Lastarria

What you gain

• ↑The finest café and restaurant terraces in Santiago: Bocanáriz wine bar (one of South America's best wine bars, with 400+ Chilean labels by the glass), Restaurante Peumayén (indigenous Chilean ingredients in a fine dining format), and Café Mosqueto for the best breakfast in the neighbourhood. The density of quality eating and drinking per square metre rivals any comparable Latin American barrio.
• ↑The Sunday antique market in Parque Lastarria — furniture, vintage posters, vinyl records, and second-hand books — is the finest small market in the city and draws a well-educated local crowd that makes for excellent people-watching. The Feria de Artesanos alongside it has quality craft and leather goods.
• ↑The Parque Forestal walk along the Mapocho river toward the Mercado Central (30 minutes east) is one of the finest urban walks in Chile — through the park's European-style formal gardens, past the Museo de Bellas Artes, and along the riverbank with the Andes as backdrop on clear mornings.

What you sacrifice

• ↓Accommodation in Lastarria is expensive relative to the wider Santiago market — the neighbourhood's reputation as the city's cultural quarter pushes prices. Budget options exist (several hostels on side streets) but the quality boutique hotels command premium rates.
• ↓Weekend nights bring a young professional crowd to the wine bars and restaurants and the neighbourhood gets lively — not unpleasant, but not quiet. Some blocks can be busy until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.