Sights in Valparaíso
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La Sebastiana
Bellavista’s most famous resident artist was Pablo Neruda, who made a point of watching Valparaíso’s annual New Year’s fireworks from his house at the top of the hill, La Sebastiana. Getting here involves a hefty uphill hike, and the climbing continues inside the house – you’re rewarded on each floor with ever more heart-stopping views over the harbor. The best of all are from Neruda’s crow’s nest study. Unlike at Neruda’s other houses, you can wander around La Sebastiana at will, lingering over the chaotic collection of ship’s figureheads, glass, 1950s furniture and artworks by his famous friends. Just don’t go behind the bright pink bar, which was reserved for…
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Cerro Concepción
Cerro Concepción is one of the most delightful of all Valparaíso's neighborhoods, with its brightly painted corrugated iron facades and pitched roofs. To get there, take the city's oldest elevator, Ascensor Concepción (also known as Ascensor Turri) from the corner of Prat and Carreño, across from the Reloj Turri (clock tower).
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Mercado Cardonal
As colorful as Valparaíso’s trademark houses – and built almost as high – are the fruit and vegetable displays in the Mercado Cardonal, bordered by Yungay, Av Brasil, Uruguay and Rawson. Ground-floor stalls spill out onto the street, while upstairs is taken up by cheap seafood restaurants. Whole families of cats are on constant leftover-fish patrol.
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Ascensores
It's possible to spend hours riding the 15 ascensores (also known as funicular elevators), built between 1883 and 1916, that lead up into the hills and meandering back alleys of Valparaíso. Some of the ascensores are remarkable feats of engineering. From the flat city center the ascensores creak at an improbable angle up to the tumbling chaotic cerros (hills), with their steep labyrinthine roads, crumbling mansions and kaleidoscopic rooftops.
Take Ascensor Concepción, the city's oldest elevator, to the beautiful Cerro Concepción, or take Ascensor El Peral to the Museo de Bellas Artes in Cerro Alegre, or ride the Ascensor Cordillera to the Museo del Mar Lord Cochrane in…
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Plaza Sotomayor
The Plaza Sotomayor is the naval heart of the city, dominated by the impressive blue-colored palatial Edificio de la Comandancia Naval (Naval Command Building). In the middle of the square lies the Monumento a los Héroes de Iquique, a subterranean mausoleum paying tribute to Chile's naval martyrs. The Aduana Nacional (Customs House) and Estación Puerto, the terminal for Merval commuter trains, are also nearby. Muelle Prat, the pier at the foot of Plaza Sotomayor, is a lively place on weekends.
It has a helpful tourist kiosk and a tacky handicrafts market, the Feria de Artesanía. Small boats offer tours of the harbor (for a cost). Don't photograph any of the numerous…
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Parque Cultural Ex-Cárcel
The prison that gave this hill its name was closed in 1999, but the crumbling remains of cellblocks and exercise yards are still standing – or they were at the time of research. Decorated with huge graffiti, the space has functioned since 2000 as a grass-roots cultural center known as the Parque Cultural Ex-Cárcel, but seven unexplained fires and a government eviction order have all but emptied it. The official plan is a massive arts center designed by Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer although protests have slowed the process. Reach it by walking up Subida Cumming.
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Ascensor Concepción
Built in 1883, it originally ran on steam power and is the city's oldest elevator. Also known as Ascensor Turri, it climbs the slopes from the corner of Prat and Carreño, across from the landmark clock tower known as the Reloj Turri up to Cerro Concepción. This is one of the most delightful of all Valparaíso's neighborhoods, with its brightly painted corrugated iron facades and pitched roofs. Along with the equally magical Cerro Alegre next door, this area has undergone a renaissance.
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Museo Naval y Marítimo
Cannons still stand ready outside the Museo Naval y Marítimo. The contents suggest they’d rather like to fire them at Peru – much space is devoted to Chile’s victory in the 19th-century War of the Pacific. Other exhibits include historical paintings, uniforms, ship’s furniture, swords, navigating instruments and medals, all neatly displayed in exhibition rooms along one side of a large courtyard. Rattling Ascensor Artillería brings you here from Plaza Wheelwright.
