Fodor's Expert Review La Chascona

This house designed by Nobel Prize--winning poet Pablo Neruda was dubbed the "Woman with the Tousled Hair" after Matilde Urrutia, his third wife. The two met while strolling in nearby Parque Forestal, and for years the house served as a romantic hideaway before they married. The pair's passionate relationship was recounted in the 1995 Italian film Il Postino. Audio guides are available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German, and the house is visually fascinating, with winding garden paths, stairs, and bridges leading to the house and its library, which is stuffed with books. There's Neruda's old bedroom in a tower and a secret passageway. Scattered throughout are collections of butterflies, seashells, wineglasses, and other odd objects that inspired Neruda's tumultuous life and romantic poetry. Although not as magical as Neruda's house in Isla Negra, La Chascona still sets your imagination dancing. The house is on a little side street leading off Constitución.