, and finish by bottling, corking, and labeling your wine to take home with you.
Things to Know Before You Go
- The legal drinking age in Chile is 18.
- Advance booking is required for tastings and winery tours, which are conducted in both Spanish and English.
- The winery and parts of the vineyards are wheelchair accessible.
How to Get There
The MontGras winery is located in Chile's Colchagua Valley, about a 10-minute drive north of Santa Cruz. There is no public transport to the winery, but it's possible to visit as part of a tour with transportation or take a taxi from Santa Cruz.
When to Get There
Winery tours are possible year-round, and advance bookings are highly recommended. The annual harvest typically runs from mid-February through the end of April.
Chile's Colchagua Valley
A prime Chilean wine-growing region, the Colchagua Valley runs along the Colchagua riverbank. Naturally sheltered between the Andes and the Coastal mountain ranges, the area features an ideal terroir for wine growing. It is most known for its red wines; the most popular varietals are cabernet sauvignon, carmenere, merlot, malbec, and syrah. Aside from wine tasting, visitors come to the region for cycling tours, horseback riding excursions, and rides on the Santa Cruz Wine Train.
Address: Camino Isla de Yaquil s/N, Palmilla, Region del Libertador Gral, Chile
From $ 29
Cousiño Palace
The Chilean building boom of the late 1800s, spurred by rising silver, copper and nitrite prices worldwide, inspired some of the city's most marvelous architecture. Grand palaces were built with stern neoclassical facades fashionably adorned with touches of baroque and art nouveau frill. The finest of them all is at the heart of the ritzy Calle Dieciocho neighborhood: the Cousiño Palace.
The mansion was designed by architect Paul Lathoud for the Cousiño Goyenechea family, a prominent clan who owned everything from the famed Cousiño-Macul Vineyards, to assorted coal and silver mines. The French-inspired building often draws comparisons to Versailles, and has hosted foreign dignitaries from Marshal Tito to Queen Elizabeth.
The mansion was designed by architect Paul Lathoud for the Cousiño Goyenechea family, a prominent clan who owned everything from the famed Cousiño-Macul Vineyards, to assorted coal and silver mines. The French-inspired building often draws comparisons to Versailles, and has hosted foreign dignitaries from Marshal Tito to Queen Elizabeth.
Today, you can tour its soaring marble halls and 12 sumptuously decorated rooms, each offering a glimpse into the lives of the Chilean aristocracy during those heady boom years.
Practical Info
On the southern border of Santiago's historic center, Cousiño Palace is close to the University of Chile in the once opulent neighborhood of Calle Dieciocho. The area is more maneuverable in a car than the narrow, congested streets immediately surrounding Plaza de Armas, seven very pretty blocks away. Still, it's much more convenient to take the L2 yellow line to the Toesca station. Travelers must visit on a 45-minute guided tour, which are offered throughout the day. Most guides speak both Spanish and English.
Address: Calle Dieciocho 438, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:30am to 1:30pm, 2:30pm to 5pm; Sat-Sun 9:30am-1:30pm
Admission: Varies
From $ 125
Undurraga Winery
This quiet winery is a short drive from Santiago, on what is referred to as the Autopista del Sol, which heads straight west from Santiago, arriving at the seaside town of Cartagena. Undurraga has a long history in Chile dating back to the 19th century, when this area of the Maipo valley was first used for wine grapes. Basic tours of the winery in English and Spanish start with a description of the operations, and then past some traditional Mapuche (indigenous) carvings, and past a small grotto that visitors can enter to better understand the terroir, between alluvial soils, rocks and roots that comprise the land on which the grapes are grown. Groups can be large, though English tours are usually smaller, and private tours are available.
A walk past a test garden that shows a number of different varieties of grapes is educational at many times of year, and guides can show you the ways in which different varieties of grape leaves’ shaped differ. The area worked here is small, as Undurraga has terrain in the south and further out to the coast as well, but this location in the Maipo Valley is where all the wine is produced.
The wine production area is a sleek concrete structure, and in it, the fermentation process is underway in metal tanks, and newly, large concrete egg-shaped structures, before being either put in oak (reds) or bottled (whites). A walk through the barrel cellar room ends with a tasting, which may include wines just about to hit the market, or some which have already been selling. There is a shop that sells the wines visitors have tasted, as well about fifty other wines, and souvenirs including food products, such as jarred copihues (Chile’s edible national flower), flavored salts, and different kinds of merquén (a smoky chili spice mix). Tours include a souvenir glass.
Practical Info
Time your visit for spring to summer if you’d like to see the vineyards just flourishing, late summer for harvest time, and if you’re after the bright reds and yellows of fall foliage, try to hit this winery in late May.
Address: Camino a Melipilla, Km 34, Talagante, Chile
From $ 20