1,000 Places to See Before You Die

by Patricia Schultz

  The Museo Arqueológico Padre Le Paige, an archaeological museum with an excellent collection of pre-Columbian artifacts preserved by the arid climate, provides a valuable introduction to visitors before they head out on one of the many guided excursions. Early morning is best for striking out to see the Geysers del Tatio, the highest in the world, which come to life in the early light; en route are the Termas de Puritama, hot springs that offer an enticing way to unwind in eight warm pools descending a narrow, lush gorge. Afternoons are ideal for viewing dozens of flamingos grazing in the mineralized lake that sprawls across the tremendous salt flat at Salar de Atacama, part of a national flamingo reserve. At the end of the day, the setting sun casts shades of gold, violet, and red across the lunarlike landscape of the aptly named Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). Multiday tours from San Pedro visit Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat (see p. 999).

  In recent years, hotels have sprouted up around San Pedro, ranging from simple hostels to full-service luxury lodges. Among the top-of-the-line choices is the low-slung Alto Atacama Desert Lodge, a pioneer in eco-sustainability and one of Chile’s most attractive nature lodges. It was designed to blend into the terra-cotta cliffs of the Catarpe Valley, near Atacama and Inca ruin sites and just minutes from San Pedro. The lodge offers lots of guided excursions, six inviting pools that spread out like an oasis, a spa with sauna, and gourmet-in-the-middle-of-nowhere dining. Those looking for individualized service in a smaller setting choose Awasi, with its eight spacious, thatch-roofed bungalows that surround a courtyard, pool, and lovely open-air lounge, with handmade wooden furniture. For a stay in the center of San Pedro, Kimal is a well-run 19-room inn; the staff greets new arrivals with a pisco sour and warm welcome.

  Valle de la Luna, shaped by millennia of erosion, takes its name from its resemblance to the surface of the moon.

  WHERE: 1,038 miles/1,670 km north of Santiago and 61 miles/98 km from Calama, the nearest commercial airport. ALTO ATACAMA: Tel 56/2-957-0300; www.altoatacama.com. Cost: 2 nights from $940 per person, all-inclusive. AWASI: Tel 56/2-233-9641; in the U.S., 888-880-3219; www.awasi.cl. Cost: 3 nights from $1,885 per person, all-inclusive. KIMAL: Tel 56/5-585-1030; www.kimal.cl. Cost: from $185. BEST TIMES: year-round for sunny weather; nights are coldest (about 30°F/-1°C) Jun–Aug; Jun 29 for patron saint festivities during Fiesta de San Pedro y San Pablo.

  Irresistible Contrasts in Chile’s Twin Cities

  VIÑA DEL MAR AND VALPARAÍSO

  Valparaíso, Chile

  Few cities are so close geographically but so different in looks and personality as Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Visitors to Chile’s central coast can travel from the wonderfully quirky, Victorian-era ambience of the former to the upscale beachfront pleasures of the latter in just a few minutes.

  During the 19th century, Chile’s Pacific port city of Valparaíso was one of the wealthiest places on the continent, attracting new residents who built grand Neoclassical and Victorian mansions overlooking the water. The 1914 opening of the Panama Canal, which provided a more efficient shipping route, spelled an end to the city’s boom, but Valpo (as locals call it) remains one of Chile’s most enjoyable destinations. Perched on a series of 45 hills (cerros) above a huge bay, it is often compared to San Francisco: Visitors spend their days wandering the tangle of cobbled backstreets that line the steep slopes and enjoying small restaurants, shops, and inns set in colorful former homes. The obligatory stop is the hilltop La Sebastiana, which in 1961 became one of the late poet Pablo Neruda’s three homes. Share Neruda’s love for Valparaíso’s charms with a stroll through the city’s 19th-century cemeteries with their Baroque mausoleums or with a ride aboard one of the ascensores, rickety funicular railways that connect the downtown area with the streets above.

  Set in a beautifully restored 1920s mansion in the Cerro Alegre district, where English and German immigrants built their homes, Hotel Casa Higueras has 20 guest rooms, many with private terraces and panoramic views of Valparaíso Bay. To see where the city’s local gastro revival began, take a table at lively Pasta e Vino, or on the terrace of Café Turri, where you can enjoy excellent seafood along with the stunning vistas.

