Cartagena
A grand resort of the 1900s that went out of fashion, holding the grave of a poet who wrote his own epitaph.
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Cartagena was the fashionable beach of the Santiago elite in the first decades of the twentieth century, with villas, staircases and terraces built down to the sea, and it went out of fashion decisively as the wealthy moved to Zapallar, Cachagua and Vina - leaving a mass resort with faded grand architecture, which is what it still is. In the cemetery on the hill lies Vicente Huidobro, the creacionista poet, who was buried facing the sea in 1948 under an epitaph he wrote himself. His house nearby is a small museum. The town gets very crowded in summer with day trippers from Santiago.
What you actually see
- A grand resort gone downmarket - villas and terraces from the 1900s.
- Huidobro's grave on the hill - facing the sea, with his own epitaph.
- His house as a museum - small, near the cemetery.
- A mass summer resort - full of Santiago day trippers.
When to go
December to March; the town is quiet the rest of the year. Half a day.
Honest expectations
The faded architecture is genuinely faded and parts are derelict. Beaches are crowded and not clean in peak weeks. The museum has limited hours. It is a very different coast to Zapallar an hour north.
Nearby
Isla Negra and Neruda's house are north; San Antonio is south.
What to pack for Cartagena
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.