Things to do in Valparaiso

Neighborhood · Above the plan, reached by the El Peral and Reina Victoria ascensores

The UNESCO core — painted houses, corrugated iron facades, mural-covered stairways and the paseos looking out over the bay.

Local tip: Paseo Gervasoni and Paseo Atkinson are the postcard views and they are busy. Walk the connecting stairways instead — Pasaje Bavestrello and the alleys off Templeman — where the murals are better and the crowds thin out completely within one block.

Landmark · Edge of the plan, near Avenida Pedro Montt

The seat of both chambers of Chile's legislature since 1990 — a monumental concrete building that everyone in the city has an opinion about.

Local tip: Public galleries and guided visits let you watch sessions when the chambers are sitting, and the sitting weeks are published. It is genuinely worth doing once, and it is the fastest way to understand why this city has a professional class it would not otherwise have.

Landmark · Cerro Artillería, west end of the plan

An 1893 funicular climbing to a promenade above the naval school with the definitive view down onto the port and the container terminal.

Local tip: The ascensor has spent long stretches closed for heritage restoration, so check before relying on it — the stairs are there and they are not that bad. Go late afternoon when the sun is on the cranes, and eat at the small seafood places along the paseo rather than in the plan.

Food · Plan, near Avenida Argentina

The working produce and fish market that actually feeds the city, over two floors and spilling into the streets around it.

Local tip: The upstairs cocinerías are where you eat, not the restaurants aimed at visitors down in the plan — plates are large, cheap and excellent. Saturday is the big day, when the Avenida Argentina feria fills the central reservation with produce for several blocks.

Culture · Cerro Bellavista

Pablo Neruda's Valparaíso house, built into the hillside over five narrow floors, kept as he left it and full of his collections.

Local tip: The best of Neruda's three houses and the least crowded. Go on a weekday morning, take the audio guide, and afterwards walk down through the Museo a Cielo Abierto — the open-air mural route on the same hill, which is free and mostly empty.

Nature · West of the city, beyond Cerro Playa Ancha

The coastal road running south out of the city past cliffs, wild beaches and eucalyptus, ending at a fishing cove.

Local tip: Almost every visitor goes north to Viña and Reñaca. Going south instead gets you an empty coastline within twenty minutes of the plan — Laguna Verde is a small fishing village with a beach, and the road there is one of the best short drives or cycle routes in central Chile.