Right on the Plaza de Armas, make this your first stop and get your bearings on Chilean history, from Valdivia to Pinochet, before venturing on in your tour of the city. There’s a lot to see here, with more than 70,000 artifacts in 16 rooms. Give yourself at least three hours. Following damage in the 2010 earthquake, the museum is planning a renovation with a giant new glassed-in box at the front, slated to be finished by 2016.