Santiago de Chile - hotels
Hotel Noi : The most fashionable terrace in Santiago
The Noi hotel in Vitacura, with its lovely roof terrace turned into a trendy bar by nightfall is one of Santiago's most fashionable watering holes. In the summer, one can lay there all day long for a good tan. But life really starts around 9 pm. With its backround music, tapas and all sorts of trendy cocktail drinks, it has become the must meeting place of Santiago's trendy crowd.
Ideally located on Nueva Costanera, close to avenue Alonso de Cordoba, which is home to luxury establishments such as Hermes, Armani and many more, the Noi is part of an italian group which owns and operates hotels in various parts of the country, including Patagonia, and, of all places, Robinson Crusoe island.More
Chile-Santiago-Hotels
Radisson Plaza: what makes this hotel so special?
What makes this hotel so special ? Its confort, its location, friendly staff, the chauffeurs driving your car to the parking lot, the two areas set aside in the lobby for drinks while you wait for your friends or the porters available to collect your luggage as soon as you arrive ? They are all important. But most essential is a detail which might at first go unnoticed: this hotel built in a huge horseshoe-shaped building (which was unscathed in Chile's last 8° earthquake) is a far cry from the usual impersonal gigantism of american-styled luxury establishments. The lobby bar, with its piano player, offers a perfect example: more like a tearoom, it has a dozen tables and confortable armchairs where you can drink cocktails and eat sandwiches. Why not choose a "jamon y queso" (ham and cheese), a palatable equivalent of the French croque-monsieur. The pisco sour, the national drink made of grape skins and lemon juice, is excellent and made with fresly pressed lemons, a rare feature. Nowadays, supermarkets sell bottled pisco sour, something which would have been unconceivable a few years ago.Rooms at the Radisson are spacious and confortable. The hotel has not given in to the latest trend of shifting part of the bathroom into the sleeping quarters. Confort here is as its most classic best: thick wall-to-wall carpet, faultless bedding and perfect soundproofing. All these features explain why many guests become regulars. This hotel, is located at the very beginning of the Providencia side of Vitacura avenue, at a stone's throw of the boutiques and restaurants of Bosque Norte and Isodora Goyenechea. A branch of the Banco Santander and bureaux de change are to be found close by. Car parks and car hire facilities as well as several boutiques and a hair-dressing salon are available on the premises. The Radisson chain has other hotels in Chile, notably in Concon on the Pacific Ocean, about one and a half hour from Santiago by road. www.radisson.cl
Chile-Santiago-Hotels
Radisson La Dehesa latest luxury hotel by Radisson
Santiago's latest luxury hotel, the Radisson La Dehesa, which opened in the district of the same name, boasts a 700-meter spa, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, sauna facilities, a massage parlour and state of the art fitness equipment. The restaurant's chef is a Frenchman, Franck Dieudonné, who previously worked in another restaurant of the same hotel chain in Santiago after spending 11 years in London. His cuisine is mainly mediterranean with Moroccan, Lebanese and Greek influences. His tagine of chicken in lemon sauce and olives served with safron-flavoured white beans and chorizo is first class. His main complaint is that the supply of fresh fish is becoming increasingly difficult in Santiago. Chefs wishing to serve it have to fight for the few fresh products available on auction. Most of the country's fresh fish is exported and it may be wiser to settle for frozen products given dubious hygiene standards in Chilean ports, he says. Despite this inconvenience, the Zafran, the hotel's black, beige and grey-coloured restaurant proposes a fair choice of Chilean fish, including panceta conger eel cooked in hot pepper and served with polenta. The rooms are very comfortable and it is worth mentioning to potential visitors that the hotel faces the La Dehesa mall, one of Santiago's top shopping centers.
Chile-Santiago-Hotels
The Novotel Vitacura, close to numerous restaurants but ... no luggage handlers outside the lobby !
The Novotel Vitacura is ideally located. It is close to numerous restaurants and cafeterias on Vitacura avenue, one of Santiago's most pleasant residential areas. The hotel was entirely renovated in 2010. Rooms are functional (flat screen TV, small desk to enable those on business trips to work, Wifi). The toilets are separate from the bathroom. The beds are first class but the soundproofing is average.Some will regret the relocation of the bar away from the gound floor to a room next to the restaurant, thus depriving it of its intimate atmosphere. There are no luggage handlers outside the lobby, which is rather surprising in a four-star south american hotel. But the reception staff is friendly and comes to the rescue of arriving or departing guests when necessary. Breakfast is plentiful.
Chile-Santiago-Hotels
Outside of Santiago, in San Alfonso, Maipo Canyon
And why not head directly from the airport to a village at the foot of the Andes ? The Altiplanico chain has built a lodge at San Alfonso, in Maipo Canyon. An Altiplanico car will take you there from the airport, a one hour and 30 minute drive.The "rustico chic" lodge offers a full board formula enabling visitors to explore the region with complete ease. The hotel has a magnificent view of the Maipo canyon and the rooms are simply but confortably furnished. There is a small swimming-pool. For excursions, the hotel enjoys the services of local tourist agencies which organize treks, horse-rides and rafting on the Maipo river. Altiplanico owns other lodges in Chile, including on Easter Island and at San Pedro de Atacama, in the country's far north desert region. Visitors can also stay at Cascada de las animas. The restaurant La Tribu is opened to non guests. It boasts a leisure park on the bank of the Maipo river.