Valparaiso, Chile
November 7-11, 2015
Valparaiso is dilapidated, colorful and poetic...Its a "wonderful mess" so they say and poets, painters and philosophers have long been drawn to this unique city. Valparaiso is truly an eclectic place to visit. Its a hard working port town along with the ever shifting dockworkers, sailors and prostitutes and at the same time a Unesco world hertiage site. The "hills" are home to some of the best street art in Latin America, a maze of steep streets and an increasing number of high end hotels and restaurants. The tourist areas are mostly concentrated in the Concepcion and Alegre zones which thankfully have been kept safe in a notoriously unsafe port city. Most people we spoke with preferred spending time here as opposed to Santiago and we can understand why. There's much more on offer here and we enjoyed discovering the nooks and crannies of the city.
Our Accommodations - Casa Valparaiso
Located in the heart of the touristy area "Concepcion" we found a hostel called Casa Valparaiso. It was a bit on the "young side" in terms of guests and noise levels but the staff were very helpful and the location was perfect.
City of Valparaiso
The city is famous for some of the best street art in Latin America. The areas of "concepcion" and "alegre" are unesco world heritage sites and home to many cute shops and restaurants. Its also located in the hills so these areas have great views overlooking the port and ocean. We mostly spent our days wandering the maze the streets.