Hotel Magnolia Santiago
Art deco industrial
Sultry El Centro
Santiago – famous for ponchos, pisco sours and Pablo Neruda – now has another local hero to shout about: Hotel Magnolia, a boutique townhouse in the hip El Centro district. This revamped 1920s building mixes the ornamental elegance of its art deco past with up-to-the-minute touches of steel, glass and concrete to create a bold and youthful city stay. Its surroundings are just as impressive as its interiors: you’re just a cueca dance away from the capital’s must-see museums, parks and restaurants.
Facilities
Rooms
40, including four suites.
Checkout
Noon. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Subject to availability and for an additional fee, early check-in can be organised for 7am and late check-out for 5pm.
More Details
Rates include a buffet breakfast of bread, home-made cakes, fruit salad and hot dishes like bacon and eggs any-which-way.
Also
Creative Smiths can seek out the black-lacquered piano in reception; it’s topped with a couple of gleaming brass trombones, too. If you’re more fitness-focused than musically-minded, there’s also a small but modern gym kitted-out with high-quality machines from treadmills to cross-trainers.
Fitness Center
Free Internet Access
Laundry
On-Site Restaurant
Room Service
At the Hotel
Free WiFi throughout, laundry service, gym, roof terrace, two meeting rooms, wine cellar. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, minibar, safe, tea- and coffee-making facilities and locally-produced Majen bath products.
Our Favourite Rooms
Bag one of the three large, luxurious and impeccably designed suites, which have eucalyptus wood-clad walls, soft under-lighting and modern furniture. After a day pounding Santiago’s streets, sink sightseeing-worn toes into monochrome-patterned shagpile rugs, stretch out on cotton-covered sofas and flop into the seriously bouncy bed. If you’ve blown your budget on Chile’s famous lapis lazuli, book into a more modest room on the third floor, where the original stained-glass windows will cast a blue glimmer to match your new gems.
Spa
The hotel offers in-room couple treatments for those that aren't quite ready to leave their suite; for those that are, there's a dedicated room downstairs for massages.
Packing Tips
Leave anything black at home: Santiago was made for road-testing your brightest, boldest outfits. Make like traditional locals and mix as many prints, cuts and fabrics as you can fit in your case.
Also
On balmy summer evenings, head to the wooden-and-glass-floored rooftop terrace (ice-cold cocktail in hand) and sit pretty on padded rattan sofas flanked by steel-potted shrubs. The hotel also has a room available with disability access and two elevators.
Children
Children of all ages are welcome, but there’s not much to occupy them. If you can, we recommend you leave little ones at home, as this is more of a couples’ stay. Baby cots can be added to all rooms free of charge.
Gallery
Food & Drink
Top Table
If night sky-watching is your thing, opt for a dinner spot in the atrium area under the glass ceiling and watch the heavens fade from blue to black.
Dress Code
You won’t need anything too smart, but pack a pair of heels and a swishy skirt (a linen shirt and navy chinos for Mr Smith) for after-hours dancing and shimmy-shimmy-shaking on the terrace.
Hotel Restaurant
Dotted with potted palms (and the requisite marigolds) and hung with enormous, balloon-like Tom Dixon lamps, the restaurant is bright and modern. Thanks to long, age-spotted mirrors and a glass-panelled ceiling supported by steel girders, there’s a light, airy feel to surroundings. The black-and-white tiled floor and simple wooden tables form a discrete backdrop to imposing design: one concrete wall juts into the dining room in a huge arc, making its leaded windows a focal point. The menu is just as impressive, groaning with local dishes. We’re particularly fond of the lemon-roasted rainbow trout and the Magellanic fried plantain chips with spider crab.
Hotel Bar
Stained-glass windows cast a multi-coloured glow over Bar Magnolia, where industrial pendant lights hang sentinel over a marble-topped, burnished bronze bar. If the sun is shining, earmark a table on the roof terrace, where Santiago’s golden sunsets are reflected in the glass-accented floor. Local live music soundtracks Thursday evenings.
Last Orders
Breakfast is from 7am–10.30am (7am–11am at weekends). Lunch is served from 1pm–3pm and dinner is from 7pm–10pm. Bar Magnolia is open daily from 1pm–7pm.
Room Service
Everything on the restaurant’s menu can be ordered to your room between 7am and 10pm.
Planes
Most major European and US airlines (including British Airways; www.britishairways.com) operate flights to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, a 25-minute drive from the hotel. Transfers can be arranged from US$34; ask the Smith24 team when booking.
Trains
Alameda Station is a 20-minute drive from Hotel Magnolia. However, trains in Chile are unreliable and only run the relatively short distance from Santiago to Talca. You’re better off driving or taking taxis.
Automobiles
If you plan on exploring Chile beyond Santiago, you’ll need a car. Hire one from a booth at the airport, then take the Costanera Norte to the hotel. There's a carpark 50 metres from the hotel where guests can get a preferential rate.
Worth Getting Out of Bed For
Santiago’s bustling centre is packed with cultural diversions: the Museum of Visual Arts, the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts and the Cultural Centre of Gabriela Mistral are all within walking distance of the hotel. If your tastes run more towards the literary, make a pilgrimage to La Chascona, former home of Chilean diplomat and poet Pablo Neruda. Should this whet your appetite for lines and lyrics, his other two houses can be found in the coastal towns of Valparaíso and Isla Negra (both around 90 minutes’ drive from Santiago). Magnolia is minutes from Santa Lucía Hill, a verdant park squeezed between the skyscrapers; come here for an early morning stroll to admire the stone monuments and ornate, butter-yellow buildings in its centre. Shopping in the capital is a game of two halves: there are big-name boutiques and designer brands aplenty in the Costanera Centre, while the Bellavista market (on Pío Nono) has a mish-mash of colourful finds and fancies to delight vintage lovers. We like Patronato (in the Recoleta district) for its traditional threads at knock-down prices, and Feria Artesanal Santa Lucía (in the Cerro Santa Lucía) for authentic trinkets, alpaca wool and handicrafts.
Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt
This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .