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Museo de Bellas Artes
The Museo de Bellas Artes is housed in the Palacio Baburizza (1916). Designed for an Italian nitrate baron but named after the Yugoslav who purchased it from him, the Art Nouveau palace is noteworthy for imaginative woodwork, forged-iron details and a steeply pitched central tower. Set among attractive gardens, the building and grounds alone justify a visit. From here, it's possible to loop over to Cerro Concepción, or vice versa.
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Iglesia Matriz
Plaza Matriz is Valparaíso's historic core, directly uphill from the Mercado Central, where El Plan narrows and the distinctive hills' architecture starts to take shape. The plaza's major landmark is the Iglesia Matriz, a national monument dating from 1842. This is the fourth church to occupy this site since the construction of the original chapel in 1559. Be on your guard in this area as robberies are not uncommon.
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Cementerio 1
The city’s most illustrious, influential and infamous residents love the afterlife style of Valpo’s Cementerio 1, where tombs are actually ornate mini palaces. Adjoining it is the back-up option, Cementerio 2, and the Cementerio de Disidentes, or ‘dissident cemetery’ – despite the name, it’s the final resting place of Protestants rather than rabble-rousers.
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Plaza Matriz
Valparaíso's historic core, Plaza Matriz is directly uphill from the Mercado Central, where El Plan narrows and the distinctive architecture of the hills begins to take shape. The plaza's major landmark is the Iglesia Matriz, a national monument dating from 1842. It's the fourth church to occupy this site since the construction of the original chapel in 1559.
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Museo a Cielo Abierto
Some 20 colorful, if rather flaky, murals are dotted through the lower streets of Cerro Bellavista, forming the Museo a Cielo Abierto, created between 1969 and 1973 by students from the Universidad Católica’s Instituto de Arte. The Ascensor Espíritu Santo takes you from behind Plaza Victoria to the heart of this art.
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Congreso Nacional
One of Valpo’s only modern landmarks is the controversial Congreso Nacional, in the east of El Plan. Its roots lie in Pinochet’s presidency both literally and legislatively: it was built on one of his boyhood homes, mandated by his 1980 constitution (which moved the legislature away from Santiago).
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Palacio Baburizza
The rambling art nouveau building at the western end of Cerro Alegre is Palacio Baburizza; it houses the Museo de Bellas Artes but was closed for renovation at the time of research. Ascensor El Peral runs here from just off Plaza Sotomayor.
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Museo de Historia Natural
What the security guards at the Museo de Historia Natural most love to show visitors is the two-headed human baby (in formaldehyde) that was born in the city in 1915. Yes, really. Ask nicely and you may be allowed to pet the taxidermized viscacha, too.
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Museo Lukas
Local cartoonist Lukas had a sharp eye for the idiosyncrasies of Valparaíso. You need to speak Spanish to understand his sardonic political strips in the Museo Lukas but the ink drawings of Valpo buildings speak for themselves.
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Ascensor El Peral
Ascensor El Peral starts from near the Tribunales (Law Courts) just off Plaza Sotomayor and continues to Cerro Alegre, which is home to the Palacio Baburizza (1916), which now houses the city's Museo de Bellas Artes.
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El Mercurio de Valparaíso
Topped by a mansard roof, the neoclassical El Mercurio de Valparaíso, built in 1903, is the home of the oldest continuously published Spanish-language newspaper (since 1827, pre-dating the building itself).
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Iglesia San Francisco
The bell tower of the ornate, red-brick Iglesia San Francisco served as a landmark for approaching mariners, who gave the city its common nickname ‘Pancho’ (a diminutive of Francisco).
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Edificio de la Comandancia Naval
A severe strain of seafarers dominates Plaza Sotomayor: the Chilean navy, whose petrol-blue Edificio de la Comandancia Naval looms large on the southwestern side.
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Mercado Puerto
The crumbling stone facade of the Mercado Puerto hint of times gone by. It is a defunct food market now home to a pack of street cats.
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Plaza O'Higgins
The Plaza O'Higgins is the site of the Teatro Municipal (Municipal Theater) and hosts one of the city's best antiques market on weekends.
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Mirador Diego Portales
You can see all of central Valpo’s colorful hills from the Mirador Diego Portales in the east of town.
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Iglesia Catedral de Valparaíso
The Iglesia Catedral de Valparaíso is the town's largest church, which overlooks the Plaza Victoria.
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