Chile has survived dictators, earthquakes, and a wobbly economy, and now it’s an incubator of cool. Today, Santiago’s festive Barrio Lastarria district, long home to creatives (it’s named for writer José Victorino Lastarria), is filled with museums—the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Visual Arts, and the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center—plus boho wine bars and boutiques and cool Chileans. Start your tour at the Lastarria Boutique Hotel, a Deco dame with parquet floors, high ceilings, and a courtyard pool (56-2-2840-3700; doubles from $169). Then try one of Bocanáriz‘s Chilean wines—like a deep-red carmenere—with fish stew or pâté (Calle José Victorino Lastarria 276; 56-2-2638-9893; entrées from $15), or go to Opera for live jazz plus sea bass with parsley and capers (_Merced 395; 56-2-2664-3048; entrées from $1_5). End up at Emporio La Rosa for decadent chocolate-smothered dulce de leche ice cream (Merced 291, Oficina 31). Shoppers will love Hall Central’s hand-sewn batiks (Merced 346), Kind of Blue records (Merced 323), and El Cid Campeador, an antiquarian bookstore that melds the hood’s exciting vibe with its dignified roots (Merced 345).

The courtyard pool at Lastarria Boutique Hotel

Photos: Adriano Fagundes