Cerro San Cristóbal (Parque Metropolitano)

Cerro San Cristóbal rises about 300 metres above the rest of Santiago to a height of 880 metres, and on a clear day it gives the best overview of the city and the Andes behind it. The hill is the core of the Parque Metropolitano, Santiago's largest public park, which spreads over roughly 737 hectares across the communes of Huechuraba, Providencia, Recoleta and Vitacura. The Spanish named it after St Christopher; its older indigenous name is Tupahue.

The summit is crowned by the Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception, inaugurated in 1908. The statue of the Virgin stands 14 metres tall on an 8.3 metre pedestal, and there is an open-air amphitheatre and a chapel beside it. Pope John Paul II prayed in the small chapel inside the pedestal and blessed the city from here on 1 April 1987, so the top is a place of pilgrimage as well as a viewpoint.

There are several ways up. The funicular, which dates from 1925 and is a national monument, starts next to the National Zoo at the northern end of Calle Pío Nono in Barrio Bellavista. The cable car, first opened in 1980 and reopened in November 2016 after damage in the 2010 earthquake, runs from Oasis station in Pedro de Valdivia Norte to the summit in about 20 minutes, with an intermediate stop at Tupahue. You can also walk up in around 45 minutes, climbing about 300 metres, or arrive by road.

Spread across the park you will find the Chilean National Zoo and a Japanese garden at the foot of the hill, the Mapulemu botanic garden by Tupahue station, and two large open-air municipal pools at the top, Tupahue and Antilén. The Manuel Foster Observatory, which began life as the Mills Observatory in 1903, also sits on the slopes.

For the clearest views, go after rain or a windy day, when the city's smog has lifted, and allow at least half a day if you want to combine the funicular, the summit and a cable car ride down. If you walk up, bring water, a hat and sun cream in summer. Bellavista, with Pablo Neruda's house La Chascona and plenty of places to eat, is right at the bottom of the funicular, so the hill pairs naturally with an afternoon in that neighbourhood.