Valaparaiso and Vina del Mar a Day Out, Valparaiso, Chile

Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are neighbouring seaside towns one hour 40 minutes drive from Santiago, the capital of Chile. As we were staying in Santiago for four nights we took the opportunity to visit these two famous seaside towns.

It is an easy bus journey from Santiago to Valparaiso, buses depart Santiago from Terminal Alameda every 15 minutes for the terminal located at the National Congress Building in Valparaiso. We travelled by Turbus.

Tour company touts descended on us, some quite pushy others more relaxed. Should we take the tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar or just wander around and get lost? We could wander around Valparaiso by foot and potentially run out of time to see Vina del Mar or we could take a Day Trip that includes both. Timing was important as we had booked the 6.30pm bus back to Santiago. Roda Tours had a tour leaving in 30 minutes and would have us back at the terminal in time and we could visit both Valparaiso and Vina del Mar.

The tour includes a visit to Plaza Sotomayor in Valparaiso and one building that you cannot miss is the headquarters of the Chilean Navy – Armada de Chile. If we had not taken the tour this would have taken us a good 30 minutes to walk here. Plaza Sotomayor is one of the main city squares located next to the Port area of Valparaiso. This area of Valparaiso is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).