Vina La Playa Hotel

This hotel derives its name from the small Tinquiririca riverbank beach borders the hotel garden. Beach in Castellano (Spanish) is “playa”, therefore, “vineyard by the beach translates to “viña la playa”.

It is, in reality, a private house that is operated as a hotel with 11 guest rooms, a small dining room, common living room and a games room with a bar.
The gardens are at the back of the hotel where there is a nice, outdoor swimming pool, tennis court and outdoor terrace adjacent to the hotel. At the front is a runway to receive small planes and then there are the vineyards.

For those who sign up for a wine “education” and tasting there is also a cellar with tasting room.

About

The Viña La Playa hotel is located west of Santa Cruz, in a rural setting, beside a river and fronted by 321 acres of vineyards. The main wines processed here are young and fresh.

The 11 guest rooms offer simple, rustic style accommodation with a colonial influence.

This is an ideal place for a group of friends or large family. It is also a good option if there are not too many other people around because when it is full, depending on who the other guests are, it can be a little noisy and less “exclusive”.

Options here include bed and breakfast, half board and all-inclusive.

Viña Vik Hotel

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

The Vik hotel radiates the impression that it is the private home of a very wealthy person, which effectively it is, especially when you consider that the roof is made from titanium.

It is unique, inspiring, and decadent with 22 rooms individually designed and decorated in a different theme, together with paintings or other artistic expressions from renown artists.

In addition to the rooms in the main building, there are also 7 individual villas, or bungalows as they are named.

The main building sits upon a small plateau from where there is a view down the valley on one side with the exterior pool and lake at the opposite end. From the other two sides are views of vineyards or hills.

Within the centre of the main building is a zen garden, filled with plants and colourful flowers. Then, in the common living room area there is no expense spared when you see paintings by Roberta Matta and a diptych from Anslem Kiefers the “secret life of plants”.

The restaurant is small, set within glass-sided walls on two sides, and a place where gourmet food accompanied by great wines is served.
One thing is for sure, everything about Vik is high end, modern and exclusive, to an exceptional degree.

About

The Hotel Vik dominates the valley from a small man-made plateau offering an elevated view down to the valley, lake, vineyards or across to the nearby hills.

The accommodation and overall product offering here is unique. There is nothing similar in Chile and we doubt anywhere else. It is a top-end “design” property, the ultimate in modern boutique, operating as a hotel for those guests who wish to experience something new and receive high-end personal attention.

It is a mix of modern, minimalist design, peppered with sophisticated sculptures and artwork. It will not be everyone’s “cup of tea”. It is not “cozy”, for example.
There is a granite, infinity pool at the back of the hotel, overlooking a lake, as well as relaxing spa area and back up from this sector is the hotel restaurant that also overlooks the lake and where gourmet-level gastronomic food is served and accompanied by excellent wines.

Guests here can enjoy a visit to the “James Bond”-like wine processing unit down in the valley, horse ride, trek, bike or just relax.

We would suggest that you let ExperenceChile.Org build in a stay at Vik if you wish to visit wineries, or just “pamper” yourself for a few days, perhaps before departing back to your home country.

However, this is a high-end place and that means the cost is not at the low end.

Santa Cruz Plaza Hotel

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.

Clos Apalta La Postolle Hotel

Inspected By Experience Chile
Approved By Experience Chile

The La Postolle vineyard is a project of the French owner Charles de Bournet Marnier Lapostolle and his wife. Together they have created a winery as well as a luxury-level home that they share with guests who wish to experience this wonderful spot in the Apalta valley.

Located at an elevated position in the eastern sector of the Colchagua Wine Valley in the “tributary” valley of Apalta is the wine making unit that has been designed in a unique and fascinating way that could easily pass as a set on a James Bond movie.

Located on several floors, tremendous thought and care has gone into the presentation, design, and functionality of every aspect of this unit. For example, the tall wine storage barrels are not just metallic tanks standing in a line, no, here they are positioned in a circle and have a wooden façade. Then there is the lower-level cellar room where wine barrels are positioned in a circle and the room illuminated by soft back lighting. In the middle of the cellar is the tasting table, which is elongated and lit with subtle lighting.

In addition to the above, the entire wine-production facility has purposefully been built “into” the hill side so that one entire back wall of the building is natural rock, which, hidden from the sun is continually cool. The cold rock keeps the ambient air temperature cool and this heavier, cold air, sinks down into where the cellar is located, thus maintaining the required cool temperature in the cellar for wines to settle and mature in their barrels.

Adjacent to this marvel of wine producing style is the Clos Apalta Hotel. Without doubt the accommodation offered here is in the exclusive category because there are only 4, private, luxury equipped units (villas, or suites).

About

The four, individual and private La Postolle Clos Apalta accommodation units, or small houses, are each located in the hill side, surrounded by natural vegetation, but with elevated, unspoiled views down to the vineyards and the Apalta Wine Valley below, with the snow-covered Andes also visible beyond.

Each, spacious unit of 90m2 enjoys a private terrace and small garden too.

The interior decoration is totally in line with quality, taste, and design, including hi-end technology sound equipment for your phone; quality bed linen, beautiful, natural wooden bathroom units, a long bathtub in the bathroom, soft lighting and expensive-looking furniture.

Close to the private, small houses (“casitas”), is the main building where there is a common living room and dining area where meals are served, and from here is the panoramic view over the vineyards and valley. Also close to this area is the outdoor infinity pool, offering a terrace and the same, beautiful views.