Santiago Hotels

Santiago de Chile occupies arguably the most spectacular setting of any world capital. Sprawled across the fertile Santiago valley, 100km (62 miles) from the Pacific coast, the city is dominated by the full might of the Andes mountains, which loom over its eastern suburbs. Indeed, Santiago's 5.5 million residents are theoretically able (money and motivation permitting) to take a morning dip in the sea, followed by an afternoon on internationally renowned ski slopes.

Santiagos status as a colonial backwater has long been consigned to history, and the economic hub is at the forefront of Latin American commerce. In this city of contrasts, glass-fronted skyscrapers tower over 18th-century churches, while indigenous women in tribal costume hawk penny snacks outside world-class restaurants and hotels. The fashionable districts of Providencia and Las Condes, where the young and affluent sip cappuccinos, seem a world away from the squalid callampas (shanty towns) situated nearby. But despite its obvious problems, Santiago enjoys one of the best standards of living on the continent and the work hard, play hard ethic provides the sense of a modern, thriving city.

Founded on 12 February 1541 by a small band of Spanish conquistadors led by Pedro de Valdivia, who had trekked across the Andes from Peru, Santiago had an unpromising start. Within six months, Araucanian Indians destroyed the settlement and the Spaniards were besieged for two years on Cerro Santa Lucia (a hill, now a popular city park). The eventual arrival of reinforcements from Peru enabled the city to be re-founded and Santiago settled into its colonial role as a provincial capital within the Viceroyalty of Peru. After independence from Spain in 1818, Chile emerged as the most economically dynamic of the new South American republics. The growth of the country's agriculture and mining industries served to boost Santiago's status and, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the city experienced large-scale immigration from Europe. The protracted economic boom of the 1990s, nurtured by Chile's mineral wealth (particularly in copper), resulted in the demolition of much of Santiago's architectural heritage to make way for luxury apartments and offices. Nevertheless, the city retains much of its Old World charm, particularly around the Plaza de Armas, the central square first delineated by Pedro de Valdivia.

Unfortunately, many visitors regard Santiago as little more than a convenient place to spend a night before heading either north or south in search of Chile's natural wonders. But to avoid Santiago is to miss out on a unique city whose residents remain surprisingly friendly, given its size and the disparities of wealth. Travellers prepared to venture beyond their hotel lobbies will be rewarded by 17th-century churches, lively markets and colourful street life, set against a dramatic backdrop of snow-capped mountains. The city's position halfway up Chile's 'string bean' shape ensures a comfortable Mediterranean climate, hot and dry in summer, cool and wet in winter. Santiago is renowned for its smog, which gets trapped in the natural bowl of the city, but this should not affect short-term visitors and clear skies can be expected during spring and summer.