√ Valparaíso (Chile): information on the city, what to visit and what to do in Valparaíso?

Valparaíso

Coat of arms of Valparaíso (Chile)

Population: ~ 274.000

Time difference to London - Time zone GMT/UTC: -4 hours (+/- changes due summertime/daylight saving)

Climate, weather: The climate is a mild Mediterranean one with winter rains and a prolonged dry season. (Temperatures in winter: 10-20°C, in (December to February !!!) 13 - 23°C

► Basic information on Chile

The harbour city Valparaiso is located at 120 km, to the Northwest of Santiago de Chile, elevated as World Heritage by the UNESCO Valparaiso is a real alternative as a new undiscovered tourist destination.

The Chilean Congress (parliament) is located in Valparaiso.

It offers beautiful natural and urban landscapes, typical and unique places and mysterious corners.

Valparaíso (Chile) - Things to See:

• Market places
• Elevators

A city full of history and nostalgia

A city full of history and nostalgia, an urban and architectonic curiosity, and a never founded city:

The city was built spontaneously by its inhabitants going up the hills slopes.

The houses look like colourful clusters that challenge gravity and vertigo.

Valparaiso is a natural bay surrounded by a cordilleran mountain chain that leads to the sea, making an amphitheatre loocking at the Pacific.

Valparaiso has an interesting night life, where you can take a tour along mythical places where you take a coffee or a drink wine with friends of the poetry, the cinema, boleros and tangos.

Curious funiculars

Visitors shouldn't miss to have a look at the elevators - they are really an attraction: Curious funiculars that go up and down the hills, intruding into backyards of houses along their route.

There are still 15 elevators operating, taking the inhabitants of the centre to their neighbourhoods. A journey in one of these elevators will provide you marvellous views of the bay and the sea.

Pablo Neruda - La Sebastiana

Pablo Neruda winner of the literature Nobel Prize in 1971, built in Valparaiso one of his three houses: La Sebastiana.

Today the Sebastiana is opened as a museum, dedicated to the memory of the poet.

Market places

In these places, in the mixture of smells, typical flavours, the continuous shouting of the salesmen; you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables and even all kind of agricultural products, fish and seafood. If you listen carefully, you will notice the particular rhythm and accent of the common Chilean citizens.

There is a market on Avenida Argentina, every Wednesday and Saturday and two markets more: The Mercado Cardonal, in the Almendral quarter, and the Mercado Puerto, located near the harbour.

Valparaiso a magic coast city

Valparaiso a magic coast city, named in 2003 World Heritage by UN. Colorful houses are distributed over numerous hills, connected by winding streets. A series of historic funicular railways, known as Ascensors, lead you up from this downtown to the upper part of town and the residential quarters of the city. There are a multiple of fantastic and ever changing views out to the sea and across all of the other hills of the city to be enjoyed from numerous public vista points, Valparaiso is also the Cultural Capital of Chile hosting poetry readings, old port pubs, tango

bars and 'salsotheques' enriching the nightlife.

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