The quirky barrio of Lastarria in Santiago is brimming with life and colour, as Lesley Stones discovers.

On a map, this triangular district looks so tiny that you could explore it in one morning. But if you follow your nose down a narrow alley, round a quiet corner or up some secret stairs, you will discover that there’s far more going on here than an initial stroll suggests.

READ: The Original Horse Whisperer of Nihi

Let’s start at Santa Lucía, the hill that borders the district on the west and where Santiago was founded in 1541 by the Spanish conqueror Pedro de Valdivia. Grand entrance stairs lead to the ornate yellow and white façade of Neptune’s Fountain. Then the wide cobbled paths guide you to the ruins of Hidalgo castle, built in 1816 to defend the city. Terraces look out over the city to the snow-capped Andes beyond, and on a clear day, the views are gorgeous.

A genuine cave in the hill houses an indigenous arts centre, where people from the Mapuche, Aymara and Rapa Nui first nations sell their crafts. Here the reserved nature of Chileans is a blessing because there’s no hard sell. You may even have to initiate the conversations, but once you do, some delightful stories emerge.

Luis Acosta-Challapa is dressed in a traditional Aymara poncho and selling ocarinas, little musical instruments of clay. He demonstrates how to play ‘El Condor Pasa’, and eventually I realise we’ve spent so long chatting that it would be rude not to buy an ocarina of my own.

Lastarria is served by two of Santiago’s efficient underground metro stations, Santa Lucía and Universidad Católica, where you emerge near a small antique market. One kiosk sells old cameras, another has an eclectic array of old vinyl records, like Gregorian chants and Zorba the Greek.

READ: Is Obsidian the Future of Sustainable Superyachts?

I’m more fascinated by a leather bullet-holding belt, which stallholder Michel Buttray tells me was owned by his French grandfather. Michel explains that 20 years ago, Lastarria was muy boho (very bohemian), attracting painters, writers, artists and the gay community when Chile was still ultra-Catholic conservative. But fashions changed, and the people with money moved closer to the mountains.

Now it’s having a revival, with tourists drawn by lively bars and restaurants, independent designer shops and swanky pads like the Singular Hotel. The charm also comes from an architectural sense of anything goes, including neo-Gothic mansions, the purple-painted 19th-century Vera Cruz Church and even a tiny castle designed by architect Luciano Kulczewski as his family home.

READ: These Destinations Take Sustainability Seriously

On the arty side, there’s the glorious El Biógrafo cinema, dating from the days when one screen was enough. The tickets are still little rolled-up pieces of paper that you pick from a slot in a cardboard seating plan.

Back outside, I follow the aroma to a coffee roastery, then I’m led astray by a doorway leading to an alley of shops selling quirky clothes, K-pop accoutrements and wax bubble lamps with a modern twist. All the tiny spaces are so cleverly used that nothing feels cluttered and everything looks artfully cool.

Up some narrow stairs is Propagandopolis, a little shop lined with posters and books by political thinkers, with beanbags where you can recline and read as you listen to Bob Dylan’s protest songs. Stepping through another door is like entering a secret garden, with lush green plants and vivid flowers cascading from the shelves.

Climb higher still and everything turns pink in Plasticina, a K-pop heaven with vivid clothes and accessories. The assistant laughingly boasts that they were proudly pink long before Barbie was big again. For an emotional boost, grab their carrier bags with slogans like ‘Yes, I can cope, but first I’m going to cry’.

READ: Cooking Off the Rails with Peruvian Restauranteur Virgilio Martinez

Chile’s popular chocolate-focused café, the Heart of Brussels, has a branch here in an alley that it shares with more boutiques selling weird and wonderful creations. Like the glittery plastic shoes from Melissa, a Brazilian brand whose Latino pizazz adds colour to Santiago’s streets.

An altogether more serious note comes from Ulises, a bookshop with a mirrored ceiling that makes it look twice as big as it is. Independent bookshops only survive by finding their niche, and this one is crammed with anthropology and social sciences.

Right now it’s my stomach that needs feeding, not my brain, and food is Lastarria’s strong point. As usual, there’s a queue outside Papachecos, which sells fat-cut chips topped with cheese or pulled beef to eat in the street.

READ: The Indian Ocean’s Perfume Isles

I’m going more upmarket at Chipe Libre, a stylish bar specialising in pisco. Pisco is practically the national drink of both Chile and Peru, and there’s long been a fight about which country makes the best, explains front-of-house man Pablo Latorre. “We decided to remove the borders and create this imaginary country as the Independent Republic of Pisco, to bring pisco to people without a flag behind it.”

Customers can choose from more than 90 different brands, or try three different samples in a tasting. I feel a bit wimpy as I order a Carménère, Chile’s most popular red wine, but it pairs well with Chile’s exquisitely seared salmon and vegetable risotto.

By now, the sun is setting and tables outside the bars and restaurants are filling up. It’s going to be another fine evening in lively Lastarria.

For more Destination stories click here.