Our man on the scene in Chile, Jimmy Langman, got a chance to check out Patagonia Camp, an interesting resort we’re glad to add to our review collection of luxury hotels in Chile.

As with the luxury safari “camps” in Africa, this is no bare-bones facility where you’re going to be freezing at night and eating food around a smoky campfire. Instead you get to listen to the wind whip around outside your yurt while snuggled up in your comfy warm bed.

When you step outside, you have a view of a lake and the majestic Torres del Paine mountain range a few miles away. No camp grub for you: there’s an elegant restaurant that serves “some of the best food by far that I have dined on in a hotel in Chile” according to our reviewer. The parent company also owns Matetic Vineyards, so you can be assured you’ll have a good glass of wine with dinner as well. (See our related story, Touring Chile’s Wine Districts Near Santiago.)

This is one of the most beautiful regions in South America and with this unique lodging option you can get closer to it without making a lot of sacrifices. See our full review of Patagonia Camp in Chile.

While I was touring the many wine districts outside of Santiago, Chile, I was fortunate/unfortunate to spend a night in Valparaíso. The unfortunate part was I only had a night and a morning to explore the area. I definitely want to get back there another time to aimlessly wander the hillside neighborhoods and explore by funicular.

The fortunate part was I got to spend it at Casa Higueras Boutique Hotel, a lovely inn perched on a steep hillside, overlooking the bay. It’s got everything you would crave while staying in this UNESCO World Heritage City: a restaurant with great seafood, a great local wine selection, views of the bay from your room, a pool, and a hot tub for soaking those tired calf and thigh muscles after sightseeing.

This is a historic mansion with character, but there’s nothing creaky about the bi-lingual service or the room amenities. This is a special place to relax and take it all in while being right in the thick of what makes Valparaíso special. Stay here for a night while touring around, or take more time to explore and eat your way around the city.

See our full review of Casa Higueras.

See more on luxury travel in Chile.

The first W hotel opened in South America recently, in Chile’s capital of Santiago. We’ve got a detailed review of it, turned in by our man on the scene in Chile: W Santiago Hotel review.

This isn’t the only W hotel in Latin America, as the W in Mexico City has been a trust fund kids’ social magnet for years. I’m kind of surprised Starwood hasn’t opened more of these in the region, actually, since they are struggling in the U.S. and have lost two key hotels because of financial problems. The concept might not fly in a place like Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo, where there are already more than enough designer hotels without bringing in a corporate version, but in many other Latin American capitals there’s a serious dearth of hip hotels with good aesthetics that will appeal to people under age 50.

This Santiago version is too large to be considered a “boutique hotel” since it has 196 rooms and is attached to a huge real estate development with “a convention center, offices, luxury apartments, a sprawling gym, and several boutique stores including a local wine store—a store that is installing on the premises the largest wine cellar in Chile.” It’s got all the right visual touches though and has quickly become the place to see and be seen in Santiago.

If your taste runs to the modern rather than the frilly antique reproductions you’ll find at the Ritz-Carlton Santiago, then Chile’s new W Hotel is ready to welcome you. See the full review here.