Chile's most painted city — 42 hillsides covered in street murals, funicular elevators, and the best New Year's fireworks in South America
Valparaíso (population 300,000, 90 minutes from Santiago) is a UNESCO-listed port city built across 42 cerros (hills) connected to the flat port district below by 16 historic funicular elevators (ascensores) — the defining urban feature of the city and a UNESCO-protected element of its heritage. The hills are covered in a permanent open-air gallery of political murals, street art, and vernacular painted architecture; Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción are the most polished for visitors while Cerro Bellavista and Cerro Florida retain a more lived-in energy. Valparaíso was the most important por…
Valparaíso was Spain's primary Pacific port in South America from its founding in 1536 until Chilean independence in 1818. The city's golden age came between 1820 and 1914 — the Cape Horn route made Valparaíso the mandatory stop for ships rounding South America, and the city became the most cosmopolitan port in the Pacific: English, German, French, and Italian merchant communities built the Victorian and Art Nouveau commercial buildings that survive in the lower port district. The Panama Canal's opening in 1914 ended the Cape Horn traffic overnight and began a 60-year economic decline that pr…