Santa Cruz

Before heading back to Argentina, we picked up a rental car and drove a few hours into the heart of Chilean wine country. We enjoyed some very nice winery lunches, wine tasting and a museum visit. The museum was really well done, but a little crazy. It’s a huge and priceless private collection (from an entrepreneur thought to be a former arms dealer) that ambitiously covered everything from prehistoric times up to the recent Chilean mine rescue where 33 miners were saved after an explosion.
The climate here is very dry compared to Napa or Sonoma valleys, and is more similar to Southern California’s wine country. The wines have been very good and reasonably priced, but the cost (and quality) of restaurants and wine tasting/tours is definitely competitive with Napa and it feels similarly crowded. Definitely not a secret or bargain travel destination, though it’s very nice - just different than we expected given the cost, crowds and abundance of American travelers.
We head to Mendoza next so it will be interesting to see if it’s much the same.Read more