Chile’s O’Higgins Region shines as a top 2024 destination, according to Nicholas Gill of The New York Times. Embark on a chili odyssey to delve into rural Chile’s culinary delights and traditional cultivation practices. Local cooks, winemakers, and artisan growers are banding together to uphold their campesino identity amidst challenges like wildfires, earthquakes, and overlooked traditions in this southern region near Santiago.

Since late 2023, Ruta de los Abastos began offering rural culinary experiences to connect visitors to local beekeepers, oyster farmers, and other producers. Markets and restaurants—like El Abasto in the city of Rancagua and the vineyard-based restaurants at Food and Wine Studio and Viña Vik—are highlighting regional ingredients like locally raised lamb, salt from the coast at Cáhuil, and a rustic, low-alcohol wine called chacolÃ, produced by area growers. On the coast around Pichilemu and Punta de Lobos, amid minimalist beach lodges like Hotel Alaia, locavore seafood with natural wine lists—like those found at Mareal—dominates the scene.