Looking for daytrip options from Santiago, I quickly settled on Valparaíso. Photos of the colorful coastal city drew me in and I liked the idea of such a contrast to Santiago. After reading great reviews, I contacted Christian Herrera (Vámanos Tours) as our driver/guide. He was quick to reply, offered some additional options, and we settled on a plan for a full-day trip to Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, and wine tasting in the Casablanca Valley on the way back to Santiago.
It’s about an hour and a half drive from Santiago to Valparaíso. Christian picked us up at 8:45am. He pointed out favorite spots as we drove through green hills and down valleys dotted with vineyards. Beyond the Casablanca Valley, the hills were dotted with a mix of pine and palm trees, a combination unfamiliar to us. We stopped briefly mid-way at a big tourist shop with kitchy faux Easter Island moai out front so Christian could grab a coffee and we could browse (or not) and take a bathroom break. It’s a typical guide move to stop at such places where they’re getting a commission. Happily, rather than pushing us to buy anything, Christian warned us about prices there and he really seemed to just want to offer a quick break. We were quickly back on the road.
As we entered Valparaíso, Christian told us he was going to park near the port since he had a friend there who would keep an eye on his van. He said he used to park up in the hills of Valparaíso, but his van had been broken into there. As we got out to view the nearby Plaza Sotomayor, the stately Armada de Chile building and market stalls set up in front, Christian asked us to tell him if we planned to take photos and not to take out our phones until he was ready to keep an eye out for snatch thieves. It was just one more of the many warnings we received about crime in Chile. It’s a shame, but we stayed vigilant and never had a problem.
Just around the corner from the Armada de Chile building we rode the El Peral “elevator” (really a funicular and one of many in Valparaíso) up the steep incline to reach the iconic painted buildings that dot the hillsides of Valparaiso. There are 16 historic funiculars in Valparaíso (not all in working order), and there were once as many as 30 of them. The El Peral funicular cost a negligible 100 pesos (about 11¢) collected by an attendant who mans the ornate metal turnstile.
The funicular deposited us near a wide terrace with sweeping views. Up here, Christian said we could relax our guard a bit which made this delightful part of the city even more enjoyable. Valparaíso really is a treat for the eyes. Painted murals seemed to cover most of the buildings and the buildings themselves are part of the art that is this unique city. This was what had drawn me to choose Valparaiso for this daytrip and it exceeded expectations!
It was hard not to want to take a photo of every painted wall, every vista. I wanted to just wander, taking it all in. Christian, of course, knew the city well, so we could just trail along with him, wide-eyed at the over-the-topness of this place. We spent most of our time on the hillside just walking the streets, but also browsed an art gallery and peeked in shops. We lunched on seafood on the pretty terrace of La Concepción, a restaurant overlooking the city, port and ocean beyond. I got a kick out of our time in Valparaíso, and I won’t try to explain more. I’ll just let those photos do the talking:
Leaving Valparaíso, Christian drove us to Viña del Mar, an upscale oceanfront town whose border with Valparaiso is hard to pinpoint. We strolled a wide oceanfront promenade, stopping to watch a dance group in native costume, part of the Chilean independence day celebrations that had the country dotted with flags during the whole month of September.
Viña del Mar is also home to an authentic moai statue from Easter Island. (A plaque in front of the statue states it is a gift, something heartily disputed by the Rapa Nui we met later on Easter Island.)
The final stop on our day tour was back in Casablanca Valley at the Bodegas RE winery. Bodegas RE is based on an interesting concept of creating “wines of unique character, based on REcreating, REinventing and REvealing ancestral wines from the biblical stories to the wines produced in the past centuries by the family, in noble and beautiful clay jars…” We enjoyed an interesting tour of the winery. Our guide, who’d lived in NYC as a child and who spoke perfect English, was intrigued that we’d recently visited Georgian wine country with its ancient wine-making heritage and tradition of aging in clay pots. We also chatted about orange wine we’d tried both in Georgia and Slovenia which garnered us a comped extra tasting of Bodegas RE’s own orange wine. Bodegas RE is a relatively new winery (2008), but its founders come from many generations of Chilean vintners. With its intriguing wines, pretty shop and its location in the vineyards of Casablanca Valley, Bodegas RE made for a nice end to a truly enjoyable day.
Next up: Rapa Nui/ Easter Island!
September 2025