  For the yin to this urban yang, head next-door to Viña del Mar, founded in 1874 by well-to-do santiaguinos and porteños (residents of Santiago and Valparaíso, respectively) who decided they needed a seaside getaway. Since then Viña, as it’s known to locals, has grown into Chile’s largest and most popular beach resort, a high-profile destination for Latin American and foreign travelers alike. You’ll find broad, sandy beaches, luxury apartment buildings, and grand private homes. The Casino Municipal, built in 1930, is a throwback to the days when gamblers dressed to the nines. Glimpses of the city’s posh past are also on view at the Museo Palacio Rioja, an opulently furnished 1910 Belle Époque mansion that hosts performances of classical music and theater as well as movie screenings. Swank accommodations include Hotel del Mar, a contemporary Greco-Roman confection attached to the casino, with views of the sea. A devoted following comes to the hotel to dine at Savinya, which serves international cuisine with Mediterranean flair.

  Stop in the Casablanca Valley wine region en route back to Santiago; Viña Indomita offers guided tours and spectacular views from its hilltop bodega and restaurant.

  Some call bohemian Valparaíso the “Pearl of the Pacific.”

  WHERE: Valparaíso is 61 miles/98 km northwest of Santiago. CASA HIGUERAS: Tel 56/32-249-7900; www.hotelcasahigueras.cl. Cost: from $245. PASTA E VINO: Tel 56/32-249-6187; www.pastaevinoristorante.cl. Cost: lunch $25. CAFÉ TURRI: Tel 56/32-225-2091; www.cafeturri.cl. Cost: dinner $30. HOTEL DEL MAR: Tel 56/32-250-0800; www.enjoy.cl. Cost: from $215 (off-peak), from $285 (peak). VIÑA INDOMITA: Tel: 56/32-275-4400; www.indomita.cl. BEST TIMES: Nov-Mar for warm weather; New Year’s Eve for fireworks and celebrations in Valparaíso; mid-Feb for the Festival Internacional de la Canción in Viña del Mar.

  A Reborn City and Its Treasures

  CANDELARIA AND GOLD MUSEUM

  Bogotá, Colombia

  Once known primarily for drug cartel–driven crime, Colombia’s capital has cleaned up its bad-boy image. A bohemian element that endured through the dark times has turned the heart of the city into a cultural and artistic center and infused the place with a forward-looking spirit. Indeed, Bogotá is fast becoming one of Latin America’s most progressive and prosperous cities.

  La Candelaria, also known as Zona C, leads this renaissance. The formerly seedy area is now a place where locals and visitors enjoy its pedestrian-only cobblestone streets lined with Colonial mansions and churches. It is also home to a stylish new cultural center and a dozen popular museums.

  Its highlight, located on the edge of the neighborhood, is the Museo del Oro, the world’s largest and finest gold museum. Only 15 percent of its collection of more than 30,000 artifacts is on display in a bright and airy new building. The sophisticated workmanship of the items on exhibit, not to mention the sheer magnitude of the collection, is staggering. The stunning displays, representing every major pre-Columbian culture in the region at the time of the Spanish conquest, will make you believe the legends of El Dorado. The museum also houses the world’s largest uncut emerald, testament to Colombia’s role as the world’s foremost producer of the beautiful green gems.

  Colombia’s foremost artist, Fernando Botero, donated 123 of his pieces to create the nearby Donación Botero, the largest museum of his works anywhere. His signature art—whimsically corpulent people and animals, rendered in paintings and sculpture—shares space with works by Chagall, Picasso, and other artists from Botero’s private collection.

  The boutique Hotel de la Opera, created from two restored Colonial buildings next to the famous 19th-century Teatro Colón, is just steps from the expansive Plaza de Bolívar, the neighborhood’s main square. Some of its rooms are decorated in a Colonial style and others with Deco lines. Either way, you’ll enjoy a pool, spa, and a rooftop restaurant with city views.


  For dinner, digress to Zona G, one of Bogotá’s trendiest and most vibrant neighborhoods. Or consider Andrés Carne de Res, in Chia, 40 minutes from downtown, a longtime institution. Wandering musicians and get-up-and-move soundtracks effortlessly fill more than one dance floor. Thick grilled steaks, imported from Argentina, take up just one of the menu’s 30 pages; don’t miss the traditional ajiaco, a potato and chicken soup.

  MUSEO DEL ORO: Tel 57/1-343-2222; www.banrep.gov.co/museo. DONACIÓN BOTERO: Tel 57/1-343-1212; www.lablaa.org/museobotero.htm. HOTEL DE LA OPERA: Tel 57/1-336-2066; www.hotelopera.com.co. Cost: $185 (off-peak), $250 (peak). ANDRÉS CARNE DE RES: Tel 57/1-863-7880; www.andrescarnederes.com. Cost: dinner $60. BEST TIMES: Dec–Apr for summer weather; Mar of even years for Ibero-American Theater Festival.

