An ode to time

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

In the heart of El Golf, where the city disguises itself as calm and the trees seem to soften the pulse of modernity, stands a building that keeps a history of contained elegance. The Ritz-Carlton Santiago was born in the early 2000s, when the Chilean capital already dared to dream of cosmopolitan sophistication. It was the time when the glass towers began to reflect the Andes, and the neighborhood—until then residential and serene—was transformed into an emblem of the new Santiago, between discreet cafes, emerging galleries and well-dressed diplomats.

The land that the hotel occupies today was part of the project that consolidated the eastern sector as the financial and social axis of the city. Its opening in 2003 marked a milestone: it was the first Ritz-Carlton in South America, a gesture of confidence in a capital that was looking for its own language of luxury. It was about hospitality and introducing a way of experiencing the city with pause and ritual, with the sound of a piano accompanying the sunset and the view of the mountain range as a permanent witness.

The history of the Ritz-Carlton Santiago is intertwined with that of a city that learned to look at the world without losing its identity. Here, luxury was never ostentatious, but rather a refuge of discretion. In its hallways, political figures, artists, businessmen and travelers crossed paths who understood that true comfort is a conversation with silence. From its first days, the hotel was a beacon of sophistication, a space where modernity and Chilean tradition subtly dialogue: noble woods, reinterpreted Andean fabrics, and an architecture that, even in its monumentality, seems to whisper in a low voice.

The metamorphosis of luxury

Over the years, the Ritz-Carlton Santiago learned to transform itself without giving up its essence. The original architecture, inspired by classical European elegance, evolved towards a more contemporary language, without losing the soul of its origin. Its façade, with sober tones and contained lines, continues to be a point of balance between the exuberance of Las Condes and the serenity that the hotel cultivates inside.

The redesign of its spaces responded to the new rites of the modern traveler: less protocol, more authenticity. The renovation of the spa on the top floor under a glass dome that lets in the mountain sun, became its hallmark. From there, the view unfolds like a living painting: the Andes, the Araucano Park, the roofs that resist the passage of time. It is a scenario where the body stops and the gaze rises.

The Estró restaurant, with its proposal of contemporary Chilean cuisine, was also part of that metamorphosis. Luxury is no longer measured in labels, but in the precision of a local product, in the conversation between a chef and his territory. In that alchemy, the hotel achieved something that few others achieve: maintaining its validity without losing its memory. Every corner, from the leather armchairs in the lobby to the aroma of waxed wood, evokes a way of inhabiting time with elegance, without urgency.

More than renewing itself, the Ritz-Carlton Santiago is reinterpreting itself. In its evolution, it seems to have understood that the most refined modernity is not in what is new, but in what lasts.

Where the city breathes differently

Anchored on El Alcalde Avenue, the hotel opens onto a Santiago that invites you to explore it without haste. Steps away, the parks turn ocher in autumn; Isidora Goyenechea’s cafes whisper stories as the afternoon falls; Alonso de Córdova’s galleries display Latin American art between minimalist showcases. Beyond, the hills appear like a horizon that can be touched with the gaze.

From its location, the Ritz-Carlton is also an emotional viewpoint: an observation point of the pulse of Santiago. Whoever stays here finds rest and a pause between two worlds: the energy of the city and the stillness of the mountains. That harmonic tension is, perhaps, its greatest charm.

Nearby, cultural life flourishes: the Municipal Theater of Las Condes, the discreet bars of Nueva Costanera, the walks among jacaranda trees that perfume the air. Everything seems to come together in an atmosphere where time takes on another texture.

As a gesture of permanence, its presence, solid but subtle, reminds us that true luxury is that which is inscribed in memory without raising our voice. In its history, made of changes, adaptations and shared silences, a certainty is revealed: some places do not age, they simply mature with grace.

For the Buenos Aires-Santiago route, JetSMART flies directly with 18 weekly frequencies in October, and more than 20 in November and December. Likewise, JetSMART has 5 direct flights per week (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) between Mendoza and the Chilean capital.