Santiago: Bahá'í Temple & Cousiño Macul Winery Day Trip

4.81

(200 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“You’ll want to whisper in here,” our guide Camila said quietly as we stepped into the Bahá’í House of Worship just outside Santiago. She was right — something about the way the morning sun slid through those curved glass petals made us all hush up. Even the air smelled different, kind of clean and cool, almost like rain but not quite. I caught a woman from the neighborhood sitting alone on one of the benches, hands folded, just looking out over the city. It felt like nobody was in a rush.

Afterwards, we drove along the edge of Santiago where apartment blocks faded into vineyards. The Cousiño Macul Winery sits right at that line — you can see skyscrapers on one side and rows of vines on the other. Our host there, Andrés, told us his family had been making wine here since 1856 (“longer than most of these buildings have been around,” he joked). I tried to repeat “Cousiño” with my best Spanish accent and got a laugh from him — I’m still not sure if I nailed it or butchered it.

The cellars were cool and smelled faintly like damp stone and old barrels. We tasted a Cabernet that left this dry little tingle on my tongue (I always forget how different wine tastes right where it’s made). Lunch was simple but good — bread that crackled when you broke it open and cheese that tasted fresh, almost grassy. There was this moment when I looked back toward the Andes and realized how close everything felt: city, mountains, vines, people just living their lives around all this history. Kind of makes you pause for a second, you know?