Viña del Mar and Valparaiso

Naval Headquarters in Valparaiso.

Narrow, confined streets in Valparaiso.

The best shot I could get of the House of Rock.

The pool overlooks a 30 foot drop to the sea.

View northward from the Viña boardwalk.

View south towards Valparaiso from

the Viña board walk.

Two weeks ago, my good friend Daniel came to Chile to pay me a visit, see the sights, and take in some sun, a nice change from dreary Chicago in February.

In attempting to think of things to do, I realized that a visit to Chile is incomplete without at least a night's stay in Viña del Mar. Viña and Valparaiso a two cities, side-by-side on the Pacific coast slightly northwest of Santiago. Valparaiso is fairly well known in the world and is the main port and naval base of Chile. Viña del Mar is the city to the north of Valparaiso and is characterized more as a beach and party town. Together, the two cities claim upwards of 500,000 people.

As I have already mentioned, Santiago becomes a ghost town during the month of February, and if you were wondering where it is that all these people go, it is either to the south or to Viña del Mar, or other beaches to the north such as Reñaca, Con Con, and Maitencillo. During this time, the area swells to more than 1,000,000 Chileans, Argentines, and various other tourists. The beaches in Viña and Reñaca have lately become so packed that they are now referred to as "the cemetery" due to the miles of people closely packed together trying to get a small patch of sand.

Another famous landmark of Viña del Mar is the Casino Municipal, or the first casino in Chile. Back in the day it was elegant as any Monte Carlo casino, though today it is much more like Vegas. At night, though, you still see people dressed up in suits and dresses walking into the casino to gamble. Today the Casino also has an unbelievable hotel adjacent to it called the Hotel del Mar, which is considered the best hotel in Chile and one of the few 5 star hotels here. Because we chose to only go one night, Daniel, Hans, my friend Alvaro, and I chose to book a suite at the Hotel del Mar. Our beautiful room had a great ocean view (to explain the proximity to the ocean, on a windy day you can get wet on your balcony from the waves crashing on the sea walls). The weather, however, was not as warm as we had hoped and the sun peaked in and out through the two days we were there.

One of the best parts of arriving in Viña is the actual descent into the city, which is breathtaking. The majority of all the cities and beaches in this area are built into steep hills and cliffs, creating a scenario for interesting architectural styles. Apartments appear as staircases rising up the hillsides. Funiculars run up and down the sides, shuttling people higher up or to their own apartments. Valparaiso has its own distinct style, also including century-old funiculars that run to this day. Individual houses, all painted distinct collars, densely dot the hills of the city. The downtown buildings also reflect the interesting array of colors among the older constructions. Valparaiso was to be the original capital of Chile, but the country´s fathers feared invasion from the city and decided on Santiago, which lay more inland.

After arriving at the Hotel del Mar, we immediately noticed the strange air in the city. We happened to arrive in the middle of the Festival de Viña, a Summerfest-like music festival, claiming such stars as Marc Anthony, Carlos Santana, and Daddy Yankee. All the stars were staying at our hotel or at the Sheraton Miramar, the other nice hotel in town. The entrance was covered with fences and security guards could be found at every corner. Perhaps confusing us with some rock stars, a nice bottle of champagne was left for us in our room. 

We went out for lunch and then took a walk all the way down the beaches of Viña del Mar. Unfortunately, due to the weather, the beaches were not packed and we ourselves lost the desire to go lay out. Instead, we headed back to the hotel where I installed myself at the blackjack table for a few hours. Later that evening, we regrouped and prepared to go out. However, because it was Wednesday night, the discos were not open, so we opted for a well-known pub called Hollywood, probably because it is a favorite for musicians and other famous people to hit up when in town. Around 4am we headed back to the hotel, where I thought it would be a good idea to hit up the craps table. After launching the dice off the table and crapping out in my first two rolls, I gave up and headed back to the blackjack tables where I won $300.

The next day saw us off to lunch at a great restaurant well known for Chilean fare. We then took a trip out to Reñaca and Con Con to see the sights. The way is marked by curvy roads running along the coast, moving up and down the sides of hills and small mountains. Beautiful sand dunes can be seen up top, and below the road are numerous rock outcroppings. The most famous of these rock outcroppings is the House of Rock, a beautiful private home literally built out of the rock, laying directly over crushing ocean currents.

After taking in the sights, we head back south towards Viña and then onto Valparaiso. As aforementioned, Valparaiso is the main port in Chile and also one of the older cities. The city is characterized by narrow streets with decaying, colonial buildings along the sides. However, the most picturesque building is the 19th century, blue naval headquarters. Not only is it a beautiful building, but I was recently informed that it was built over a shipwrecked exploration vessel from the 17th or 18th century, and the ship has only recently been exhumed.

We did not, however, leave the safety of my cousin´s car because unfortunately Valparaiso is no longer a safe place to go wandering around. The downtown is considered much more dangerous than that of Santiago, harboring many delinquents and other such types of people. After tooling around in the car, we headed back up inland and began our trip back to Santiago. 

It was a lovely trip, and also a necessary one as a visit to Chile requires a visit to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. Thanks for reading and have a great day!