  A Riot of Color, a Caribbean Vibe

  OLD CARTAGENA

  Colombia

  When the Spanish came looking for the kingdom of El Dorado in 1533, they landed at Cartagena and built its wealth on slavery, gold, and sugar. Today this coastal gem of Colonial architecture is beautifully restored, particularly within its authentic and lively 16th- and 17th-century Ciudad Vieja (Old City), helping to make Colombia again a global destination. The city’s elaborate murallas—nearly 7 miles of walls, up to 25 feet thick and 83 feet high—enclose flowering patios, wooden balconies, narrow back streets, stately and vividly painted mansions housing hotels and fine restaurants, café- and palm-lined plazas, and centuries-old churches. The walls, together with an impregnable chain of outer forts such as San Sebastián de Pastelillo and San Felipe de Barajas, protected Colombia’s most important city from plundering pirates, most famously Sir Francis Drake. They took more than 200 years to complete and are the only such fortifications in South America.

  Cartagena is a riot of color, its houses splashed in red, blue, and orange and cloaked in flowers. Resounding with cumbia, vallenato, champeta, and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms, the city can feel more like Old Havana (see p. 1075) than anywhere in South America. Palenqueras—women balancing pans filled with fruit on their heads—linger in Plaza Santo Domingo, with its voluptuous reclining nude by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, and in the triangular Plaza de los Coches, where shops, restaurants, and bars occupy handsome balconied houses.

  Cartagena’s finest hotel is the early-17th-century Convento de Santa Clara, luxuriously refurbished by the French hotel company Sofitel. Guests can swim in an oversize pool and dine in the nuns’ former refectory just off the cloister, filled with a flowering garden. The city now has dozens of boutique hotels, but one of the first remains one of the finest: The intimate Hotel Agua offers just six individually decorated rooms in a Colonial 17th-century mansion. Its rooftop pool provides great views of the city and the sea.

  The best place for sunset drinks is the Café del Mar, right on top of the city walls and overlooking the water, while La Vitrola, one of the most atmospheric restaurants in town, serves excellent Cuban-Caribbean cuisine. Its ceiling fans, crisply jacketed waiters, and live Cuban jazz quartet will take you back to a more elegant era.

  For all-out romance, have an alfresco dinner at Club de Pesca, which overlooks the marina in the working-class Getsemaní neighborhood and serves contemporary Caribbean-inspired dishes. Nearby, the stately Hotel Monterrey offers moderate rates for simple but spacious, comfortable rooms in a 19th-century building. The view of the walled city from the fifth-floor terrace, where you can relax with a drink, is among the best in town.

  Palenqueras famously carry fruit in bowls balanced atop their heads.

  HOTEL SANTA CLARA: Tel 57/5-650-4700; in the U.S., 800-763-4835; www.hotelsantaclara.com. Cost: $350 (off-peak), $495 (peak). HOTEL AGUA: Tel 57/5-664-9479; www.hotelagua.com.co. Cost: $340 (off-peak), $390 (peak). CAFÉ DEL MAR: Tel 57/5-664-6513. Cost: dinner $45. LA VITROLA: Tel 57/5-660-0711. Cost: dinner $60. CLUB DE PESCA: Tel 57/5-660-4594; www.clubdepesca.com. Cost: dinner $50. HOTEL MONTERREY: Tel 57/5-650-3030; www.hotelmonterrey.com.co. Cost: $155. BEST TIMES: Dec–Apr for dry season; early Jan for Cartagena International Music Festival; Jan 20 for Fiesta de la Candelaria; mid-Mar for Caribbean Music Festival and Festival Internacional de Cine; late Mar—early Apr for Ibero-American Theater Festival.

  The Coffee Triangle

  EJE CAFETERO

  Colombia

  One of the most beautiful areas to visit in all of Colombia is the one that produces coffee, the country’s most famous product. Nearly 10 percent of the world’s crop is grown here, making Colombia the second largest producer after Brazil. Rising as high as 5,900 feet above sea level, the region comprises three departments: Caldas, Quindio, and Risaralda, that together form the Eje Cafetero (Coffee Axis, aka Coffee Triangle). Armenia, the capital of Quindio, serves as a regional hub, as does Pereira, where the main airport is located.

