Valparaiso is a major city, seaport and education center in Chile, in South America. It is located 120km away from Santiago. The city was founded in 1536, have approx. 285 000 inhabitants. The city is a late waking up one and everything open at 10am. Restaurants, Shops, coffee shops, almost everything.
It is a city that we truly enjoyed and after arriving by bus to it. We spent a day there. If you too are planning a trip there, then this article has everything you need to know about the best things to do in Valparaiso.
However you can also visit Valparaiso from Santiago with that tour: Santiago: Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, & Casablanca Valley Tour
Table of Contents
Map of Valparaiso
Where to stay in Valparaiso
Let’s start by where to stay in Valparaiso, after all the travelling it is important to have a cozy place to get to:
- (€) New Voga Hotel Boutique
- (€€) Augusta Hotel
- (€€€) Hotel Boutique Acontraluz
Free Walking tour
We went for the free walking tour that started in Plaza Anibal Pinto which was just 5min away from our hostel or 2min by the funicular. Unfortunately, we were only 2 and the FWT required a minimum of 3 people.
The English guide still offered us to do the tour, but we decided not to because it would mean a bigger tip that we would have given. We simply asked him for the map of the tour and self-guided ourselves along the tour.
You can check-out online as there is different tours with different topics.
Hang around
Once done with our self-guided tour, we strolled around the neighborhood near the “Paseo Dimalow”. Losing ourselves from street to street following the arts and wibes around us.
We found ourselves in a photography shop called “Fabirka” where they make original painting pictures and where we bought ourselves a souvenir while learning about the technic they used. while listening Maggie Rogers playlist.
We then kept hanging around the street of Valpo while stopping at shops and places of interests. Sometimes using the funicular, sometimes the stairs…
La Sebastiana
Our next stop was La Sebastiana, one of the houses of Pablo Neruda (a Chilean poet, diplomat and politician). The house was converted in a Museum and offers beautiful view on Valpo. Moreover, you have an audio guide to discover the life of the famous poet in his house.
The entrance fees are 7 000 CLP per person.
End of the day
After learning about a famous local person, we walked down to Plaza Victoria and back to the Dimalow neighborhood where we stopped at Color coffee for a Pisco frutal Kiwi and Pisco frutal raspberry.
And to finish the day, we bought some cake and returned to our hostel to enjoy with a view.
Recommendation
How long to stay in Valpo? Well for us one full day was enough and we wouldn’t stay longer. You could even consider taking a tour from Santiago. This is what we would do now: Santiago: Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, & Casablanca Valley Tour
Always bring cash with you, all places don’t accept credit card and ATM/bank are not easy to find.
“You don’t have to be rich to travel well.” – Eugene Fodor
