The Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza is a 116-room hotel located beside the plaza in the middle of Santa Cruz town, in the heart of the Colchagua Wine Valley.

Owned by wealthy Chilean entrepreneur Carlos Cardoen, who has his roots in Colchagua, it is a hotel offering a flavour of the Chilean colonial past with a heavy Spanish influence.

Adjacent to the hotel is an excellent, World-class history museum with archaeological artefacts discovered in the area showcasing a link back to prehistoric times as well as around the Spanish colonial period.

Another aspect to this hotel is that there is a gambling casino about one block away, but also part of the hotel complex, should trying your luck at the roulette table be your thing.

About

The Hotel Santa Cruz “looks pretty” from the outside and the interior emanates the flavour of Spain during its colonial period. It is also very much a showcase of Chilean, rural, “huaso” (cowboy) style whereupon staff use uniforms that are in the style of Chilean national “huaso” attire, which not only adds some “flavour” to the overall ambience but is something different.

There are 116 guest rooms on a number of levels, plus other rooms at ground level in the interior courtyard. Room sizes are moderate, with en-suite bathrooms as you would expect, and decorated in line with the colonial Spanish theme.

It can be a popular hotel during Chilean long weekends and often occupied by Chilean families, which, on occasion, can make the breakfast hall rather busy and noisy.

There is a nice restaurant, bar, small outdoor swimming pool, sauna, gym and massage room.

The hotel is a good base from which to venture out to see the various wineries in the valley, as well as walk around the plaza and enjoy Santa Cruz.