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Valparaíso is a major seaport and naval base on the Pacific coast of Chile, about 120 kilometres northwest of Santiago by road, with a population of 284,938. It has been the headquarters of the Chilean Navy since 1817 and the seat of the National Congress since 1990, and it is built on dozens of steep hills overlooking the ocean.
The first ship to arrive was the Santiaguillo in 1536. In the 19th century the port became a key stopover for ships sailing between the Atlantic and the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan, and it grew into the Jewel of the Pacific, with Latin America's oldest stock exchange and immigrant quarters built by British, German and Italian settlers. Its golden age ended after the Panama Canal opened in 1914.
The historic quarter, with its labyrinth of cobbled lanes, hillside houses and old funiculars called ascensores, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The city also hosts a famous New Year fireworks show over the bay.
Cerro Alegre is a hillside neighbourhood above the political and financial centre of Valparaíso, named for the fine gardens of its houses when British immigrants lived here in the 19th century. Today its steep lanes hold viewpoints, restaurants, small hotels and guesthouses.
Cerro Concepción served as a fort in colonial times and became one of the most select quarters of the port in the 19th century, when British, German and Yugoslav immigrants built their houses here. Its architecture and history helped earn Valparaíso its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Paseo 21 de Mayo is a pedestrian promenade on the cliffs of Cerro Artillería, set on the site of the colonial Fort San Antonio. From its main terrace, fifty metres above the port, it offers one of the widest views of the Bay of Valparaíso, and stalls along it sell watercolours and silver jewellery.
The Open Sky Museum of Valparaíso is a route of 20 large murals in different styles painted on house walls and retaining walls on Cerro Bellavista. It opened in 1992 with works by noted artists including Roberto Matta and Mario Carreño, inspired by murals that art students began painting in 1969.
Ascensor Concepción is the oldest of the funiculars of Valparaíso, opened on 1 December 1883 and the first in the Southern Hemisphere. It links Esmeralda Street, opposite the Turri Clock, with Paseo Gervasoni on Cerro Concepción, and was declared a Historic Monument of Chile in 1998.
Ascensor Artillería was the third funicular built in Valparaíso, inaugurated on 29 December 1892, and it climbs to Cerro Artillería near Paseo 21 de Mayo. For years it carried more passengers than any other in the city, though it has been out of service since May 2021.
Ascensor Reina Victoria climbs Cerro Alegre and was built in 1902 by Federico Page and Manuel Valenzuela, opening on 4 March 1903. Named after Queen Victoria, who died in 1901, it was damaged by the earthquakes of 1971 and 1985 and was restored in 1988 and again in 2012.
Ascensor Polanco, built between 1913 and 1915, is the only working lift in Valparaíso that rises vertically, as all the others are funiculars. Reached through a 150-metre tunnel, it climbs to Cerro Polanco and became the first lift of the city declared a national monument in 1976.
Sotomayor Square is the main civic centre of Valparaíso, at the foot of Cerro Cordillera and facing Muelle Prat. It is named after Rafael Sotomayor, a minister and civil hero of the War of the Pacific, and with its buildings, among them the Navy headquarters, it became a historic district in 1979.
The Monument to the Heroes of Iquique stands in the centre of Sotomayor Square and honours the sailors of the naval battles of Iquique and Punta Gruesa on 21 May 1879. Unveiled on 21 May 1886, it is topped by a statue of Arturo Prat, and a vault beneath it holds his remains and those of others.
Muelle Prat is the pier of Valparaíso just west of Sotomayor Square, in use since 1850. It is the best place in the lower city to watch the work of the port and the starting point of boat tours around the bay, with a crafts fair, restaurants and a replica of the ship Santiaguillo.
The Chilean Navy Headquarters, first built as the Intendancy of Valparaíso, is a five-storey building in the French neoclassical style with 8,000 square metres of floor space. It faces the Monument to the Heroes of Iquique on Sotomayor Square and was declared a Historic Monument of Chile in 1979.
La Sebastiana on Cerro Bellavista is one of the three houses of the poet Pablo Neruda, who bought it in 1959. Begun by Spanish builder Sebastián Collado and left unfinished at his death, the four-storey house is known for its fine views of the bay and is now a museum run by the Neruda Foundation.
Palacio Baburizza was built in 1916 by Italian architects and bought in 1925 by Croatian investor Pascual Baburizza. Turned into a museum in 1971, it holds an important collection of Chilean painting, and the Art Nouveau house is admired for its woodwork, wrought iron and central turret.
The National Maritime Museum occupies the former Naval School on Cerro Artillería and protects the naval and maritime heritage of Chile. Its story dates to 30 April 1915, when the Navy began its first museum on board the ironclad Huáscar, and it faces the Paseo 21 de Mayo.
The Cemetery of Dissidents on Panteón hill was created in 1825 for British and other European residents whose Protestant faith differed from the Catholic state religion. It is divided into eight sections with nearly 800 graves, and it holds a monument raised in 1881 to the Reverend David Trumbull.
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