Barrio Bellavista Santiago: Bohemian Life, Pablo Neruda & Best Bars

Barrio Bellavista is Santiago's bohemian heart — a neighbourhood of brightly painted houses, outdoor sculpture, street murals, and a restaurant and bar scene that has anchored the city's cultural life since the return of democracy in 1990. Pablo Neruda's La Chascona, one of the poet's three eccentric houses-museums, sits on the hill at the neighbourhood's upper edge — a labyrinthine home designed to recall a ship, with rooms built at odd angles to accommodate a lover kept secret for years. The neighbourhood divides around Avenida Pío Nono: the western side (Patio Bellavista complex) caters to tourists; the eastern side, climbing toward Cerro San Cristóbal, contains the more authentic independent restaurants and bars. Emporio La Rosa's ice cream (flavours like rose petal and blackberry with basil) is the neighbourhood's beloved dessert institution. The climb to Cerro San Cristóbal — Santiago's highest urban hill at 880 metres — via the neighbourhood's steps delivers the most complete panoramic view of the city, the Andes wall behind it, and the Central Valley stretching to the Pacific horizon.