A Vacation in Chile - Recommendations

It's April 2011, and my wife and I just got back from 12 days in Chile, and through luck or research, we found some great places we can highly recommend.  If well-know sights are not listed it's probably because we didn't run from one place to another, but got into a Chile vibe, setting out a 11 or 12 every day, and spending time when we could at a slower pace. Hopefully I will provide links to Facebook pages or websites for most of these wonderful places when I have time. 


Ratings in parentheses refer to quality of café cortado sampled.


Valparaíso - Isla Negra
Robinson Crusoe Inn - Nice location on a quiet street on Cerro Bellavista and friendly staff. Fantastic top-level view of all of Valpo.
La Sebastiana - Pablo Neruda's fantastic house in Valparaíso.
Pasta Y Vino - All the pastas we had were delicious; you might have to return 3 or 4 times to sample them all.
Amor Porteño - Really good ice cream on Cerro Alegre.
El Desayunador - Really good coffee (4/5) and ample breakfasts (my coffee accompanied by a chocolate alfajor).
Amaya - Romantic and delicious Peruvian restaurant on a stairway in Cerro Bellavista.
Café Subterraneo - Good espresso (3/5), and a muy simpatico staff, in a central Valpo meeting place.
Isla Negra - The second of Neruda's houses in Chile, on a stunning coastal site an hour south of Valparaíso.


Puerto Varas - Petrohué

Casa Ko - Charming boarding house run by a young french couple on the side of a volcano in the midst of the outdoors overlooking Lake Llanquihue.  Outstanding hosts, food, and late-night video collection.

Café Mawen - A bit of Santiago modern in Puerto Varas.  Excellent pastries and really good coffee (4/5).
Pincoya - Reasonably priced and well selected artesanias in Puerto Varas.
Lago Todos Los Santos - Go anywhere; we hired a boat to take us to Playa Leon without a guide and got blissfully lost in pastures, woods, the Leon river and beach.


Panguipulli
Café - Sorry, no name, but small place on O'Higgins in first block down from the plaza with good coffee (3/5) and light fare.


Pucón - P.N. Huerquehue

Refugio Tinquilco - If you want to have a fantastic place to come home to after hiking in the Huerquehue National Park, this is it. 

Café Suiza - A clean if high-tourist-class coffee (3/5) house, cookie store and ice creamery in the overly kitsch-y Pucón.
TravelAid - For map fetishists.


Valdivia
Café La Ultima Frontera - Get a large Cruello Negro (Black Swan) Stout and relax on the terrace.  Coffee not tried (not enough time in Valdivia, which is worth a return).


Santiago
Lastarria 43-61 - Modern tourist apartments in the best location.
Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral GAM - New copper-clad public space designed not by Herzog and De Meuron, but by Cristián Fernández Arquitectos.
Café Melba - High quality indoor/outdoor lunch spot in Las Condes, patronized by the Santiago upper class (4/5).
Café Tomodachi - Excellent espresso (5/5), croissants, and fresh juices.
Victorino - Rocking blue-lit bar with good food and a buzzing atmosphere in "our" Lastarria neighborhood.
Café Central - You could be in Paris, except without the cars, while you have a simple lunch on Calle Londres.
Emporio La Rosa - Finest ice cream in Chile.
La Chascona - Neruda's third marvelous house on the hill in Santiago.
Mercado Central - Yes you will be hawked to have mariscos for breakfast, but still a real Santiago experience.
Hall Central - Experimental fashion by a collective of Santiago designers.
Librería Ulises - Very nice bookstore on "our" block.
Librería Contrapunto - Even cooler bookstore (and this was not their flagship store).
Londres 38 - A poignant memorial to 119 victims of torture and killing under the Pinochet regime.