It doesn't happen very often that I would refer to a hotel as my home away from home, but the Carménére definitely fits this profile. In fact, what I love most about this hotel is the staff: they are wonderful and cared so much that I on my second visit I was giving hugs to everyone! Seriously, I've stayed in many hotels thgroughout the years and nowhere did I feel as welcome and taken care of as here! Cudos to everyone at the Carménére!
The hotel is not big - in fact I would describe it more like a traditional bed & breakfast. They have five rooms on two levels, a lounge area/living room and a wonderful secluded garden in the back. Also, they have a cute wine cellar, where they store organic wines. And the wonderful thing is - they're very generous when it comes to letting you taste their wines!
I really loved that every morning I would be greeted with a wonderful Chilean brekfast - consisting of fresh juice, eggs with cheese and pancakes filled with with wonderfully delicious Manjar (the Chilean version of Dulce de Leche). And throughout the day, there's coffee, tea and other snacks available at the bar in the lobby.
The Carménére is located in a quiet and residential area of Santiago called Providencia. To me this location was perfect - walking distance to many of Santiago's trendy neighbourhoods such as Barrio Italia, "Bellavista, Bellas Artes and Lastarria. In fact, I would really recommend exploring Santiago by foot and/or by public transportation - the subway is really fast and will bring you to almost all hotspots in the city. (You can borrow a metro pass from the reception.)
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