My experience of South America was none until I made a trip with the Swedish Navy vessel Carlcrona. After some stops i Brazil we cruised down to the Strait of Magellan and this was really interresting. The nature, fjords, coastline...well..everything was like in Norway, but instead of 5' 6"-6' people with blond hair it was inhabited by mostly small people from the indigenous indian groups. When we sighted Punta Arenas the impression of some really bad navigation hit me even harder. Colourful houses and a the busy port...no...it's Norway! The city of Punta arenas isn't that big, and the "things to see" aren't that many BUT you have to do the town for 1 day. I ended up with some pottery and some other "must have tourist stuff". The thing with PA is the wild nature that it borders to. The island of Tierra del Fuego, the mountains of Torres de Paine, the archipelago of the west coast. I would love to go back but with more than 3 day to spend...hmm...3 weeks could work for me. Lovely people, lovely part of Chile. Go there!
The plaza is very nice, If you go there in the morning you can find a small market with a lot of souvenirs. It's very nice and quite in the night too.
The first thing you notice as you enter this lovely Plaza is a whole ring of small wooden "Gypsy wagons," housing peddlers of every stripe. This arrangement nicely contains their enterprise while leaving the center of the square and huge Magellan statue (see my review) uncluttered. Also note the great trees and the grand architecture around it. Spend as much time as you like here shopping or people watching, but even counting the Magellan statue you can see it in a half hour.
This is a nice plaza with vendor stalls. In the evening (when the stalls are closed), it takes about 10 minutes to walk around and "kiss the foot" of the statue to guarantee a return trip. Some opted-out of the foot kiss. :)
It's fairly clean and presentable with a small range of stalls, sadly most selling the same things. Too much graffiti when we visited this time.
The Plaza Munoz Gamero is the center to so much you will want to see and do. Whether it is the beautiful Church, the Palace, artisans crafts, or a nice chocolate or coffee at the La Chocolatta just down the street. Ferdinand Magellan is the the centerpiece to the park with his lofty stature in the center. Craftsmen and tourist items can be found here also at the numerous carts displaying there wears. On days when the cruise ships venture in there might be some vocal or musical presentations done here too. You can spend half a day taking all of this in by foot. Even a walk down to the edge of the water.
Great statue to F Magellan the explorer and lots of handicraft booths. We found the prices to be better than at the other ports we went into and the quality was good. Very nice plaza with old colonial building surrounding it.
Very charming Plaza in the center of the city surrounded by hotels, a beautiful church Cathedral and also near the main street.
PA was a surprise, many old historical buildings and two great museums. Well worth a day to wander around. This Plaza had a very nice market the day we were there (Sunday). A mix of hand made and machine made woolen items amongst the usual souviners.
Surrounded by pretty building and commercial areas, restaurants with a short walk to the waterfront. There are adorable vendor carts with artisans selling lots of things, it was fun to browse. The center statues are also vert nice.