Sashay south to Santiago: poised to become the next hot destination in South America. A small-but-burgeoning gay scene in Barrio Bellavista is where the city's gay happenings are concentrated. Men should check out the sizzling scene at packed, multistory dance club Bokhara (Pio Nono 430; +56-2-732-1050; www.gaychile.com/bokhara) or the dozen gay bars that fill to overflowing on weekends. Girls can join Santiago's slew of hot femmes at friendly Amor Del Bueno (Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue 106), local joint Sui Generis (Bombero Nunez 336) and hopping dance club and bar

Wherever you go in Chile you will probably arrive and depart from the capital Santiago and you should certainly spend a few days in the city. Gay visitors to Santiago will find the scene fairly open although it is probably more conservative than Buenos Aires. Many of the gay discos and bars are located in the Barrio Bellavista at the foot of Cerro San Cristobal. The nearest Metro station is Baquedano in Plaza Italia from where you cross Av. Providencia then cross the bridge over the Rio Mapocho and you are in the Barrio.

Although bars and discos open mid-evening the night life in Santiago doesn't really start until about 1:30 a.m. and then goes on very late indeed. Monday to Thursday are faily quiet on the scene but Friday and Saturday are the nights when everything takes off (or cums off!).

I found Santiago to be a very safe city by day and by night and never felt worried about walking the streets of Bellavista in the wee small hours of the morning.

The gay scene in Santiago appears to be free of dress-code, uniforms, and clones; dress for all occasions and places is casual light-weight summer wear (although in the southern winter you will need a light sweater or casual jacket in the cool evenings). It does help to be able to speak some Spanish, but not speaking Spanish isn't a bar to having a good time. Do I have to tell you where the best language classroom is?

There are plenty of reasons to visit Chile as a tourist with a great variety of destinations. Imagine travelling from south to north in this very long and narrow country then you would start at Punta Arenas followed by Puerto Natales and see the nearby spectacular Torres del Paine National Park. You could then travel by sea through the channels and fjords of Patagonia past the island of Chiloe and arrive at Puerto Montt. From there it is possible to tour round the beautiful lakes and volcanoes district near Osorno. You could then be either skiing at one of the many ski resorts in the Andes like Valle Nevado or Termas de Chillan, or on a Pacific coast beach with Viña del Mar being the most well-known, or visiting the historic and picturesque port of Valparaiso. Much further north is the desert of Atacama - said to be the driest place on earth. Then leaving mainland Chile entirely you could see the astonishing stone statues on Easter Island.