Chile’s capital Santiago is home to a wealth of attractions. But besides its own charms, another of its advantages is that there is an abundance of things to see nearby too. Perhaps most well known among these is Valparaiso – the quirky World Heritage port city famous for its colourful houses, artistic atmosphere and edgy ‘anything goes’ vibe.
Described by Lonely Planet as “a wonderful mess”, Valparaiso is certainly one of Chile’s most unusual cities. But that’s a big part of its charm. Just a 90-minute drive from Santiago, it’s an ideal destination for a day trip. And so, with our time in South America coming to an end, we took the opportunity to visit Valparaiso and see if we would also fall for its unexpected charms.
We set off for a full day’s adventure with our knowledgeable and friendly local guide, Hugo. Who incidentally had also been our guide when we visited Santiago. So we already knew that we were in good hands to see the best that Valparaiso had to offer.
While the snow-capped peaks of the Andes are inland of Santiago, there are mountains and hills extending all the way to the coast. The road to Valparaiso took us first through a tunnel underneath the mountains, and then threaded its way along the strips of flat land between the slopes. About two thirds of the way along we reached our first stop – the Casablanca Valley.
Wine lovers might recognise the name, because the region is well known for producing excellent grapes. There are plenty of vineyards to choose from, but one of the most renowned – and the one which Hugo took us to – is the Emiliana Winery. The winery was a tranquil and picturesque place to spend the morning, thanks in part to the neat green rows of vines that contrasted strikingly with the muted colours of the hills rising up behind them.
After sampling the wine (it was superb, by the way), we continued on to our main destination just in time for lunch. Valparaiso was a bit different to the cities we had experienced so far on our trip. In fact, it has a very different feel to much of the rest of the continent. Its European heritage is clear, but you won’t find the whitewashed Spanish villas with terracotta tiles arranged in a grid, like in most historic Latin American towns. Some of the buildings look Alpine or Germanic in design, and the way the city is strewn over the hills and draped down into the sea is reminiscent of Lisbon or even Istanbul.
Valparaiso was and still is Santiago’s port. Much of the goods that have entered and exited Chile since its settlement have come through the port city, and so you might expect the city to have a gritty, functional feel to it. However, the truth could not be more different. Valparaiso is one of South America’s artistic capitals, and colour is everywhere. From the elaborate street art which adorns many of its walls, to the simple fact that a large proportion of its buildings are painted bright green, blue and red, a similar Bohemian character to that found in Lastarria back in Santiago permeates the city. Its crazy colourful architecture is quite a sight to behold.
The city’s geography means that many of these colourful houses are perched on steep hillsides, making them extra visible and hard to miss. Its streets meander and wind up and around the slopes wherever the incline permits, adding to Valparaiso’s character. Many of these are impassable to public transport, so an inventive solution had to be found. Dating back to the 1880s, funiculars (a type of cable car) are used to ferry people up and down the hills, and today they are one of the city’s main attractions. There are sixteen in total, but not all are currently in use. Most of the funiculars (locals call them ascensors) were completed before the 1920s, but the last one opened in 1983. Despite advances in technology this antiquated form of transport is still one of the most useful in a place like this.
We concluded our Valparaiso tour with a trip to the port. In a city with little flat building space, things have to be put wherever there is space. Given the importance the docks have had in the city’s history it is fitting that the port is still right in the heart of things. People driving into the city to shop or to take their children to school share Valparaiso’s main thoroughfares with trucks carrying wine, fish and metals to be shipped across the world.
It’s down in the docks where Valparaiso starts to make sense. Many of the world’s port cities are functional places, and when you think of dockworkers you probably don’t imagine a group of people with an appreciation for art and avant-garde culture. Valparaiso’s culture however, as creative as it is, is a working class one. It is authentic, energetic and not at all pretentious. Which is probably why the city is so likeable.
While the port is still busy, it lost some of its importance after the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. Before this ships had been forced to make their way round the bottom of South America and would stop here en route. The resulting downturn in fortunes caused some decline. But when the artists moved in to revitalise the city they didn’t replace the culture, they enhanced it.
Time always flies when you are having fun, and even though we made the most of our short day trip, more time in Valparaiso would not have been wasted. There is enough to see to keep you occupied for several days. So for anyone travelling for an extended time, it would be a good place to stop for a while to explore more thoroughly.
As the evening approached we left Valparaiso and made our way back through the valleys to Santiago. We were slightly disappointed that we didn’t have enough time to explore its upmarket sister city Viña del Mar, just fifteen minutes up the coast. None the less we left with wonderful memories of this unique and colourful World Heritage city.
See also:
- Santiago: a cosmopolitan city surrounded by the snow-capped Andes
- A journey through the picturesque Andes by rail
- Exploring the capital of the Inca Empire – Cusco
- Machu Picchu – a 15th century Inca citadel
- Sacred Valley – the gateway to Machu Picchu
