Because of its conspicuous wealth and high-rise apartments, Las Condes has acquired the only semi-ironic nickname of “Sanhattan,” though it can’t come close to the cultural offerings of New York City’s most famous borough. While Las Condes does have a good (and improving) selection of hotels and restaurants, its sights are less significant than those in other parts of the city.

On Américo Vespucio just north of Avenida Apoquindo, where the Metro’s Línea 1 ends, high fences and lack of cover on the expansive lawns should discourage any assault on the Escuela Militar (Army War College); the building is imposing enough from a distance, but a closer inspection reveals cracked walls and weeds wedging apart the patios. Closed for “renovations,” its Museo Histórico de la Escuela Militar is probably trying to figure out how to divest itself of Pinochet’s Napoleon memorabilia collection, which it used to display.

Vitacura’s Museo Ralli (Alonso de Sotomayor 4110, tel. 02/2064224) is one of several transnational museums dedicated to contemporary Latin American art; it has other locales in Uruguay, Spain, and Israel. Completely noncommercial—lacking even a museum shop—it showcases painting and sculpture from many American countries, with a handful of items from well-known Europeans such as Salvador Dalí, in more than 3,000 square meters in a modern building in a quiet residential neighborhood.

Open 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m. daily except Monday, charging no admission fee, it’s well-served by public transportation; any bus out Avenida Vitacura will drop you at the corner of Candelaria Goyenechea, where it’s just one block to the north.