Fodor's Expert Review Cerro Santa Lucía

The mazelike park of Santa Lucía is a hangout for park-bench smoochers and photo-snapping tourists. Walking uphill along the labyrinth of interconnected paths and plazas takes about 30 minutes, or you can take an elevator two blocks north of the park's main entrance (no fee). The uppermost lookout point affords an excellent 360-degree view of the entire city; two stairways lead up from the Plaza Caupolicán esplanade; those on the south side are newer and less slippery. Be careful near dusk as the park, although patrolled, attracts the occasional mugger. There is a tiny tourism office near the Alameda entrance, open weekdays, but closed for lunch from 2 until 3 pm, and a small indigenous crafts fair called the Centro de Exposición de Arte Indígena (or Gruta Welén) in a natural cavern carved out of the western flank of the hill.