The main drag of Bellavista is Pino Nono (if you're under twenty and like reggaeton) of Calle Constitución (if you're not). This is where most of the bars and restaurants are and, as a result, it's where most newcomers to Santiago head for a drink. Pio Nono is packed out with students, tourists and drunks drinking in the street or in the many gaudy bars that blast out heavy metal or cheesy latin beats while hippies sell all kinds of trinkets along the pavement. Parallel is Constitución which has some very nice restaurants and decent bars and is more upmarket. Anyway, everyone knows about this area and it's hardly Santiago Underground so let's move on.
My reason for bringing this up is that, while this is the well-known part of Bellavista, the back streets are far more interesting and make up one of the true eclectic barrios of the city. A mixture of grand old villas, ramshackle warehouses, colourful terraces and some decent bars and restaurants tucked away, the area is decorated in a thick coat of street art, both good and bad, that further characterises the place and gives it a warm charm. During the day that is, at night it can be a bit sketchy with drunken wankers.
One of the main streets in this part of Bellavista is Loreto, which has a bunch of stuff to check out. If you cross the bridge near Belles Artes Museum you arrive at the bottom of Loreto which cuts and arches through Bellavista and ends up near the foot of San Cristobal. There are interesting pieces of graffiti all along the street (some pretty awful ones as well) and the mix of buildings, old and new, grand and humble, swanky and dilapidated, give it a nice varied flavour.
As far as places to go for something to eat or drink go, the first place of any note that you pass heading from the river is Toro, a Spanish-style resto-bar that is apparently down with the media celebrity crowd (I just have friends' words to vouch for that as I don't really recognise these people) and was very nice the only time I ate there, when I had a very good cerviche. I've been there just for a drink a few times as well and I like it's scruffy low-key vibe.
On the bend is the Fonda Permanente, which is this raucous joint that specialises in Cumbia and Pachanga parties. They have lots of live bands who create a wild and impassioned atmosphere which is much closer in spirit to Latin American traditions than other bars and venues round here but is admittedly not always to everyone's taste.
A bit further along, there are two of Bellavista's main late night venues, Onaciu and Loreto. Onaciu is in this old house and gets packed out at about 2am, has live bands earlier in the night, and DJs who seem to always play exactly the same songs (popular rock and electro mainly : it's difficult to go out in Bellavista without hearing Girls and Boys by Blur at least once over the course of the night). Anyway, it's an Ok place of you like going out till late and the building is pretty cool in its rickety old way.
Opposite is Loreto, which is cooler and seems like more of a club than a bar. A lot of hipsters hang out but again there's nothing particularly special other than live bands, DJs who at least mix it up a bit more than Onaciu but prices are similar. I've usually had a few drinks by the time I arrive at one of these places so it doesn't really bother me which I go to. It depends on who I'm with really.
There's also an 'after' (late night not-entirely-legal drinking venue) just before you reach the bend in the road which if you're pissed and want to keep going until seven or eight in the morning gives you an option although it's not always open. It's in this crappy and dirty old warehouse place with filthy toilets but by this stage of the night it's unlikely that'll bother you. Women generally get in free and blokes pay although that should come with a 'cover' (drink). It can be a shit place or an Ok place to keep drinking depending on various factors: how drunk you are, how drunk the other people are, if you're with mates or girlfriend and so on. At least it's somewhere to go but don't expect to do much the next day.
So you get to end of Calle Loreto and it hits the bottom of San Cristobal on another typical Bellavista street, more shabby but colourful buildings, more street art, more grand old mansions. So there you go. At night it's a more tucked away but very popular and more local place to go out, and by day it makes an interesting neck of the woods to have a stroll around. There's a nice sense of charm, in a run-down sort of way.
I also met this cat on my travels researching this blog. It seemed to live in this corner shop and went by the imaginative name of Kitty. It had an incredible face and was very friendly, climbing up on me as soon as I showed it just a bit of attention. The floozy.
