The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago

The Ritz-Carlton Santiago is the one and only outpost of the classically glamorous five-star chain on the entire continent of South America. But what makes it special? We could talk about the spa’s sweeping views of the Andes and the perfectly prepared pisco sours at the cocktail bar. But frankly, pretty much every hotel in Santiago has both of those. What the Ritz-Carlton Santiago has going for it is, in a word, standards. It’s a certain breed of old-world refinement that the brand has practiced and perfected for a century.

The hotel is located in El Golf, a somewhat inartfully named neighborhood of Santiago that nonetheless communicates something about its posh reputation. Indeed, there’s a country-club vibe to the Ritz-Carlton's staid English-manor design. In the lobby and public spaces, wood paneling, glittering chandeliers, and oil paintings in gilded frames abound, while guest rooms and suites have a slightly more contemporary look. Across categories, they feature spacious marble bathrooms stocked with products by Asprey (with the option of attention from a “bath butler”), as well as feather beds topped with 400-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and down comforters. And the views, oh, the views: they may not be unique in a city with so magnificent a landscape as Santiago, but they’re striking all the same.

And what about those pisco sours, you ask? You can have one — but let’s be realistic, probably at least two — at the gentleman’s club–style Ritz-Carlton Bar, or in the lobby bar, or in the hotel’s farm-to-table restaurant, Estró, where the menu is built around a fabulous array of responsibly fished seafood. As the Ritz-Carlton motto goes, “We are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.”