  Nature is king here, and the region’s national parks include the slightly Disneylike Parque Nacional del Café, with its train, mechanical rides, and vignettes about coffee cultivation, and the Parque Nacional Natural Los Nevados, near Pereira, a large water and land reserve occupying more than 144,000 acres. The highlight is the 17,440-foot-high Los Nevados peak, a particular lure for trekkers and ecotourists. Agritourism has made the area one of Latin America’s top rural destinations, thanks to nearly 700 traditional coffee haciendas, or fincas, working farms that provide lodging and a glimpse of traditional life. Many offer horseback tours with the Andes as a dramatic backdrop, allowing you to glimpse waterfalls and ride across endless plantations and lush countryside, where birds and butterflies drift through the air. Other possibilities are kayaking, whitewater rafting, trekking, treetop canopy tours, or dipping into mud baths and hot springs near Santa Rosa del Cabal. For now, most tourists here are Colombians enjoying long weekends.

  Luxury has come to the region with the opening of Sazagua, on the outskirts of Pereira, a boutique hotel with ten suites, a spa surrounded by lush gardens, and a restaurant that is the gastronomic highlight of the area.

  WHERE: 100 miles/160 km west of Bogotá. PARQUE NACIONAL DEL CAFÉ: Tel 57/6-741-7417; www.parquenacionaldelcafe.com. PARQUE NACIONAL NATURAL LOS NEVADOS: 57/1-243-1634; www.parquesnacionales.gov.co. SAZAGUA: Tel 57/6-337-9895; www.sazagua.com. Cost: from $180. BEST TIMES: Mar–Jun and Oct–Dec for coffee harvest season.

  Highland Colonial Charm

  CUENCA

  Ecuador

  The historical center of Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city, oozes colonial charm, with cobblestone streets, balconies, and buildings no higher than a church steeple per zoning regulations. The best days to visit are Thursdays and Sundays, when the central plaza becomes a marketplace filled with local women, known as cholas cuencanas and dressed in polleras, colorful woolen dresses. Many stalls overflow with Panama hats, which are actually made here and not in Panama; the best are made by Homero Ortega P. & Hijos. Overlooking the city are the Iglesia El Sagrario (Sanctuary Church), aka Catedral Vieja, its oldest structure, and the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción (aka New Cathedral), modeled on the Italian Baptistry in Florence. Museo del Banco Central (aka the Museo Pumapungo) highlights local culture, while Museo del Monasterio de la Concepción is a 16th-century Colonial structure filled with religious art. Nearly as revered by locals is Villa Rosa, a restaurant in the enclosed courtyard of a lovingly restored Cuencan home near the central plaza. Owner Berta Vintimilla uses old family recipes to delight her loyal clientele—her empanadas are not to be missed. Antiques and fine art are highlights of any stay at the Mansion Alcazar, built in the 1870s as the home of Luis Cordero, then president of Ecuador. Today it is one of the most inviting of the new crop of recently restored hotels in the historic quarter.

  One exciting way to experience the mountains is by taking the Spirit of the Andes train ride, until recently called the famous Chiva Express. Get ready for dramatic views along a route that follows the Avenue of the Volcanoes, passing the active Cotopaxi and extinct Mount Chimborazo. It soon reaches the legendary Nariz del Diablo (Devil’s Nose), a f
eat of engineering that follows a hair-raising series of switchback turns, before delivering you to Riobamba, the old market town 4 hours south of Quito.

  Riobamba’s well-known weekend Indian market sprawls across the town’s five squares; you can identify the various communities of Indians by the women’s distinctive hats. Spend an hour in the Museo de Arte Religioso whose remarkable collection of art and gold objects is displayed in a restored convent and cloisters.

  If it’s Sunday, head to Cuenca’s outlying villages for the markets, especially to Gualaceo, about a half hour east. The most popular excursion from Cuenca is to Ingapirca, Ecuador’s largest pre-Columbian ruin. This was a religious site, unusual for its round and oval structures, built by the Cañari people before they were conquered by the Incas.

  WHERE: 265 miles/442 km south of Quito. VILLA ROSA: Tel 593/7-2837-944. Cost: dinner $25. MANSION ALCAZAR: Tel 593/7-2823-889; www.mansionalcazar.com. Cost: from $205. HOW: U.S.-based Ladatco Tours offers custom itineraries that include Cuenca, Riobamba, and the train ride. Tel 800-327-6162 or 305-854-8422; www.ladatco.com. Cost: 7-day tour from $2,325. Originates in Quito. BEST TIMES: Jan, Sep–Nov for good weather; Nov 3 for Independence Day in Cuenca; Sun for markets in and around Cuenca.

  Evolutionary Miracles Above and Under Water

  GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS