Santiago

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The ride in from the airport is enough to convince you that Santiago is not a typically chaotic Latin American city. An immaculate expressway burrows under the Mapocho River for miles, automated tolls clocking your car’s progress with electronic beeps. You emerge into the financial district, where glass office towers, apartment buildings with leafy verandas, and crowded streetside cafés line the well-swept sidewalks and manicured squares. Panhandlers are rare, and the city is so safe that the rich cruise the streets in their Mercedes with the windows rolled down. The prosperity—developers are putting up two of the tallest buildings in South America here—is the product of 30 years of free market reforms and economic stability. Some $100 billion in foreign investment has poured into mining, utilities, communications, and wine making since the mid-1970s—equal to about half the country’s annual gross domestic product. Stock prices have tripled since 2002, as surging economic growth and revenues from exports like copper have kept the country flush with cash. Little surprise, then, that trade delegations from China, South Korea, and the United States fill the newspaper society pages, day in and day out.

Where to Sleep
Bill Clinton and other visiting statesmen make their homebase the glass and stone Grand Hyatt Santiago, which has the best health club in town. The Ritz-Carlton in El Golf is where bankers and their clients stay—or get a treatment at the glass-domed spa with its striking views of the Andes—because it’s within walking distance of the headquarters of Citigroup, UBS, J.P. Morgan Chase, and conglomerates owned by local billionaire families such as the Luksics and the Angelinis. Clothing tycoon Luciano Benetton, Intel’s Craig Barrett, and beauties such as Naomi Campbell and Penelope Cruz prefer the Sheraton San Cristobal, on the north side of the Mapocho River. The hotel has hosted regional summits, drawing politicians Hugo Chavez and Al Gore as well as financiers like Emilio Botin of Spain’s Santander Group.

Where to Eat
Local millionaire José Yurazceck, who made his fortune buying and selling the nation’s biggest power company, samples a mix of Thai, Japanese, and Italian dishes among the chrome trim and muted lighting at C. Next door is Emilio, a gourmet Peruvian place popular among Santiago’s business elite, including airline mogul and former presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera. Carousel, a quiet French resto near the Sheraton, is a haunt of Ricardo Claro, owner of TV network Megavision. Guillermo Luksic, who runs the family banking and mining empire Quinenco S.A., has been spotted at Europeo, which serves dishes such as leg of lamb in merlot sauce. Finance minister Andres Velasco likes to relax at Puerto Fuy, where the minimalist decor sets the stage for Nuevo Chilean dishes (sweetbread with scallops, abalone ravioli, and sea urchin al mático). Top executives of the Angelini mining and pulp group head to California Creations, next door to their headquarters, to hobnob over a casual lunch.

Where to See and Be Seen
A gentlemen’s club in a glass office tower in El Golf, Club de la Unión is the most exclusive place in town; power brokers like media mogul Ricardo Claro lunch here. To dine with the political elite, go to Astrid y Gaston, where the French, Japanese, and Peruvian cuisine has attracted the likes of President Michelle Bachelet.

Where to Close a Deal
Investors and bankers are wined and dined at Agua, where the Patagonian lamb, king crab, and shrimp bisque are served amid a stark concrete and glass interior. To discuss a delicate matter, book a private dining room at the Japanese spot Matsuri, overlooking the pool gardens at the Grand Hyatt. Downtown, treat clients to lunch at Opera, which has a French-influenced menu and was named one of the hottest restaurants of 2007 by Condé Nast Traveler.

Local Codes
Santiaguinos are conservative, preferring dark-gray Brooks Brothers suits to Armani flash. Be careful what you say about former dictator Augusto Pinochet, who led a 1973 coup and remained in power for nearly two decades. Pinochet, who died in 2006, is a hero of sorts for the rich, who believe his neo-liberal economic policies made them millions. Tread carefully, too, when discussing the Catholic Church: Many of the most powerful executives are devout Catholics, and some are followers of the pro-business Opus Dei. Chileans have a sophisticated view of the world, reflecting the dozens of free-trade agreements the country has inked with other nations.

Airport Intelligence
The glass and steel international airport is just a 20-minute $20 cab ride away from downtown Santiago. Use the official taxis at the three stands outside customs; avoid the cabbies who mob the exits. La Vinoteca offers an excellent selection of wines at the same prices as city shops, and in several other airport stores, you can get books, CDs, and local crafts for downtown prices. Lan Chile’s Neruda OneWorld lounge is better than the smaller Mistral. Before going through immigration, U.S. visitors have to pay a one-time $100 visa “reciprocity” fee (it matches what the United States charges Chilean citizens).

The Three-Hour Tour
Take a cab up Santiago’s highest hill, San Cristobal Cerro, for the best views of the city, sprawled out for 40 miles across a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains, some as high as 15,000 feet. Head down to Bellavista, a neighborhood along whose winding streets are restaurants, galleries, charming crafts shops, and La Chascona, the home of the late poet Pablo Neruda. Open to the public, the Nobel laureate’s simple hillside abode contains works by his artist friends Fernand Léger, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, along with furnishings by Italian designer Piero Fornasetti. Catch another taxi to La Moneda, the presidential palace, which was bombed by the air force and stormed by troops during the coup that ushered in Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship. (You can get no farther than the courtyard.) Stop at the Mercado Central, where you can watch locals snap up produce as well as shellfish unique to this part of the world, like picorocos, and end your tour with a glass of white wine and machas a la parmesana (a clam smothered in Parmesan cheese) at one of the seafood joints bordering the market.

–Jake Gonzalez