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The Parque por la Paz was once Villa Grimaldi, an estate where prisoners (political dissidents) were detained and tortured during the Pinochet era. When I visited, my tour guide was a prisoner who had survived. The fact that many of the original structures of Villa Grimaldi have not been retained actually makes this a haunting place to walk around, since the daily workings of the estate are left almost entirely to the visitor’s imagination. Definitely a site to visit if you’re interested in 20th century Chilean and/or Latin American history and cultural memory.

The English Reader is Santiago’s main English bookstore. (Don’t bother hunting down the others, since their selection is very limited.) The English Reader stocks mostly bestsellers, mass market “classics”, and general non-fiction, used and new. It’s worth a visit if you’re a foreigner spending more than a few days/weeks in Santiago and are hankering for books in English, but if your tastes are more esoteric don’t expect much. Nearest Metro: Los Leones.

I wandered into this tucked-away “bohemian” neighborhood by accident while walking down the Alameda. Its main artery (José Victorino Lastarria) is lined with cozy cafes, bars, old houses, and a small art-house theater, El Biografo. The Museo de Artes Visuales is on Plaza Mulato Gil, and that may be worth visiting too. The entire neighborhood is vibrant yet laid back—a great place to hang out and have coffee or drinks after a long day of wandering around the city (cliche description, but true!). Nearest Metro: Universidad Católica (exit on the north side).

Portal Lyon is a classic snail/spiral mall and the central place(?) for punk/pseudo-punk/metal Santiaguinos to get music, t-shirts, posters, accessories, and other “alternative” paraphernelia. Kind of like Santiago’s version of St. Mark’s Place in New York. It’s helpful if you know what shops to look in, since there are many. Nearest Metro: Los Leones.

The Cine Arte Normandie is Santiago’s oldest surviving independent art-house cinema. It houses its own small archive of mostly European classics and screens a continuous cycle of quality European, Latin American, and North American films. Films change every day—check the website or call for a schedule. Ticket prices are reasonable. Nearest Metro: La Moneda. (Calle San Diego, which is lined with used book stalls, is just a block away and worth checking out for Spanish-language readers.)